Even More Knott's Berry Farm RR Postcards

Whoo-hoo! It's time for a FIFTH "Knott's Berry Farm railroad on postcards" blog post, courtesy of GDB pal Steve DeGaetano! If you want to know something about steam locomotives, he's the guy to ask. I was going to write more, but Steve has done all the hard work (as usual), so let's get to his text!

I’ve been telling the Major for months now that I don’t think there are any more Knott’s Berry Farm Calico & Ghost Town Railroad postcards to add to my collection. Boy, was I wrong. I’ve got five new-to-me postcards today, a couple I’ve seen before, but the last three seem pretty rare, and the final one blew my socks off.

The first one was graciously donated to me by Junior Gorilla Mike Cozart. Obviously, this one differs completely from all the previous and subsequent postcards in that it is an illustration, but its sole focus is the “Calico Railroad,” and it definitely needs to be here for the sake of completeness. Obviously featuring Red Cliff in all her brown, blue and yellow glory. I’m sure Chuck has this one in his collection.

To be honest, the stagecoach “robbery” is the focus of the caption on the back of this card, noting that the “old narrow gauge passenger train escaped this time.” But I think it’s a nice-enough head-on view of No. 40 to merit inclusion in my collection.

Now we’re getting into some more rarified territory. Also obtained from Mr. Cozart is this nice view of No. 40 stopped in Calico Square. Former parlor car “Chama,” coupled to the engine, has been converted into a combination baggage/passenger car. Locomotive Gold Nugget has features I had not noticed before—a reddish cab roof and yellow-painted window muntins on the cab window (I think I’m using that term correctly. I’m afraid to say I went down the mullion/muntin rabbit hole for this post). While an older photo, the card appears to have been made in the 1980s, sharing its gold border with two other cards posted previously. A larger version of this picture appears in Christopher Merrit’s seminal work, “Knott’s Preserved,” which is selling on Amazon now for the low, low price of $346.14

This next card popped up in my eBay search just a few days ago, and I have never seen it before. It’s a pretty dramatic shot of the Ghost Town & Calico’s second locomotive, now wearing her original 1881 name, Green River, and D&RGW number, 340.  With her headlight blazing during daylight (not a normal practice), floating on a cloud of steam from her cylinders, and a complete lack of park guests, it’s a shot unlike any others I’ve seen. I’m guessing this is one of Knott’s newer offerings, judging by the very prototypical paint scheme and the fancy gold Knott’s lettering in the upper right corner.

Finally, the last card—and a true unicorn when it comes to the Ghost Town and Calico Railroad. I apologize for the extra wordiness, but this really needs a bit of explaining. 

What you see below is one of the true oddities of GT&C history. This scalloped-edged card features a 1903 Baldwin-built locomotive called a “K-27,” a locomotive with two small wheels in front, eight “drive wheels,” and a small set of two wheels under the cab. It’s one of only two such locomotives in existence. It has about 10,000 more pounds of “tractive effort” than the two smaller Knott’s engines, so it is really huge. The back of the card says Knott’s purchased this engine in in 1971, but most on-line sources say it was 1973. Colloquially known as a “Mud Hen,” Knott’s rebuilt the engine and converted it from coal fuel to diesel oil. The only giveaway that it’s an “amusement park” locomotive are the two brass boiler bands—otherwise it’s in a very prototypical paint scheme. What makes this card so special is that Knott’s hardly ever used this locomotive—Wikipedia says “it saw little or no use” at Knott’s (this postcard showing it in operation notwithstanding), so being captured on a postcard makes it quite unusual. It was simply too large and too heavy to manage Knott’s pretty-tight curves. It’s unique in that the frame of the locomotive is outside the wheels—Imagine a bike wheel in a fork—opposed to a car wheel. Realizing it could never operate safely on the GT&C, it was sold to the Huckleberry Railroad near Flint, Michigan in 1981, currently awaiting an overhaul.

Okay, that’s all I have for now. Knott’s was always very proud of their little railroad, featuring it in more postcard images than even the Disneyland trains! I’ll be keeping my eye out for any more that may turn up, so maybe down the road there will be another installment featuring the Ghost Town & Calico Railroad.

THANKS SO MUCH to Steve DeGaetano for sharing his increasingly-rare postcards, and for taking the time to do research and share what he has learned with all of us. I know I will happily welcome a "part six", should that ever happen!