Do you love trains and the railroad? Then come on out and learn to work on the real thing.
Here at the Toledo, Lake Erie & Western Railway and Museum, we have a new name for the folks who keep the line in shape. Our maintenance-of-way team is now The Clover Leaf Crew. For the new year in 2027 we officially open the Youth MOW Gang, the youth program of that team. If you are a young member who wants a real place in the work that keeps this railroad standing, this is how you get on the crew and learn the job.
We started talking about a youth program earlier in 2026. Then a member in this age range came out and worked a day with the maintenance-of-way crew. That was our test. Could a youth program hold up on an actual work day? It could. A second member in the same age range came along later, and we folded that person into the same work. Those two showed us what this program could be. Now we are opening it up to more members, ages 14 through 20, under the new name.
We wanted families to hear about it before Applebutter Fest on Sunday, October 11, 2026, so you have time to talk it over at the kitchen table. Come find us and ask about the youth program. We will have some information at our tent. A family membership is required for parents who have minors that want to participate and the parent packet needs to be completed. For those over 18, a “Regular Active” membership is all you need. The same information is in the museum programming hub.
Who it is for
As we stated before, this program is for TLE&W members, ages 14 through 20, who want to learn maintenance-of-way and the trades that go with it, as part of The Clover Leaf Crew. Show up. Listen. Stay cooperative. Work respectfully beside the more experienced people in the program and the adults on the crew. If that sounds like you, you will fit right in.
It is a good way for our younger members to get involved, take on some responsibility, and pick up skills you will not get from a screen: ties, tools, shop habits, and keeping your head up on the right-of-way.
That is Preserve · Restore · Educate, said the way we mean it. We keep the line. We put our hands on the work that restores it. We teach the trades that carry Northwest Ohio’s railroad heritage forward. Railroad history comes alive when the next person on the crew knows how the work gets done.
Safety comes first
If you follow our YouTube channel, you may have caught the mid-season round table from August 2026. Safety came up, and it belongs right here.
Sawyer, one of the young members who helped us try this out, put it the plain way. “On every job, whoever is in charge brings the safety glasses, the gloves, and the rest of the PPE, so nobody is standing there wondering what they were supposed to bring. On the ground or in the seat, you know where your people are. You tell the operator what you are about to do. The operator tells you. A lockout means hands off until the person in the zone is clear. Out at Patton Road, that looked like waiting until everybody was in the clear before anybody swung rail.”
That is how The Clover Leaf Crew works, and that is how this program will work. Same rules. We follow industry-standard safety rules, and we talk about them out on the line, not just in a meeting. If you are not ready to work that way, you do not stay on the crew that day. No hard feelings. That is just how we keep people whole.
Hear it from Sawyer and the rest of the crew in Round Table Discussion — August 2026
What “on the job” means here
You learn while the real work is happening. Participants learn beside the more experienced peers in the program, then beside the adults on The Clover Leaf Crew.
What to bring
If we are working through the day, bring a meal. Bring water. Bring your PPE — the safety gear that keeps you in the work, not standing off to the side. We’ll send out an email once your packet is approved containing information on the things you need.
Come ready, the same way the rest of The Clover Leaf Crew does.
Membership, the portal, and parents
Sign-up is through the member resources portal. Parents / participants fill out a form before a minor works on the property. That form says how the person will take part. Families set different limits, and we will honor them. Some parents are fine with their teen driving out and working the day’s assignments. Others only want their child on site if a parent is there too. Say so on the form. We would rather know.
How to start
- Join TLE&W on a family membership. If you are 18 years of age or older, you can join on your own Regular Active plan.
- Sign in to the member resources portal and fill out the form.
See us at Applebutter Fest on Sunday, October 11, 2026, and ask about the youth program. We will get you pointed the right way.
Questions: contact us. Volunteer rules have not changed. Railroad work still takes an active membership.
We hope to see you on the property in January, with The Clover Leaf Crew.
Preserve · Restore · Educate.
Preserving Northwest Ohio’s Railroad Heritage.
