Thursday, April 07, 2011

Knott's Railroad, 1955

I love good pictures of Knott's from the 1950's!

OK, we've seen plenty of photos of the trains at Knott's, but this one is pretty swell. I'm guessing that the ol' "Red Cliff" is out of commission today, but it is still great eye candy for those who appreciate vintage steam locomotives. And as much as I love Disneyland's scaled-down trains, the full-sized examples at the Berry Farm are impressively huge.


Here's a rare look at the old round house. I'm no expert, but something tells me that this building isn't actually round. It looks appropriately ancient, though it couldn't have been more than about 4 years old (track was being laid for the railroad in 1951). Just think how nice and cool it must have been inside during the summer months! I can only assume that a different structure is now used for housing and refurbishing the trains; if anybody has details, I'd love to hear them!


5 comments:

TokyoMagic! said...

I'm not sure where this was located, but the current round house is located behind Supreme Scream. It can be seen (partially) in this post I did two years ago: Knott's-Roaring 20's Airfield

outsidetheberm said...

Hi Major! Haven't stopped by for a while. Great shots.

That's the original 'roundhouse'. It ran in an east / west direction and was situated close to where the Charleston Fountain is today.

Major Pepperidge said...

TM!, I see it back there! Notice the many windows that can let the scorching air out. I'll bet it's still hot in there most days, though.

Outsidetheberm, glad you liked these today!

Dave said...

I'm not sure if this the same "roundhouse",but I did get a tour of the Knott's roundhouse when I was 9 or 10 in the early 70's.My dang Mom made we wake up early one morning during summer vacation and get dressed,sheesh!Turns out my Uncle Leon showed up to take me to work with him.Leon's full time job was a high school math teacher,but his other job,well,he worked at KBF as a gunfighter/stunt man.Suprise trip to my favorite amusement park and all the cool "behind the scenes" stuff?BEST DAY EVER!

Major Pepperidge said...

Dave, I have to say that your best day ever sounds pretty fantastic! You are lucky to have had such a neat experience. I think you wrote to me once before, because I remember the uncle who was a gunfighter. Could he have still been there in 1975? I have a photo of a guy about to plunge from a rooftop after getting hit with an imaginary bullet!