Tractor that pulled tram to be inspected after accident

The Nevada Highway Patrol is looking into an accident Sunday involving a faux train that was taking passengers from the Dayton Valley Days street fair to the Dayton Cemetery and back.

Four people were injured about 11 a.m. Sunday when the train, actually a tractor towing two tram cars, lost control on a steep part of Cemetery Road, according to Lyon County Sheriff's Sgt. J.L. Pattison.

NHP Trooper Chuck Allen said the department would send a commercial vehicle safety inspector today to examine the tractor.

Pattison said when the tractor, covered with cardboard to make it look like a train, came down the hill and around a curve, the second tram car overturned and disengaged from the train, landing on top of some passengers. Bystanders lifted the tram car off the injured people, he said.

"When we got there, the tram was upright and had a rock under its wheel so it wouldn't roll," he said. "There was some loss of control on the tractor. The second car took that curve about 400 feet in front of the cemetery, when it took that curve, the last tram tipped and became disengaged."

The injured - three females and one male, ranging in age from 10 to 50 - were taken to Renown Regional Medical Center for treatment, two of them by Care Flight, said Central Lyon County Fire Chief John Gillenwater.

Two of the injured, Carolyn Woodring and Barbara Silveira, of Mound House, were treated and released from the center, said medical center spokesman Dan Davis.

Information on the other two victims was unavailable.

Deborah Larson, who was on the front car of the train, said the vehicle may have come out of gear coming down the hill.

She said the vehicle sped down the hill and began to fishtail, when the last passenger car became disconnected from the rest of the vehicle and overturned.

• Contact reporter Karen Woodmansee at kwoodmansee@nevadaappeal.com or 882-2111 ext. 351.