Southern California's Orange County features two narrow gauge railroads in daily service - One at Disneyland and the other at Knott's Berry Farm. The railroad at Knott's, the Ghost Town & Calico, was opened for service in November 1951 to entertain customers waiting in line for Mrs. Knott's famed Chicken Dinner Restaurant. Walter Knott purchased the equipment from both the Rio Grande Southern, which was in the process of shutting down, and the Denver & Rio Grande Western. A pair of C-19 class 2-8-0 Consolidations, former-RGS 41 and ex-D&RGW 340, were given cosmetic backdating (faux oil burning headlamps and balloon stacks, for example) and painted in bright colors to replicate an "Old West" appearance. Both engines were built in 1881. A variety of passenger cars, freight cars, a short caboose, a Pacific Electric depot and even Rio Grande Southern "Galloping Goose" #3 were part of the collection (along with a handful of former RGS employees to maintain the equipment). Engine #40 "Red Cliff" (the former D&RGW 340) is seen here smoking it up as it pulls its train between a row of eucalyptus trees and some of the extra cars (the short D&RGW caboose, a D&RGW high-side gondola and former RGS business car "San Juan") on a bright January 1961 day. The equipment on this railroad has now been restored to a more historical representation. (Frank "Woody" Woodburn photo, Craig Walker collection)
