Thomas the Twonk Engine
Aged 10 I was given a train-set by an elderly neighbour as a gift. More used to the speeds seen in Scalextric, I was a bit disappointed by the much more sedate Hornby layout. Figuring that 240v must be much better than 12v, I decided the way to spice things up was to directly wire the rails to the mains.

While putting my plan into practice I realised that my hyper-train would probably fly off the rails with its great speed, so I assembled the track into as straight a line as I could for the initial speed test. My one, very real, fear was that the train might make a hole in the far wall with it's enormous speed.

The track was duly set up, wired directly to the mains and a cushion placed at the far end of the track. All was ready! I flipped the power on at the mains plug and watched in amazement as my train went absolutely nowhere at high speed. Not a millimetre!

As I studied the train closely to see what was wrong I realised there was a rather odd burning smell, and before my eyes the train proceeded to melt, before making a helluva bang that put me on my arse. Not knowing the difference between AC and DC I'd managed to weld a rather rare Hornby train and track together forever, and got a right smack up the head from my dad for it. On the bright side, I didn't touch the rails and am still here to tell the tale.
(The Axeman, Thu 20 Dec 2007, 19:42, 2 replies)

That
is one hell of a title.
(clumsyeloquence is a girl, Fri 21 Dec 2007, 3:14, closed)

Thomas the wank engine?
Rare?
My arse.
( Greenbat, Sun 23 Dec 2007, 22:18, closed)