Sometimes ideas planted outside the box do bear fruit!

Not everything proposed by Roosso a couple of years ago - see [ngdiscussion.net] - has been adopted, but a tentative multi-party agreement between the Transportation Commission of the County of Ventura (which owns the former Santa Paula Branch of the S.P. - including the right-of-way east of Piru to the L.A. County Line), the Fillmoor & Western RR (which owns the locomotives and rolling stock currently operating on the line) and Six Flags, Inc. - operators of the amusement park at Magic Mountain - could result in weekend trains operating from MetroLink's Ventura (Montalvo) depot via Santa Paula, Fillmoor and Piru all the way to Magic Mountain within the next six or seven years.

Several things have fallen into place in the past two years to make this project less far-fetched than it at first appeared.  One key factor is Dave & Theresa Wilkerson's interest in selling most of their ownership in the F&W (they hope to retain only their private car - former AT&SF business car #409 - and the quaint 1891 wood-burning Porter 0-4-0, the Sespe).  Dave has been involved with the railroad since 1991 - first as a volunteer helping to rehabilitate the line, soon after as president of the Santa Clara River Valley Railroad Histörical Society, and for the past several years as co-owner and general manager of the F&W; he is "quite ready to retire".

Population growth along the line - and especially in the Santa Clarita area - has spurred interest by both Ventura and Los Angeles counties in extending MetroLink service, and Six Flags is interested in both adding a steam-powered railroad to its list of attractions and in improving access to Magic Mountain by establishing a commuter-rail link. But in today's restricted economy costs must be kept to a minimum, and that's where the biggest break has occurred that may allow the project to move forward. Until-now confidential negotiations between Six Flags and Cedar Fare - owners of Knott's Berry Farm - for the transfer of Knott's narrow-gauge railroad to Six Flags have resulting in a win-win-win for all concerned: Knott's will gain much-needed space for expansion of its thrill rides, Six Flags will gain a popular family-oriented attraction, and - by initially building a narrow-gauge line - the two counties will be able to link Ventura and Santa Clarita via Piru* and Magic Mountain at a much lower cost than the construction of a standard-gauge railroad would entail.  (It is expected that a third {narrow gauge} rail will be added between Piru and Fillmoor almost immediately, but adding a third {standard-gauge} rail to the Piru - Magic Mountain section and extending the standard gauge MetroLink connection through Santa Clarita to Saugus will be postponed until traffic warrants this improvement.)

Even the narrow-gauge railroad itself will benefit. No longer confined to a tiny Christmas-tree-like loop of track squeezed on all sides by tight clearances and limited views, the line will not only circle the much larger outer perimeter of Magic Mountain, it will eventually extend to the west across the County Line all the way to Piru.  "This move will finally allow our trains to stretch their legs and really run!" stated Knott's engineer-fireman-mechanic Josh Tyler, whose job will move north with his locomotives.  "It's a big benefit maintenance-wise as well", chimed in RR Shift Leader Tommy Underfed.  "With the engines always running clockwise in a tight loop, the flanges on the fireman's side really take a beating.  And with a radius of only 600 feet, each complete circuit means the fireman's side of every engine and every car travels more than nine feet farther than the engineer's side — just imagine the strain this puts on the equipment.  It's no surprise at all to me that everything is becoming trapezoidal - stretched on one side and compressed on the other."

As noted, all of the above negotiations are very tentative.  But if all goes as planned we'll be able to ride behind narrow gauge steam - or on ex-RGS Motor #3 - between Fillmoor and Magic Mountain by the end of the decade!!

- Sincerely, Willie (Wm. Claude Johnson-Barr III, Esq.)  
          "Not All With A Cell-Phone Can Twitter *
          "Not All Those Who Ponder Can Think . . . "

          *  Only TWITS Twitter!


* Pronounced locally as PIE-rew, but more correctly as Pee-RRROOO.

p.s. See [ngdiscussion.net] ...    



Edited 14 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2020 11:26AM by Johnson Barr.