I attended the 50th anniversary of the Knott's Berry Farm (Buena Park, CA) narrow gauge railway on Saturday and took a ride on the "Edna" and "Durango" cars which are generally only open for walk-throughs by local school children. The "Edna" was recently refurbished inside and both we painted outside. During the ride, a discussion insued regarding a theme park holding artifacts as opposed to a RR Museum. Those present concluded that the cars have been better cared for the last fifty years than what may have been the case in many other places. Also, Knott's is considering making Rail Enthusiasts Day an annual event, but they need to hear from us.

wyld@oc-net.com

I concur.

L.A. seemed like my second for a few years because of frequent business trips. About 18 months ago, the Mrs. & I went down to Knotts. The RR crew was very friendly, took us on a shop/Edna/Goose tour and all.

I was very impressed.

And, yes, it is easy to speculate a worse fate for this equipment. The restoration and documentation done on Edna was outstanding. They really endeavored to LEARN about the car rathern than make ASSUMPTIONS about her. Impressive.

Who knows? Maybe some day Lathrop and I will hit the lottery. He can be Otto Mears, I'll be W.H. Jackson and I can photograph him rebuilding the RGS... and maybe Edna can come home for a weekend? :-)

Rob Davis

Ahead of the Torch
trains@robertjohndavis.com

OK railfans, who is gonna post photos?

cooltrains@usarails.com

What is amazing about the transformation of the Knotts railroad is that this is occurring under the aegis of a for-profit modern theme park, most of which have torn out even their phony diesel-powered "steam" trains. I haven't been there since 1954, but from all I've heard and read, the RR is much better today than it was then.


bobyar2001@yahoo.com

In this case look who owns Knott's, Cedar Fair L.P.(CF fort short). CF also owns a few other parks which include Dorney Park in Allentown, PA, Worlds of Fun in Kanas City, MO, ValleyFair in Shakopee, MN, Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH and just added this past year Michigan's Adventure in Muskegon. All have some type of operating railroad except for Michigan's Adventure and they are adding that this season. Presently it is not known what they are installing, but I hope they follow the lead of other parks in the family like Cedar Point, Knott's and Worlds of Fun which all operate 36" Narrow Gauge Steam. CF believes an operating railroad is a one of the the many keys in making a great park and all of their parks are outstanding.

> What is amazing about the transformation of
> the Knotts railroad is that this is
> occurring under the aegis of a for-profit
> modern theme park, most of which have torn
> out even their phony diesel-powered
> "steam" trains. I haven't been
> there since 1954, but from all I've heard
> and read, the RR is much better today than
> it was then.


Cedar Fair, L.P. (NYSE: “FUN”) is a publicly trade

lumpy72@msn.com

Dare I suggest that the few of us out there who speculate in stocks might consider Cedar Fair as an option in their portfolios? If the operation does that well and respects steam operation this much, would it not make sense to support them finacially this way as well?

You better believe UP (and CP) would be in mine if I could afford to do so.

TJG



Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

Bob,

it does not surprise me quite as much. The Knott's folks have had their hands in restoring/maintaining at least parts of the ghost town of Calico some 6 miles east of Barstow, CA. During our honeymoon, my wife and I stopped at both places, Calico first, Knott's a few days later - well worth a visit, both of them. They'd be slaughtering the theme of their park if they'd do away with the train, no matter what the considerations may be for other parks.

Cheers, Jochen

JochenTrost@cs.com