October 1, 2010: Knott’s Berry Farm Then & Now

[Werner Weiss]

Think of this new PDF book by Jay Jennings as a photo album of rare photos paired with similar views today, not as a traditional book.

Link to Knott’s Berry Farm Then & Now at Yesterland.

Please discuss Knott’s Berry Farm Then & Now here.

[Steve DeGaetano]

Thanks, Werner.

I was already to let you know exactly why steam engine No. 41 looks like she does today, but you beat me to it in the next paragraph!

Those of us who know trains are quite happy that work went into "backdating" No. 41 (and her sister engine, No. 340). The Knott's trains are treasures, and the fact that so many pieces of the Denver and Rio Grande Western and the Rio Grande Southern railroads exist outside of Colorado is simply amazing.

[ed43bauhaus]

Been reading your site for years, Werner, and love the baby boomer nostalgia of it all. I was born in 1956 and grew up in Anaheim, so we might have actually passed each other wandering around Knotts. Like you've described, Disneyland was a once a year experience, for me it was usually part of my birthday. Keep up the good work.

[Athlonacon]

That No. 41 always seems to be sitting idle whenever I pass by it, so consequently I *always* wait for it to take off just to see (and feel) it move. It's just amazing, in every sense of the word, to experience that thing starting it's run... the words "watch" and "feel" just don't do it justice, it's an *experience*.

I don't mean to take anything away from the Disneyland Railroad, but the Knott's 41 actually shakes the very ground your standing on! It is so massive and huge, it's like a religious experience being next to it. And one time the engineer could see how interested I was in the machine and he actually opened up the boiler furnace to show me inside! It was so incredible, it's like an absolute inferno in that thing. I've never seen a fire like that one in my life.

The funny thing is, I haven't ridden on it in 20 years, but I've seen it take off about a couple dozen times in the last 2 years. The thing is just so awesome to witness moving that I never want to "waste" the experience by sitting behind it, lol. But No. 41 is truly a Knott's treasure, and a boon for anyone even remotely interested in steam trains.