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- Beloit Daily News, October 13, 2008
- by Hillary Gavan, Daily News staff writer
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[Image] Tabitha Nelson and Hayley Arneson of Janesville
cringe in fright while Orrin Nelson keeps a watchful eye on what
may be sneeking up from behind as they take the Haunted Train
Ride with "Jason" and other gouls Sunday evening. You
can catch the Haunted Train at Thereshermans Park in Edgerton
throughout the weekends in October.
Staff photo by Kyle R. Morris.
It's sooty, dirty, hot and oily.
That's how steam train engineer and Rock River Thresheree member Jamie Stevenson described operating a 1943 Henschel train.
As part of the Haunted Train Ride held over the weekend, the steam train hauled children and adults through graveyards, a ghost-filled woods and the mechanical menagerie of the Rock River Thresheree grounds.
After hosting the haunted house at various buildings in Rock County since 1967, the Janesville Jaycees decided to feature this year's spooktacular at the historic Rock River Thresheree, according to Jaycees Niles Olson and Cindy Clayton.
The train ride kicked off Saturday. Each ride was about 20 minutes long, leaving the depot every 20 minutes. From 2-4 p.m. rides for young children were given and after 4 p.m. the scarier tours began.
Volunteers from the Jaycees and Rock River Thresheree banded together to dress as zombies, witches, chainsaw monsters and more. The Thresheree grounds' sawmill was filled with hanging ghosts. A cemetery and a shop with hanging bodies were erected on site by volunteers. New to the spooktacular were the child-friendly matinees, extended evening hours and the festivities open on Halloween this year.
The event also featured concessions such as hot cider, hot cocoa, hot dogs, baked goods as well as children's Halloween games and pumpkin decorating. Proceeds from the event will be split between the Rock River Thresheree and the Janesville Jaycees.
After setting up haunted houses around Janesville, Olson said it was challenging making a haunted train. Because there are no corners to hide behind, ghouls had to run after the train and leap out from behind trees, tents and antique tractors. Despite the obstacles, train riders screamed as ghosts and chain-saw toting ghouls ran after the train.
Train riders were also jostled back and forth as the steam chain roared along the 2-foot wide tracks. Smoke billowed out the stack as Stevenson's crew shoveled coal into a red hot furnace at the front of the train.
Stevenson and his crew at the front were covered in soot as they put water in the train engine and fired up the furnace. Stevenson explained how the train was hauled over by Thresheree founding member Walter Durst in 1960.
Stevenson, an engineer from Whitewater, Wis., said he works on high-tech things all day and enjoys the chance to work on historical engines. If he could be reborn, Stevenson said he would work on a train in the early 1900s.
The 6th Annual Haunted Train Ride will be held at Threshermen's Park. Visitors are encouraged to use Cox Road entrance. Cox Road is east off of Highway 51, between Janesville and Edgerton.
For more information or directions to the Haunted Train Ride visit www.thresheree.org.
Train schedule
Dates and times are: Saturdays, Oct. 11, 18 and 25, 2-10 p.m.; Sundays, Oct. 12, 19 and 26, 2-7 p.m. and Friday, Oct. 31, 6-10 p.m.
