I survived a train wreck

In an earlier blog, I mentioned that John Woods will be hosting a narrow-gauge railroading convention in September at his farm, which is located west of Steelville. If you want to know more about it, be sure to check out his website at www.arborwayrailroad.com.
John invited several of his personal friends, and me, out last week to take a ride on his train, which was being pulled by his new steam engine. I had heard a lot about John’s railroad over the past several years, but was more than overwhelmed by the setup he has.
John now has about six miles of 15-inch track laid around his farm. He has, or will soon have, nine locomotives, his own train station, a water tank to serve his steam engine, a roundhouse, a large barn for maintenance and I don’t know how many railroad cars. He even has his own personal steam engineer on staff.
On the trip we took, we had the steam engine out front, two water cars and then three open-air passenger cars. Behind that there was a cattle car, followed by a boxcar. All look just like the real thing, at about ¼ scale.
The trip around John’s farm was pretty amazing. We passed through two tunnels (one that had to be about 500-yards long) went through several cuts and passed over several fills. It is hard to believe just how much work John has put into his hobby.
John explained his whole operation before we took the train trip and even showed us one of his diesel locomotives. Everything he has done, he had done right. The track is complete with signs, crossing lights, signal lights and everything. It’s just like a real railroad, only smaller.
During our ride it was quite easy to see why John enjoys railroading so much. The sounds, the smell, the feel, it was all there. And riding around his farm, which borders the Meramec River, the scenery was also terrific.
Toward the end of our trip, however, we ran into a little trouble. At one of the many switches we cross, and just in site of the station we were returning to, we actually derailed the train. That’s right, we wrecked John’s new steam locomotive.
I say wreck, but it really wasn’t much of a wreck. The engine left the track and we traveled about 10 more feet and came to a stop. Nothing really got hurt except John’s pride. I would have loved to watch them get the train back on the track.
When John hosts his convention in September, his tracks will be really busy. He said many of those coming will bring their own trains to run around the farm while they are there. That should really be a site to see.
We hope to bring you full coverage of that event when it happens.
Until then, at least I can tell everyone that I’ve been in a train crash and lived to tell the tale!