Full steam ahead: Alberta man raising money for charity with scaled-down locomotives, mini rail yard

Ernie Beskowiney has transformed his barley field into a mini train station, and now he's raising money for a cause close to his heart.

An Alberta man is going full steam ahead with a dream that started 18 years ago – combining miniature trains with his desire to help sick kids in need.

• Get the latest Edmonton updates right to your inbox

Eighteen years ago, Ernie Beskowiney’s family was dealing with a major health decision as his son and daughter-in-law were told their expected son could be born with severe autism and other health issues.

“I had an actual dream that I had a railroad track here and I was actually giving people rides and raising money for the Children’s Hospital,” Beskowiney recalled, inspired to find a way to help others.

It took two weeks for him to work up the courage to share that dream with his wife, who fully supported the idea and called it a “very do-able” one.

Fast-forward to September of 2015, and Beskowiney took matters into his own hands and started converting his barley field off Hwy 11, west of Sylvan Lake, into a miniature rail yard he named Train Acres.

“I had a neighbour let me use his big quad case tractor with a 12-yard scraper, which speeded things up for me. The rest of it was all done with a bobcat one bucket at a time.”

He started by building a tunnel that is now 200 feet long with two tracks running through it. The entire track station-to-station is more than 12,000 feet which is more than two miles for the trains to clickety-clack along.

This weekend, Beskowiney is welcoming passengers to ride on one of four trains – through tunnels, around lakes, and over bridges – for $10-a-ride to raise money for the Stollery and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundations.

“We have the capability of pulling around 90 passengers per run, and the runs take about half-an-hour from the station and back,” he said.

Beskowiney hopes that 2,000 to 3,000 passengers will hop on board one of his trains on Saturday and Sunday.

There is a red locomotive modelled after a CP train in Calgary and another modelled after a tourist train that runs from Stettler to Big Valley.

“I like to build what means something to me and is local,” he said, explaining that he actually scales down the trains from original drawings.

Tickets for the inaugural Train Acres Charity Fundraiser can be purchased online. All proceeds will go to charity.

The fundraising event runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, with the last train departing at 4:30 p.m. each day.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Evan Kenny