Folks,
At one time all of the Six Flags chain of amusement parks used real steam locomotives. But now, as far as I know the only one that still does is the Six Flags Over Texas. They have a couple of sugar cane locomotives from the M. Potout Plantations in Louisiana.

Has anyone heard anything about them recently?

Ted Miles, narrow gauge fan

A quick scroll through Instagram shows the railroad operating this past season.

Six Flags St. Louis still operates steam as well, a 36” gauge propane fired crown.

Here’s a handy theme park steam resource - http://www.trainchasers.com/theme-park-steam.html

You may be surprised to see how many theme parks operate historical locomotives including a few pre-1900 locomotives like the #2 at six flags Texas, the #3 at Disneyland and both of the D&RGW locomotives at Knotts.
O

The railroad at Six Flags Texas is shut down this season because they've been busy building a new ride. From what I've heard the railroad is sorely missed. And will return this year.

The #2 is an 1897 HK Porter and is a delight to operate. A nice bark can be heard from her stack if you work her hard enough.

#1 is a 1901 Alco, but was built by one of the companies that formed Alco before Alco was formed. She was mostly complete, but was finished under the Alco banner. I can't recall the company now, and I haven't worked there in some time, but I still have a few connnections on the inside.

Hope that helps.

MS

Cedar Fair operates several steam locomotives, a mix of modern Crowns along with antique's.
Cedar Point-Current roster consists of two Vulcans, one Porter,and a Davenport built up from several different locomotives.
Kings Island- Two 36" gauge Crowns built in the early 1970's
Worlds of Fun-One 36" gauge Crown.
Knotts Berry Farm- Two 36" gauge Consolidations (ex RGS, ex D&RGW built in 1880) and one 24" Crown built in the 1980's.

The Knotts operation is one of the best operations in the country regarding historic equipment. Pre-1900 locomotives, pulling wooden coaches all from the same road. Only modernization is the switch from burning coal.

Correction -- these two locomotives were built in 1881. The number 41 is ex-RGS, org D&RG. Tthe 340 was always D&RG/D&RGW -- it carried the number 40 for a while at Knott's.

Correct. Engine 41 was originally numbered 409 on the D&RG before being traded to RGS in 1916.

When the engines came to Knotts in the early 1950s, they were painted in wildly-gaudy shecmes, and had large fake diamond stacks installed, along with long, pointy wooden pilots and "oil" headlamps. Around 20 - 25 years ago, the crews made concerted efforts with management to rebuild/repaint the engines closer to how they looked in the 1930s/1940s. Boiler tuibe pilots were fabricated; correct white class lamps replaced the amber and red markers; the brass trim was painted. The engines' paint schemes, while still using gloss paint, were far more authentic. The work to more-accurately portray the engines was also applied to the passenger cars. They went from Grande Gold with silver roofs to the more-period-correct Pullman Green with black roofs.

Oh they are Pullman green now!? Shows you how long it’s been since I’ve visited. I need to get back.

Folks,
Of course we know about other amusement parks, with steam operations. I was just asking about the Six Flags Over Texas Park.

I now have some more information. The Six flags #2 is the ex M.A. Patout & Sons #2 a 0-4-0 built by H.K. Porter at Pittsburgh in 1897 as their c/n 1754. She left Patoutville, Louisiana about 1961. She was converted to a 2-4-2 at the Park. She also had the names Mirabeau B. Lamar and Lidia at various times.

Six Flags #1 is the ex M.A. Patout & Sons #3 a 2-4-2 built by ALCO-Dickenson Locomotive Works in 10-1901 as their c/n 1280. She was converted to an 0-4-4T+T
at the Park. She also had the names General Sam Houston and Maryann at various times.

I too enjoyed the locomotives and cars at Knotts Berry Farm; I am glad I was there after the circus train colors went away!

Ted Miles, CRRM Member

You have it backwards for the #1, but thank you for remimding me that she was a Dickson loco.

The #1, or General Sam Houston was built as a 0-4-4T+T and was rebuilt as a 2-4-2 at the park. There's a picture of her as a 0-4-4T+T in Louisianna that hangs in the Texas Depot inside the park. That picture is floating around in Googland and I'll see if I can find it and share it here.

UPDATE: This isn't the picture I was thinking of, but it'll work. In the meantime, I'll try to get a picture of the one in the station.

https://www.steamlocomotive.com/misc/im ... night1.jpg

MS

The diesel converted Porter that sat for years in the deadline at Six Flags in Prince George's county Maryland was sold to a private (farm, somewhere in Florida that operates several of these converts?) owner last year.

Bob

That would be Kirby Family Farm in Williston. They do a ton of charity work for underprivileged kids in northwest Florida.They open to the public for special events several times a year.They also have one of the engines from the old Opryland theme park, I believe that it is the "Beatrice".

Kirby Farms narrow gauge equipment roster currently includes:

Great America Park (California) #19 (Operational)

Opryland "Beatrice" (Operational)

Opryland "Elizabeth" (Slated for restoration)

Six Gun Territory "Sam Huston" (Crown 4-4-0) (Saved from Atlanta Underground, slated for cosmetic restoration)

Plymouth diesel switcher (from Busch Gardens Williamsburg)

5 coaches from Great America Park

1 former Opryland conductors coach which came with Beatrice.

The Kirby's would like to know what happened to the rest of Oprylands coaches but there doesn't seem to be any trace of what happened to them.

Does the Plymouth operate?

Are they doing anything with the standard gauge Baldwin RS4-TC? It had previously been promised (a relative term when dealing with the Feds, apparently) to another non-profit, where it would have operated, but was awarded to the Kirby folks in the General Services process.