"Along the Blue" #18 | 2 Comments - Click Here :

    For those "scale"operators who think it is OK to just put the caboose back on the track after it derails; you might consider checking the health of your miniature conductor and crew members who were riding in it. This may add a little time to your switching maneuvers:

Summit County Journal; Sep 17, 1921
Conductor Ward Hurt In Accident At Curtain
    Conductor Alfred Ward met with a very painful accident when the caboose of his train left the track on the west switch at Curtain Tuesday morning. The train was rather heavy, consisting of a couple of cars of coal, a couple of merchandise and several loads of ore from Kokomo. The grade of the track is rather steep at this point, and when the caboose left the track it was impossible to stop the train at once.
    Conductor Ward was riding in the cupola at the time the car left the main line, and the jar caused him to fall to the floor, where he struck a stove. He was bounced around pretty much, and received a dislocated shoulder, a broken arm, and fractured one or two ribs.
    He was taken to Breckenridge at once, and in the absence of Dr. Condon, Dr. George Smith, of Dillon, was called in attendance. At first it was thought that Mr. Ward had also received internal injuries, but a more thorough examination after he had been removed to Leadville Wednesday proved that he was unhurt internally.