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I was talking with a friend of mine who's also a model railroader and he passed this story along to me. I'm including some links here so you better understand what I'll be describing. (train wise)
My friend I'll call Froggy (don't ask).
Froggy owns a neat little locomotive and set put out by a company called "Hornby". You brits may know the name, but for those that don't, here's their website. http://hornby.com/ Couple years ago, Hornby released a special OO (HO) guage trainset that's live steam. Meaning that the locomotive uses real water to produce steam and run. While at a model train show, Froggy had opted to set up his train layout and run the steamer. to prevent people (especially children) from touching the locomotive, he had placed several panes of plexiglass around his route. It was reasonably high enough to keep children's hands away...however he never expected parents. He also included, at the organizer's request, a large sign saying "DO NOT TOUCH!" in several places around the route.
Well, after having been set up for a good hour or two, a gentleman comes along with his nine year old boy. They pool around his route for a bit, watching as Froggy has to lift the locomotive with heavy leather gloves and rerail it, then refill the water tender and send the train on its way. During one pass he looks up just in time to see that the father had lifted the boy up and he (the kid) was reaching after the locomotive. Without really thinking, Froggy yelled at the kid not to touch the train, causing the boy to jerk his hand back and then the fight was on. The boy's father, irate at his hellspawn...I mean child's foiled attempt to touch the toy put the boy down and turned on Frog. The father starts yelling that it's just a toy and can't hurt the boy, and he didn't see why Frog was throwing such a fit. It's a toy train after all and he (the dad) had seen them in stores for thirty bucks, so he didn't see why act like that thing cost much anyway. Frog tried to explain to the dad that no, this one cost over six hundred dollars US, and that it's not your typical toy. Eventually he just gave the guy up for a lost cause and said to the man. "Touch it and you'll get hurt." Well this caused the man to puff up, his ego had been bruised. "Is that a threat!? I think it's a threat!" The man was obviously upset. Turning to the train as it made one last pass he reached in saying "I'll show you what I think of your little toy train."
Frog figures the man's intent was to throw it down. However that's not what happened.
Steam is hot you see. VERY hot.
When the man's hand came in contact with the hot boiler, his reflexs told him to release it. The thing is hot and it hurt. Problem was his natural reaction was to contract his hand. Meaning he held on tighter. When he did drop the locomotive into the display, the skin on the palm of his hand was cooked. Cooked to the point that Frog swears up and down the guy's palm FELL OFF when he pulled it back.
Frog's just waiting to see if the guy tries to sue. Though his lawyer is convinced he (Frog) has a great case. The man had been warned, needed to reach over the plexiglass, and was apparently about to commit a crime when his injury was sustained.
One can hope he learned his lesson.
My friend I'll call Froggy (don't ask).
Froggy owns a neat little locomotive and set put out by a company called "Hornby". You brits may know the name, but for those that don't, here's their website. http://hornby.com/ Couple years ago, Hornby released a special OO (HO) guage trainset that's live steam. Meaning that the locomotive uses real water to produce steam and run. While at a model train show, Froggy had opted to set up his train layout and run the steamer. to prevent people (especially children) from touching the locomotive, he had placed several panes of plexiglass around his route. It was reasonably high enough to keep children's hands away...however he never expected parents. He also included, at the organizer's request, a large sign saying "DO NOT TOUCH!" in several places around the route.
Well, after having been set up for a good hour or two, a gentleman comes along with his nine year old boy. They pool around his route for a bit, watching as Froggy has to lift the locomotive with heavy leather gloves and rerail it, then refill the water tender and send the train on its way. During one pass he looks up just in time to see that the father had lifted the boy up and he (the kid) was reaching after the locomotive. Without really thinking, Froggy yelled at the kid not to touch the train, causing the boy to jerk his hand back and then the fight was on. The boy's father, irate at his hellspawn...I mean child's foiled attempt to touch the toy put the boy down and turned on Frog. The father starts yelling that it's just a toy and can't hurt the boy, and he didn't see why Frog was throwing such a fit. It's a toy train after all and he (the dad) had seen them in stores for thirty bucks, so he didn't see why act like that thing cost much anyway. Frog tried to explain to the dad that no, this one cost over six hundred dollars US, and that it's not your typical toy. Eventually he just gave the guy up for a lost cause and said to the man. "Touch it and you'll get hurt." Well this caused the man to puff up, his ego had been bruised. "Is that a threat!? I think it's a threat!" The man was obviously upset. Turning to the train as it made one last pass he reached in saying "I'll show you what I think of your little toy train."
Frog figures the man's intent was to throw it down. However that's not what happened.
Steam is hot you see. VERY hot.
When the man's hand came in contact with the hot boiler, his reflexs told him to release it. The thing is hot and it hurt. Problem was his natural reaction was to contract his hand. Meaning he held on tighter. When he did drop the locomotive into the display, the skin on the palm of his hand was cooked. Cooked to the point that Frog swears up and down the guy's palm FELL OFF when he pulled it back.
Frog's just waiting to see if the guy tries to sue. Though his lawyer is convinced he (Frog) has a great case. The man had been warned, needed to reach over the plexiglass, and was apparently about to commit a crime when his injury was sustained.
One can hope he learned his lesson.
Frog would have been more in the right had his sign been the title of this post rather than simply "Do Not Touch." But I digress the moron who burned himself got what was coming to him.
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