Tiny Town has been fined $30,000 by the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment after investigators determined that a train that tipped over Aug. 11 sending 15 people to the hospital was traveling at excessive speeds and its driver was untrained.
State investigators said the locomotive entered a curve at the park going between 12 and 17 mph, when the normal speed limit for trains is 3 mph to 4 mph.
However, the Oil and Safety Division of the Department of Labor, which conducted the investigation, said the fine was based on allowing an untrained person, Richard Messer, to operate the train “jeopardizing public safety and causing serious bodily injury to patrons.”
“Tiny Town allowed an untrained person to operate the No. 10 steam locomotive on thirty ride cycles,” Susan DeMeules, program manager for the Oil and Safety Division, wrote. “OPS is assessing a fine of $30,000 ($1,000 per occasion).”
DeMeules also said Tiny Town’s training manual did not include instructions for emergency and general safety procedures as required. OPS assessed an additional fine of $500 for not having documented training of emergency and safety procedures, said DeMeules.
Tiny Town’s operators did not return a call for comment.
Laura Chamberlain, who was on the train with her granddaughters, Emily and Addison, had mixed feelings about the penalty.
“Tiny Town is such an icon for Colorado. I would hate to see Tiny Town closed down,” she said. “But if they are not putting public safety first, they need to be treated like anyone else.”
Chamberlain was clutching 14-month-old Addison when she, the toddler and 11-year-old Emily were thrown from the train.
Chamberlain said that every time there is a new grandchild – she has five – she takes the grandchildren to Tiny Town.
“I went to Tiny Town as a child and I still remember it,” she said. “I want the memory to be passed on. I think it is generational. But Tiny Town has an obligation to be safe because young families are taking their children there.”
Before Tiny Town can resume train operations, the state imposed a number of conditions.
First, Tiny Town must submit a certified check for $30,500 to the Division of Oil and Public Safety. In addition, Tiny Town must submit the procedures it will implement to ensure that ride operators have received adequate training on the rides they operate, including safety and emergency procedures.
None of the locomotives and cars are to be placed back in service until a third-party inspector has certified the safety of the locomotives and cars.
Finally, Tiny Town must clearly mark the controls and levers in the locomotives. Investigators noted that at the time of manufacture, control and levers were not required to be labeled. However, OPS is requiring that Tiny Town bring their locomotives up to current standards, which requires the controls and levers to be labeled.
The state report said the Cinder Bell No. 10 steam locomotive and five of the six cars came off the tracks. The only car left standing was the caboose.
The locomotive didn’t actually “derail” but tipped over – the result of “navigating a curve at high speed caused by operator error,” said the report.
In his statement to investigators, Messer said as the train sped up, he attempted to use the engine brake.
He moved the control lever in the wrong direction and lost control of the train as it approached a 90-degree turn.
“Mr. Messer said that he was confused and panicked. While recalling what happened, at first he wasn’t certain what he had done but then he said he might have had the power/brake lever, also known as the Johnson bar, in the incorrect position. He stated that he was pushing the lever in the incorrect position (forward) and then panicked and kept pushing it in the wrong direction.”
The report noted that while Messer attempted to apply the air brakes, to do so correctly he would have had to have the Johnson bar in the “back” position.
Messer said he was a volunteer and this was his second season operating a train but the first season operating steam locomotive No. 10.
He said he operated No. 10 about 30 times and received training one day a week over a one-month period.
Inspector Joseph Ewald of the Division of Oil and Safety reviewed the training records of Tiny Town.
Ewald said the records did not document that Messer had received training to operate No. 10 or the other steam locomotive.
However, the head engineer at Tiny Town, identified as Lee Brown, told Ewald that Messer was trained on the No. 10 steam locomotive but the paperwork was not updated.
Ewald also noted that Tiny Town’s training manual does not include instructions for emergency and general safety procedures.
Ewald said none of the controls on the locomotive were labeled. At the time of the locomotive’s manufacture in 1992, there wasn’t a requirement that the controls be labeled, said the report.
Standards requiring all controls to be labeled were first issued in 2003.
Investigators said there wasn’t any indication of an obstruction or damage to the track that could have caused a derailment and there was no evidence that the levers or controls malfunctioned.
Chamberlain said that just before the accident, the train was rocking wildly from side to side and as they approached the curve, she knew they were going too fast to stay on the tracks.
She said she saw the driver holding on to the engine and dragging his feet, trying to stop the speeding train.
After the crash, she said the train engineer walked around in a daze telling people the brakes didn’t work.
Chamberlain, who said she was bruised from head to toe, said it will take a long time to get over what happened.
“Emotionally it is going to be hard because it was so awful,” she said. “It was just horrifying.”
Howard Pankratz: 303-954-1939 or hpankratz@denverpost.com.
