Pdxrailtransit Wrote:
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> My parents were always having to drag me away.
> Does anyone remember when Knott's used the battery
> powered cable car as parking shuttle? Also there
> was the model railroad shop. I always hated the
> gunfighter shitck on the narrow gauge though.

Ok there, Mr. PDX.. As "Art Baker" on TV many years ago used to say:

*Pdxrailtransit, YOU ASKED FOR IT !!*


[viewlinerltd.blogspot.com]

Six former Cal Cable cars (6, 17, 20, 43, 49, and 59) ran at Knott's Berry Farm from 1955 to 1979.

Car 43 was part of a group of cars built for Cal Cable in 1906-07 after the great San Francisco earthquake and fire destroyed all of the line's original rolling stock. It operated in San Francisco until the mid-fifties, when it was sold along with five other cable cars to the Knott’s Berry Farm amusement park here in Southern California. The six cars were modified with motor drives and used as battery powered parking lot shuttles. Five of these cars returned to San Francisco in 1981, while Car 43 remained behind as a display.

I was a kid 12 years old in 1958. I remember visiting Knott's Berry Farm, and they had a pretty big toy train store there. I remember several shelves attached to and "stacked" on the walls above door height, and completely circling the store. Trains (Lionel?) continuously circled the store on these shelves. The store had plenty of shelves at "people height" with locomotives, cars, and buildings for pruchase. I think they also sold Live Steam stationary engines.

Meanwhile, in Southern California, in September --1954, "Evan Middleton" (operator of The Train Shop at Knotts Berry Farm in Buena Park, California) called together collectors who then met and formed the Western Chapter, Train Collectors Association (TCA) later redefined as a division of what was to become a national organization.

So PDX.. Now you know the rest of the story !!

KRK