I've been thinking about the old "Tombstone Junction" amusement park that used to operate in Cumberland Falls, KY until 1991. For those of you that don't know this park had a standard gauge circle line specially built and used an ALCO 0-6-0 formerly of the Union Railroad in PA and the Morehead and North Fork in Clearfield, KY to pull trains.

It got me wondering has any other amusement park in the United States ever used real live standard gauge steam other than this operation? Yes I'm aware of Stone Mountain (which I don't count as an amusement park) and yes I'm aware of all the parks that have narrow gauge engines and former plantation engines, etc.

I'm asking has STANDARD gauge steam ever been used in an amusement park other than Tombstone Junction?

Dollywood and the Tweetsie Railroad come to mind.


***Whoops I just realized that they are narrow gauge....sorry***

The answer hinges to some extent on how you define "amusement park". Dry Gulch Junction near Wytheville, VA, was a "wild west" country music attraction which featured a standard gauge train ride of sorts up the side of the mountain with a pair of switchbacks. It closed in 1981 after I-77 diverted traffic off the local roads, although the property and a few of the buildings remain and there have been attempts to resuscitate, sans railroad, as the "Virginia City" frontier town.

Clark's Trading Post in New Hampshire is another one that comes to mind.

Alan Maples

Was not Tombstone Junction a former strip mine and the line the prior mine branch?

Nope, Tombstone Junction wasn't built on a strip mine nor were the tracks a former branch.

Tombstone Junction started life in the 1960's as the "Cumberland Falls Scenic Railroad" as was built specifically for tourism to compliment the Cumberland Falls and the Cumberland Falls Hotel nearby. The line was built by filling in a small valley with riff-raff and just building a circle of track to go around on top.

From the way track was laid I think the design specs pretty much included "throw down track in that direction about a mile turn around and come back."

I'll add one more, the short-lived Swamp Rabbit Railroad in Cleveland, South Carolina, which operated Cliffside 2-6-2 #110 on a couple of miles of old Greenville & Northern track and was part of the Echo Valley amusement park. Mid-1960's.

Alan Maples

I know this operation wasn't an amusement park, but Sloan Cornell's first operation on his dairy farm property, the Blairsville and Penns View Mountain (?), was a local attraction in and of itself in SW PA as it was an isolated operation on his own property complete with its own station.

Rob Gardner

More "heritage town" than amusement park, and not in the U.S. but close: Ft. Steele, near Cranbrook British Columbia operates a 2.5 mile standard gauge loop featuring 2-6-2 #1077, Pacific Coast Shay #115, and #397 "Dunrobin", a British-built 0-4-4. Also features horse-drawn carriage rides, blacksmithing & leatherworking demos, gold panning, vintage buildings and a theater.

Riff-raff? ;) You mean like town drunks and ladies of the evening? Sorry, I don't usually pick on typos, but that one gave me a laugh.

Two operations come to mind, though I'm not sure if either really qualify. The Conneaut one might, since it was in conjunction with the park.

GTW 2-8-2 4070 ran excursions at Conneaut Lake Park for a while in the late 60's and early 70's. I don't know much more than that, and by the time my parents and I visited the park to ride it they had ceased operation.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/paleoferro ... 101704861/

The other one wasn't really part of the amusement park, but rather a steam preservation operation that operated adjacent to the amusement park. That would be the Williams Grove Historical Steam Engine Association, which is just across the creek from where the Williams Grove amusement park was located.
http://wghsea.org/railroad.aspx

I say "was" not because the Historical Society shut down, they're doing great, but rather due to the fact the amusement park has closed. I don't know if it's been demolished yet or not.

I rode the roller coaster there in 1980, and it was the scariest coaster ride I've ever been on. Not because it was the tallest or fastest, but because I was literally afraid it might fall apart. It would sway and bend and flex with every run, and the wood looked pretty tired. Coasters are supposed to be scary, but you're also supposed to know that in reality they're actually safe. This one didn't have that re-assurance.

On a related historical note, I recall seeing photos of some ancient 4-4-0's that were operated at Kennywood, PA (near Pittsburgh) as a part of a wild west show back in the early 1900's. I don't think they offered rides on them, instead they were part of something like a stunt show? This was a long time ago, they vanished ages ago, probably prior to World War 2, and the info with the photo was quite vague.

Bob,

20 years later that roller coaster hadn't gotten any better. During an early 2000's visit a friend of mine rode it By then there were only two cars left to the train, perhaps that's all that the mechanism could lift by then. The chain lift was controlled by what looked for all the world like an old streetcar control stand!

Williams Grove was a neat old park, and I was sorry to see it go. But with the decrepit roller coaster, fun house with rotating barrel and shifting sidewalks and a miniature train with tracks spiked to the grass, it was probably an insurance nightmare!

Dave Crosby

Now that you mention it, I remember that controller. Never did figure out whether it was from a streetcar or not, and whether it was the original controller.

As for insurance, yeah, you're right about that. If they had any, I'm guessing the insurance agent never actually visited the place, either that or there was some kind of clause in there about "does not cover amusement park rides" or some such. :)

I'm joking, but not entirely. I am familiar with a railroad construction company that worked, for the first year of operation, with an insurance policy that excluded any work within 50 feet of a railroad track. (i.e. everything they do...) When they finally realized the error, they asked the agent "Exactly what did you think we do?" and got some kind of non-committal that essentially translated to "I really didn't care as long you paid the policy!" Had they had a claim, they would have been un-insured, even though they made an effort to bind coverage.

Greenfield Village at The Henry Ford in Dearborn, MI would fit the bill here. More of a historical village than "amusement park", but it's close enough.

I remember visiting Paragon Park at Nantasket Beach, Mass in 1951 and noting that some of the rides had streetcar-type controllers. Thinking about it many years later, I suspect they were either Type-R (often found on cranes such as LARY 9225 at OERM) or 3-phase industrial motor controllers (possibly like the original Angels Flight funicular in Los Angeles), although they could have been Type-K controllers blocked for series-only operation. Most likely some of the earlier "electric parks" were powered of the electric railway system (600 VDC), and if they kept going after the trolley line was abandoned, would either have to find another source of DC or install AC motors. One "electric park" that has outlived its railway by over 50 years is the Lagoon north of Salt Lake City, which was once controlled by the Bamberger Railroad.

Electric motor controllers that resemble streetcar controllers were used for a number of different purposes beginning about 100 years ago. I have seen them used to control draw and swing bridges. Perhaps the strangest controlled the main curtain in a very large theater. The main curtain and the asbestor curtain were raised before the show began and closed after it ended. These curtains were very heavy; altough well counter-weighted, they used large electric motors.

Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion in Rollag, MN runs three miles of 4' 8 1/2" along with a former Soo Line 0-6-0 and an 0-4-0.