Ghost Town & Calico Railroad
| Ghost Town & Calico Railroad | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Ghost Town & Calico Railroad RGS#41 | |
| Preserved operations | |
| Owned by | Walter Knott |
| Commercial history | |
| Opened | January 12, 1952 |
| Preservation history | |
The Ghost Town & Calico Railroad is a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gaugeheritage railroad within Knott's Berry Farm, a theme park in Buena Park, California.
Walter Knott began acquiring the authentic vintage equipment in 1951 and work began to grade and lay 3 ft (914 mm) narrow gauge track for a grand circle rail route for recently acquired rolling stock with service starting that November.
The railroad's opening ceremony commenced on January 12, 1952.
Unlike many other theme park railroads, the locomotives and most of the other equipment of the Ghost Town & Calico – Knott's Scenic Route have been restored to original paint schemes and appearance on Colorado's Rio Grande Southern Railroad and Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. Also unlike most theme park railroads used as transportation, it travels in a circle and riders disembark at the same place they alight – Calico Depot.
The roster includes two C-19 2-8-0 Consolidation type steam locomotives, both originally constructed for the Denver & Rio Grande in 1881. When retired from service in Colorado, they were D&RGW No. 340 Green River (formerly D&RG #400, renamed Gold Nugget No. 40 for many years on the GT&C) from the Denver & Rio Grande Western and RGS No. 41 Red Cliff (recently renamed Walter K at the 60th anniversary ceremony January 12, 2012) from the Rio Grande Southern. D&RGW No. 340 has now been rebuilt in 2015 and is being used, switching RGS No. 41 back and forth. Both locomotives are equipped with DRGW 5-chime whistles.
"Galloping Goose" motor rail buses kept the Rio Grande Southern railroad viable from the 1930s by carrying mail until they were used to scrap their own line in 1953. Knott also purchased this efficient and unique rail vehicle, the RGS Motor #3, which soldiers on at the GT&C on quieter days during the off-season – serving its original purpose when patronage does not justify hostling a steam engine to pull an entire train. It is "kitbashed" from its original Pierce-Arrow limousine frame, engine, radiator, cowling and body which was converted to rail use by replacing the front axle with a four-wheel bogie truck and fitting the rear axle with flanged wheels at first, then a bogie truck which linked the powered axle to its mate with a chain drive. A RGS shop-built freight box (converted with trolley seats for passenger service in 1950) articulates on the kingpin over the chain driven center truck. The wooden limousine sedan body was replaced after World War II with a 1939 Wayne military-surplus bus body with both left and right doors. Its Pierce-Arrow gasoline engine has been replaced, first with a war-surplus GMC gasoline engine at the RGS, then at Knott's with first a war-surplus in-line 6 cylinder Diamond-Reo gasoline engine, and since 1997 with a Cummins Diesel engine supported with an I-beam frame extension salvaged from the demolished Windjammer Surf Racers roller coaster.
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