Fifteen people were injured Wednesday morning when an amusement-park train derailed at Tiny Town in Jefferson County.
At least five children were among the injured.
Late Wednesday afternoon, a Swedish Medical Center spokeswoman said nine of the 12 patients it had received were treated and released. Two adults and a child remained there in serious condition.
The conditions of the three taken to other hospitals were not immediately available.
Most victims had bruises and scrapes, but some had broken bones, Inter-Canyon Fire Rescue Capt. Daniel Hatlestad said.
“The patients range from small children to grandparents,” he said.
Authorities said none of the injuries appeared to be life-threatening.
About 30 people were on the miniature train when five cars tipped over, Hatlestad said. Passengers ride on benches in open-air cars behind the engine.
The train wrecked at 10:45 a.m. in a curve at the north end of the park, near a playground.
The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, the Colorado State Patrol and the state Department of Labor and Employment, which regulates amusement parks, are investigating the cause of the derailment.
A Tiny Town employee who would not give his name said the park, too, is trying to determine what went wrong.
“The park is really hurting right now,” he said.
Tiny Town, which will remain closed today, is expected to reopen Friday, the park stated on its voice mail Wednesday evening.
Tamara Higgins and Sasha Woodard of Highlands Ranch, who brought four children to the park, just missed the train that tipped over.
“(The) first thing I saw was a lady running,” said Woodard, who was with sons Aidan, 4, and Oliver, 21 months. “Then it got real quiet. They asked everyone to sit in the shade and remain calm.”
She said she saw a grandfather who had been thrown from the train with cuts all over his legs.
“I feel terrible for the parents and kids who were injured,” she said.
Higgins, who brought son Josh, 4, and daughter Ella, 2, called the derailment a “freak accident” and said “we look forward to coming back.”
“We love the place,” she said.
Carl Vining, who has lived near Tiny Town since 1963, said he hears the trains every day, and its sound Wednesday morning told him something was wrong.
When he went to investigate, “I saw the engine lying on its side and wheels still turning.”
Firefighters and police soon arrived, relieving Tiny Town employees and other adults in the park who were attending the injured.
“People were very calm,” Hatlestad said. “They acted appropriately and assisted those around them.”
Tiny Town, at 6249 S. Turkey Creek Road, just off U.S. 285, bills itself as the “Oldest Kid Size Village and Railroad in the USA.”
In 1915, moving-company owner George Turner began constructing one-sixth-size buildings at the site of the old Denver-Leadville stagecoach stop, according to Tiny Town’s website. The roadside attraction opened in 1920, and the Tiny Town Railway was added in 1939, according to the park’s historical record.
The Tiny Town Foundation was created in 1990 to operate the park as a not-for-profit, and each year its proceeds help support local charities.
Staff writer Adam Singleton contributed to this report.
“Track was great” day before accident
Just 24 hours before a train derailed Wednesday at Tiny Town, a state inspector visited the site and reported that everything was fine.
“He said the track was great,” said Susan DeMeules, program manager for amusement rides, boilers and explosives for the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
The inspector, Joseph Ewald, will lead the state investigation into what caused the train to derail.
DeMeules said that during Tuesday’s “drop-in” visit, Ewald reviewed daily inspection, maintenance and training logs, and observed the track.
She said the state Department of Labor and Employment found no problem with the Tiny Town trains in the past three years, having issued each year an “Annual Amusement Ride Certificate of Inspection.”
Howard Pankratz, The Denver Post
