Looking Back @ The Spike - Claire Saucier
December 1, 2025
Iron Spike has been a “God Project” since Don Burhans first considered building a model train museum in Washington, MO. His goal was to have a family-affordable, family-friendly, year-round attraction in our town. During the last 11+ years we have experienced more God-winks than I can count. In case you are unfamiliar with that term, it describes an event that is seemingly coincidental but comes from divine origin. It is always a sign of hope.
After an exhausting search for property to house the museum or on which to build the museum, Bill Straatmann said “What about my old building?” God-wink #1.
Don started installing the first museum layout in the Welcome Center in January 2015. It was the only layout Iron Spike ever purchased. Joyce Sibole sold us her husband Don’s layout. It was an interesting HO layout with “good bones.” Don saw great potential and began working to transform it from a typical home layout to a museum quality layout. One of his ideas was to add a second set of tracks. The only problem was he needed another 400 feet of HO track and cork. About 15 minutes later I was preparing to order the track when a car pulled into the parking lot. We watched as a gentleman went to the back seat and came to the door carrying an armload of track and cork. He said, “I’m changing to N-scale. Can you use this?” It was about 370 feet of HO track and cork for the roadbed. God-wink #2. I think that was the day I knew Iron Spike was God’s project, not ours alone. He would guide us to success if we remained faithful to the mission and listened.
Every year has been marked by many instances of divine intervention, or God-winks as we call them, that have kept us moving forward. When we had trash to dispose of, we met The Other Trashman. Volunteers approached Don, bringing their skills not only to help build the layouts but also to remodel the building to make it the showplace it is today. Everyone arrived and everything happened at just the right time, just when we needed it and for that we thank God.
When Don died on Mar 2, 2024, I wasn’t sure what would happen at the museum. I didn’t have the knowledge he had and certainly couldn’t guide the layout development in the same way he had. I prayed for guidance and learned that it was time to encourage others to share their ideas that would keep the museum improving and growing. And now, thanks to some amazingly generous donors interested in helping us ensure our future, we hope to close on the purchase of our building and property in January 2026. The future of Iron Spike looks amazing.
So, it is time for me to move on. I am retiring at the end of 2025. While I will continue to be involved with the museum, others will take over the recruiting of volunteers, managing finances and introducing new programs. Someday I’ll try to write down all the many God-winks we have experienced. In the meantime, I know God will continue to watch over this gem of our community and guide the volunteers in their inspirations.
