I have always been interested in Amusement Park Trains. Yesterday I had the chance to go to the local amusement park (Knoebles Grove in Elysburg, Pa.) . The park has two ride - around - trains. One is steam powered , more less for little kids, and the other is gas powered. First , to discuss the steam powered train. This train rides around a small section of trackage in the child section of the park. It has one locomotive and about eight cars. The locomotive is said to be have built in the 1800’s!! It is nick - named “Old Smokey”. It is made so that there is a loop at each end of the railroad. That way the train can run both directions through the station. The station is between the loops. The loops use very little spring switches! That pretty much covers the steam powered train. Now on to the gas powered trains . These trains run on a very scenic one and one half mile round trip. There are three sets of trains (Two steam locomotive powered gas turbine sets, and one diesel gas turbine set.) and two extra locomotives ( Two diesel gas turbines.) . The line consists of a very nice station built on a curve, two tunnels, a covered roof for the trains, and a nice sized yard. They usually at least operate two sets of trains at once, and on the weekends they end up using three! So you end up meeting the other train along the line. It is a very nice, breezy ride! That wraps the ride - around - trains up. Now on to The Anthracite Museum. They had a lot of railroad equipment at their Anthracite Railroad Museum. To name a few pieces of their rolling stock: #99 - An old mine steam locomotive, an old motorcar hidden almost in the brush - A very strange looking unit!, An old mine unit (Like the unit at the Pioneer Tunnel in Ashland, Pa.) ,a coach used to transport the miners around the mine, and some freight cars.

Any other amusement park trains interesting, Aaron

norfolk_western_611@hotmail.com

Were the steam engines really steam engines?

-Alan

AlanL759@aol.com

> Were the steam engines really steam engines?

> -Alan

The Children's engine he described is a Crown Metal Products 15in guage 4-4-0. It has 1865 on the cab sides, but it was really built during the 1960s or 1970s.

According to J. David Conrad, the mine lokie is Lehigh Valley Coal #99, a sole remaining example of an engine built by LVC in 1924. Like many mining engines, it has the unusual guage of 48in.

-James Hefner
Hebrews 10:20a

Surviving World Steam Locomotives
james1@pernet.net

> I have always been interested in Amusement
> Park Trains. Yesterday I had the chance to
> go to the local amusement park (Knoebles
> Grove in Elysburg, Pa.) . ..[snip]

Hello Aaron,
I'm not sure where youi got your information on the equipment at Knoebels Grove, but you are a little off the mark. First of all, Ole Smokey is a 16" gauge Crown Metal Products Co. steam locomotive built in the late 1950's or early 1960's. Knoebel's only says it looks like a train from the 1880's, they never said it was built then! The 16' gauge trains at the other side of the park are NOT gas or diesel TURBINES! They don't have any jet powered locomotives! They are plain old internal combustion mechanical drive amusement park engines by regular manufacturers. Check out Matt Conrad's Park Trains web site for info on all of the equipment there. See the link below.
Yours truly, Keith

Park Trains
keith.h.taylor@att.net

> I have always been interested in Amusement
> Park Trains. Yesterday I had the chance to
> go to the local amusement park (Knoebles
> Grove in Elysburg, Pa.) . The park has two
> ride - around - trains. One is steam powered
> , more less for little kids, and the other
> is gas powered. First , to discuss the steam
> powered train. This train rides around a
> small section of trackage in the child
> section of the park. It has one locomotive
> and about eight cars. The locomotive is said
> to be have built in the 1800Â’s!! It is nick
> - named “Old Smokey”. It is made so that
> there is a loop at each end of the railroad.
> That way the train can run both directions
> through the station. The station is between
> the loops. The loops use very little spring
> switches! That pretty much covers the steam
> powered train. Now on to the gas powered
> trains . These trains run on a very scenic
> one and one half mile round trip. There are
> three sets of trains (Two steam locomotive
> powered gas turbine sets, and one diesel gas
> turbine set.) and two extra locomotives (
> Two diesel gas turbines.) . The line
> consists of a very nice station built on a
> curve, two tunnels, a covered roof for the
> trains, and a nice sized yard. They usually
> at least operate two sets of trains at once,
> and on the weekends they end up using three!
> So you end up meeting the other train along
> the line. It is a very nice, breezy ride!
> That wraps the ride - around - trains up.
> Now on to The Anthracite Museum. They had a
> lot of railroad equipment at their
> Anthracite Railroad Museum. To name a few
> pieces of their rolling stock: #99 - An old
> mine steam locomotive, an old motorcar
> hidden almost in the brush - A very strange
> looking unit!, An old mine unit (Like the
> unit at the Pioneer Tunnel in Ashland, Pa.)
> ,a coach used to transport the miners around
> the mine, and some freight cars.

> Any other amusement park trains interesting,
> Aaron
A little off subject but about ten years ago there used to be a park steam loco in the parking lot of Frontier Town in up state NY anyone know where it went?
Al

azubal@nycap.rr.com

Very informative post Aaron. How long have you been interested in park trains? I have enjoyed looking at trains since I was a kid, but I never had the opportunity to get involved with railroading until after I got out of high school.

I have been fortunate to become friends with a man who rescued two amusement park trains. They run on 18 inch gage, 12 pound rail.

One was built by Cagney in 1924 and it looks like a steam engine, but is actually powered by a 1926 Chevy motor (not the original, obviously) and has a transmission linked to the drivers. The other locomotive looks like a diesel, but it is powered by an air-cooled Wisconsin engine. The diesel was converted from a different gage track. It needs to have its wheel profile changed, because the flanges hit the bolt heads on the track. Only the Cagney is in service right now.

It is a lot of work to keep the track maintained. We work all day to change crossties and shovel ballast. We drink a lot of iced tea on a hot day. When evening comes, we cook hotdogs and hamburgers on a campfire and light the switch lanterns in the railyard. After dinner, we hook up the passenger car and go for a ride to cool off. It's a lot of hard work, but it is very rewarding and lots of fun when you are with your friends.

Keep us posted if you get a chance to ride any other park trains. There are a bunch more to see.

Andy

> I have always been interested in Amusement
> Park Trains. Yesterday I had the chance to
> go to the local amusement park (Knoebles
> Grove in Elysburg, Pa.) . The park has two
> ride - around - trains. One is steam powered
> , more less for little kids, and the other
> is gas powered. First , to discuss the steam
> powered train. This train rides around a

tnold@bigfoot.com

I believe the Davenport 0-4-0T has gone to the Long Island No. 39 group on Long Island. Frontier Town also had a Porter 0-4-0T that had been rebuilt into a 2-4-0 tender loco, that they operated into the 1970s, plus a gasoline Plymouth whose hood had been replaced with a cylindrical "boiler". When I was last there, the Plymouth was still running. One had to pay a rather steep entrance price to get in to see if the Porter was still there, which I declined. The train's elderly engineer didn't seem to know the difference between the real steam engine and the fake Plymouth, so I didn't find out if the Porter was still there.

The two steamers were once owned by William Willock, who once had a two-foot setup on Long Island, later moved to Maryland.

A little off subject but about ten years ago
> there used to be a park steam loco in the
> parking lot of Frontier Town in up state NY
> anyone know where it went?
> Al


bobyar2001@yahoo.com

> I believe the Davenport 0-4-0T has gone to
> the Long Island No. 39 group on Long Island.

It appears that the locomotive that is now part of the Railroad Museum of Long Island collection (see link below) isn't the one from Frontier Town. RMLI's engine is a 40-inch gauge Porter 0-4-0T that came from a private collector. Earlier it had been at the Rail City Museum at Sandy Pond, NY.

The late William Willock's private 2 foot gauge Indian Valley RR--formerly of Syosett, NY--had a Porter 0-4-0T that was rebuilt first into a 2-4-2 tender engine and later into a 2-4-0. That locomotive did go to the Frontier Land park in NY. His Davenport 0-4-0T went to his home in Chestertown, MD. It was listed as being there in 1988 in Dave Conrad's directory. Following his death his vast collection of steam powered machinery--but not the Davenport loco--was donated to the Rough & Tumble Museum at Kinzer, PA. I don't know the dispostion of the Davenport loco.

Regards,
Jim Robinson


RMLI narrow gauge 0-4-0T

The more I watch this board, the more I think that all who enjoy railroad museums find amusement park trains really facinating. I am glad to find out more about your experiences.

And I would like to introduce you to the parktrains group at Yahoo. It is a great place to discuss these things. Lots of well informed people and an nice environment to ramble on about these things.


PARKTRAINS DISCUSSION GROUP

Years ago I went to Silver Dollar City in Arkansas and there were a few steam locomotives there. At least one was operating. There was one static that you saw while you were riding the train, it was set up to appear like a wreck in the woods. The other was in the park so that kids could climb all over it. These were non-standard gauge locos. Has anybody seen these?
Alan

adofmsu@aol.com

Quick updates:

The two RRs at Knoebels: The one line was indeed live steam. They might or might not be running Crown locos now, but in my lifetime they ran with a handsome antique Cagney 4-4-0 live-steamer. That live-steam loop (not the long one through the woods) formerly had a wooden covered bridge as part of its route (which apparently doubled as the "tunnel" and storage shed); it was destroyed, along with a covered pedestrian bridge, in the 1972 flooding after Tropical Storm Agnes.

No guarantees, but I will wager you that the 99 at the Anthracite Museum was a de-saddletanked mine loco, also #ed "99", that was on display at Knoebels Grove for decades.

Gee, sounds like it's time for me to take a trip back up there. Hey, Kurt, wanna go ride the carousel and catch a brass ring?

LNER4472@bcpl.net

Is anyone familiar with the three foot narrow gauge railroad located at Cedar Point Amusement Park? I understand a saddle tank 0-4-0 and tender (Porter #4375), owned by M. A. Patout / Enterprise sugar cane plantation, was leased to Cedar Point for a few years in the early 1960's to be rebuilt to operating condition, but it was only used as static display when the park soon purchased other locomotives. Does anyone know if this loco was really placed on display and viewed by visitors at Cedar Point? If it was, are there any further details available regarding the display? I would like photos if possible to accompany others I have collected.

greggwallace@home.com

> Is anyone familiar with the three foot
> narrow gauge railroad located at Cedar Point
> Amusement Park? I understand a saddle tank
> 0-4-0 and tender (Porter #4375), owned by M.
> A. Patout / Enterprise sugar cane
> plantation, was leased to Cedar Point for a
> few years in the early 1960's to be rebuilt
> to operating condition, but it was only used
> as static display when the park soon
> purchased other locomotives. Does anyone
> know if this loco was really placed on
> display and viewed by visitors at Cedar
> Point? If it was, are there any further
> details available regarding the display? I
> would like photos if possible to accompany
> others I have collected.

Hi CAmeron,

I was just up at Cedar Point in mid June. There were several loco's there. I think the one from the sugar cane was traded to one of the Disney theme parks for one of their locos.

I had corresponded with Randy Catri CMO of the railroad, and went to visit them not long after.

One of their loco's is derilict, in need of a new boiler, and is on the trail to the "Frontier Town" part of the park. Other interesting thing is, that they have an Aultman-Taylor bevel gear traction engine,as well as an 9 1/2 x 10 Frick traction engine under a pole building, also along the trail.

I shot some video of the whole operation while I was there. Should come in handy this winter when nothing is open.

Mark


bbjimbo@yahoo.com

Could it have been Silver Dollar City in Branson Mo. just a few miles from the Arkansas line? If so was there for my annual visit last fall and they are still running at least two engines. I don't have the details with me as to their lineage. The one on display has been moved and fenced off but is still highly visible. The parts of one are still displayed as a "wreck". They are listed on Wes Barris site also.

> Years ago I went to Silver Dollar City in
> Arkansas and there were a few steam
> locomotives there.

Surviving Steam Locomotives
rrtp@midwest.net