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The Amusement Park Railroad Thread


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  • 5 weeks later...
On 10/2/2019 at 12:23 PM, SonofBaconator said:

Beat me to it! I'm excited for this and it might warrant a trip out to KC. I'm happy Cedar Fair works with steam locomotives and just doesn't remove them or convert them to diesel.

The locomotive will be named Levi. I hope they restore it to its original color scheme of Orange/Red and Blue!

levi.png

https://www.worldsoffun.com/blog/2019/worlds-of-fun-railroad-update?fbclid=IwAR3_qPQ4pzQjQtqNrhekPzZlJkFN9B4Kh7VxApT4zsRqKu1IMMUoCUPnVLk

58e669bf719e0_bluedomes.thumb.jpg.db6075666b9cebc4e82a3fea32b96b92.jpg

http://parkfans.net/thread-1541.html

Please put it back to KD glory with the balloon Stack and the livery.

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Looks like the second Harpur at Astroworld in Houston which I think is now in pieces on the backlot at Brook Rother's place in Georgetown, California.  Note the sand dome is the twin of the ill-fated General at Six Flags Over Georgia.  Its mate is operating at the Pacific Coast RR on Rob Rossi's ranch in California.  Bob Harpur built nice engines (off of the design of Disney's first two).  Sad to see it rust.  It spent a bit of time in Laramie, Wyoming and then the Durango roundhouse museum  At Astroworld it was called the 610 Limited due to the I-610 expressway that passed the park.

 

The other KD Crowns were indeed converted to closed coaches at Dry Gulch.  They are now stored in a somewhat secret location under roof awaiting an official announcement about their new home where the public will be able to ride them again.  Have patience, it will be worth it.  The enginehouse at WOF is a one stall, head in metal barn, on a long spur behind a theatre.  No car shed.  Hopefully with two engines, they will spend a few nickels on a nicer facility.

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  • 4 weeks later...

So if you have gone to Kings Island this year or any from now on, you might notice the KI&MVRR billboard during the ride on Kings Mills Autos.

The ride advertises the two beautiful crown locomotives at the other side of the park. But if you notice something, the locomotive on the billboard which is No. 12 aka Kenny Van Meter or Tecumseh, the stack is the original stack it carried from 1972 to when it was taken off. spacer.png 

It is really awesome to see Kings Island show it's railroad history.

If you notice anything else on the billboard that I don't notice, please let me know.

P.S. The billboard photo is mine.

KI billboard.jpg

KIMVRR 12 1.jpg

KIMVRR 12 2.jpg

KIMVRR 12 3.jpg

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  • 4 weeks later...

Losantiville (the original name of Cincinnati) was replaced in 1973 with Palmersville, named after rides director Don Palmer, who later went to Kings Dominion.  It lasted only a short time.  Two of the pictures were taken in 1973, with Don's father-in-law Ernie Greene firing on the trestle (I'm standing behind him wearing the wristwatch on the gangway).  He threatened Don that if he ever got fired, he would take his daughter back.  I am the fireman looking at the canoes in the second picture.  That one was taken early in 1972 because the headlight bracket is still blue, the whistle is right behind the bell (blew hot water all over everyone and it was the FIRST thing we changed since the blue paint turned orange when the water hit it), the wood was piled horizontally on the tender, the propane bottles are still white, and the roof ventilators were aluminum (all of those show in full size versions of that postcard).  The painters' union was never too happy with us repainting all of that but we did it anyway since we were out in the woods away from everyone where no one ever saw us.  Lew Brown had a private kingdom back then.

 Whomever painted the new sign at the antique autos did a great job, with one glaring error.  Something REALLY important is missing off the station.  Anyone see it?

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24 minutes ago, kimv1972 said:

Losantiville (the original name of Cincinnati) was replaced in 1973 with Palmersville, named after rides director Don Palmer, who later went to Kings Dominion.  It lasted only a short time.  Two of the pictures were taken in 1973, with Don's father-in-law Ernie Greene firing on the trestle (I'm standing behind him wearing the wristwatch on the gangway).  He threatened Don that if he ever got fired, he would take his daughter back.  I am the fireman looking at the canoes in the second picture.  That one was taken early in 1972 because the headlight bracket is still blue, the whistle is right behind the bell (blew hot water all over everyone and it was the FIRST thing we changed since the blue paint turned orange when the water hit it), the wood was piled horizontally on the tender, the propane bottles are still white, and the roof ventilators were aluminum (all of those show in full size versions of that postcard).  The painters' union was never too happy with us repainting all of that but we did it anyway since we were out in the woods away from everyone where no one ever saw us.  Lew Brown had a private kingdom back then.

 Whomever painted the new sign at the antique autos did a great job, with one glaring error.  Something REALLY important is missing off the station.  Anyone see it?

I’ve always been curious about the Palmersville sign after seeing it in so many photos from that era. Do you know when it was replaced by the current Losantiville sign?

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  • 3 weeks later...
18 hours ago, SonofBaconator said:

It's been a while since I created a new chapter and I'm working on hamering a few out sometime soon.

In the meantime check out this subreddit I created for Cincinnati transportation. It has some good content and we're always looking for new content and members!

https://www.reddit.com/r/CincyTransportation/

I look forward to seeing your next post!

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  • 2 weeks later...

https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1_Cw7nLX4xH55ZIvEm4J08_K-tFEfTY1tobly1Z9u17g/edit?usp=sharing

I've been working on a little side project for a few months now. I'm not very far and not completed. This presentation takes a look at the history of the railroad, route, locomotives, and rolling stock with information I can find and the CP&LERR website https://cplerr.weebly.com/ If you have any info that I do not know of or is on the website, please quote this and say said information.

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  • 1 month later...

Absolutely spectacular job on the new CP&LE site.  Even better than the original, and it was great.  Keep up the good work.

Recently, J. David Conrad, author of Steam Locomotive Directory of North America 2nd edition (in progress) told me that the Davenstein had another owner before Norred.  Here is what he wrote to me:

Keith Christensen, the intermediate owner of "G.A.Boeckling" also owned Climax c/n 313, the 36" gauge "T" boiler locomotive, currently still in Alaska. Last year his son Erik made a deal with "Corry R.A.I.L.S." for the locomotive. They plan to bring it to Corry, PA later this year. Many years ago Keith told me that Shop Services was working on the Davenport locomotive. I have no idea what they did on it, but it sat there for a long time before being sold to Bill Norred.

David tells me that he did see the Boeckling in the Keystone (Harliss) shop in Irwin, PA. before it was shipped to Gurnee.

A few years ago, I was able to find that the boiler on the Boeckling was made by Johnston Boiler in Ferrysburg, MI.  After looking over the engine a few years ago in the CP&LE shop, it is clear that the boiler was originally made for a different engine and was adapted to the Davenport chassis.

--Denis Larrick

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Looking back over the email, it appears that Keith bought the Davvy in 1981 and sold it to Norred in 1990 who traded it to WED in 1996.

BTW, for Google Earth fans, the Davenport loco plant still stands.  It is now Howard Steel at 2343 Rockingham in Davenport, IA.

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WOF supposedly started with six coaches, then five, now four.  It will be interesting to see if the other coaches mysteriously re-appear when Levi comes on line.  On another website, Levi is getting a new crown sheet and all new stays around the wagontop.

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26 minutes ago, kimv1972 said:

WOF supposedly started with six coaches, then five, now four.  It will be interesting to see if the other coaches mysteriously re-appear when Levi comes on line.  On another website, Levi is getting a new crown sheet and all new stays around the wagontop.

Any speculation on the colors? Maybe a throwback to its original color scheme? Since the locomotive is under Cedar Fair ownership it makes me wonder if it'll stay at WoF after Eli's return or move to another park. 

58e669bf719e0_bluedomes.thumb.jpg.db6075666b9cebc4e82a3fea32b96b92.jpg

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