Knott's Locomotive, 1968
Greetings and salutations! After a couple of days off, I'm back. Let's mix it up (already?!) with some pictures from Knott's Berry Farm.
Today you get to see these two nice photos of the old Number 40, the "Green River". Maybe they mean the Chicago river on Saint Patrick's Day? Besides the fact that Knott's locomotives were authentic and full-sized (no 5/8 scale for Walter Knott!), they ran right through the park with nary a barrier, allowing you to get remarkably close to those powerful machines. 
What a beauty she is, and I love having the Calico Mine Train in the background!
7 comments:
welcome back, Major!
a beautiful pair of pictures of that there choo-choo...before i read your note i was thinking "man, that train looks like it runs right thru the park" when i saw the ppl standing on both sides of the tracks. i can honestly say ive never encountered that before.
hope you had a wonderful holiday! :D
Awesome photos of the #40, those Knott's Trains are huge compared to Disneylands. You should see the Knott's employees (CM's?) scramble around to clear the tracks when it run right thru the walk-way! Thanks and welcome back!
Yep, you could walk right up to the engine and stick your finger in a scalding hot pipe - which never happened by the way cause that was before people got their brains bred out of them.
No barriers, no railing, not even a yellow line on the asphalt. How did we ever survive?
*IMPORTANT NOTICE*
Jerry Beck over at CartoonBrew.com has just put up a link to a fascinating home movie made by a family that won a contest to visit Disneyland in 1956.
Although technically a "home movie" the results are very professional. The film is in color, has narration, and charmingly documents life in the 50's and the trip to the newly-opened theme park.
When you have a half hour of quiet time, click on the link below. It was a 5 day expense paid vacation, and of the 30 minute running time, Disneyland takes up the last 15 minutes.
Do not miss this film.
http://www.archive.org/details/barstow_disneyland_dream_1956
never thought to ask...
is this still the case, where the train runs thru the park like this?
my daughter wants to go back to Disneyland this year (if we can swing it), and i was hoping that the next time we do make it to Anaheim we would go to Knott's Berry Farm
great find on that video, Katella...thanks for sharing it
its still hard to imagine a time when things like a donkey ride or panning for gold (at KBF) would have held the interest of anyone, much less kids, as a way to spend the day. we have come such a long way when it comes to what "amuses" ppl...
My daughter and I just returned from Knott's Berry Farm last week. The train still runs through the center of the park and we both had a great time panning for gold.
Don't write the kids off just yet, when given the chance they still seem to enjoy many of the things we did.
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