Ghost Town and Calico Railway

Ghost Town & Calico Railroad

Ghost Town & Calico Railroad RGS#41

The Ghost Town & Calico Railroad is a heritage railroad within Knott's Berry Farm, a theme park in Buena Park, California.

Unlike many other theme park railroads, the locomotives and most of the other equipment of the Ghost Town & Calico - Knott's Scenic Route have been restored to original paint schemes and appearance on Colorado's Rio Grande Southern Railroad and Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Also unlike most theme park railroads used as transportation, it travels in a circle and riders disembark at the same place they alight - Calico Depot.

Walter Knott began acquiring the authentic vintage equipment in 1951 and work began to grade and lay 3 ft  (914 mm) narrow gauge track for a grand circle rail route for recently acquired rolling stock with service starting that November.

The railroad's opening ceremony commenced on January 12, 1952. The roster includes two Class C-19 Consolidation (2-8-0) locomotives, both originally constructed for the Denver & Rio Grande in 1881. When retired from service in Colorado, they were D&RGW C-19 engines No. 340 Green River (renamed Gold Nugget No. 40 for many years on the GT&C) from the Denver & Rio Grande Western and RGS No. 41 Red Cliff (renamed Walter K at the 60th anniversary ceremony 1-12-2012) from the Rio Grande Southern.

Galloping Goose #3

"Galloping Goose" motor rail buses kept the Rio Grande Southern railroad viable from the 1930s by carrying mail until they were used to scrap their own line in 1953. Knott also purchased this efficient and unique rail vehicle, the RGS Motor #3 which soldiers on at the GT&C on quieter days during the off-season - serving it's original purpose when patronage did not justify hostling a steam engine to pull an entire train. It's strange appearance results from the thrifty RGS re-using and re-purposing obsolete equipment which more lucrative railroads would sell or discard. It is "kitbashed" from it's original Pierce-Arrow limousine frame, radiator and cowling which was converted to rail use, 1939 Wayne military-surplus bus body with both left and right doors, a shop-built freight box (converted with trolley seats for passenger service in 1950) which articulates on the kingpin over the chain driven center truck. It's Pierce-Arrow gasoline engine has been replaced, first with a war-surplus GMC gasoline engine at RGS, then at Knott's with a Cummings Diesel engine supported with an I-beam frame extension salvaged from the demolished "WindJammer" rollercoaster.

In late 1973, the park received ex-D&RGW K-27 #464, a Mikado (2-8-2) locomotive. However, due to clearance issues, Knotts later donated the locomotive to the current owner and place of operation, the Huckleberry Railroad in Flint, Michigan.

Also rostered are the Business car B-20 Edna (formerly "San Juan") used on sidings and spurs as a portable office and temporary home by Otto Mears, president of the Rio Grande Southern while making track orders, the parlor car Durango restored in 2011, a wooden box car (display), a short (formerly a "bobber") caboose, a gondola (converted from a flat car for open-air passenger seating), and a stock or cattle car (converted from a gondola, now fitted with wheelchair lift.) For passenger service the locomotives would haul a yellow combination baggage/coach No. 103 Calico with arrows embedded near the baggage door (originally the parlor car Chama it was converted to combination car at Knott's in 1954. Now the arrows and numbers are removed and it is painted in heritage period Pullman-green livery of D&RGW) and several more vintage closed-vestibule wooden passenger coaches filled with delighted guests on round trip excursions when the route opened on January 12, 1952. The Durango parlor car, the Silverton observation sleeper and the No. B-20 Edna were held with the caboose on sidings during normal operation. A journey on the Ghost Town & Calico - Knott's Scenic Route features a trip around Ghost Town and Boardwalk areas of Knott's, punctuated by a holdup by masked robbers, who have been known to announce their intentions by shouting, "This is a tax audit!" or similar tongue-in-cheek comments. Whether in the heavyweight steam train or the light duty Galloping Goose No. 3, the highlight most guests remember are the train robbers of the Knott's Scenic Route of the Ghost Town & Calico Railroad.

See also

• Calico, CA
• Calico & Odessa Railroad
• Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad
• Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad
• List of heritage railroads in the United States

External links

• Extensive "On Track" Magazine article
• Knott's Berry Farm website