C&S refrigerator car and boxcar at Magic Mountain 1959

 In 1959 Magic Mountain opened in Colorado. It was a theme park styled after the stunningly successful new Disneyland. In keeping with Disneyland's design they constructed a narrow gauge train ride. To get narrow gauge rolling stock the park reached out to Bob Richardson who was in the process of moving equipment from the original Narrow Gauge Museum in Alamosa to the new Colorado Railroad Museum in Golden.

In a heartbreaking but financially prudent move  to raise money for the fledgling museum’s new building,   the museum sold two of its C&S cars, refrigerator 1116 and boxcar 8308, to Magic Mountain along with Rio Grande Southern engine 42, D&RGW high side gondola 1187,  and RGS caboose 0409  for use on the tourist-hauling park train. 

In the video below you can see glimpses of this train starting at 1:31.

The pocket book was tight and unfortunately these pieces of C&S lore filled the needy coffers.  Still, Bob appreciated  that the cars were given a chance to do what they were designed to do: haul cargo on steel rails, albeit human cargo this time.  To do this, though, unlike the RGS engine, the cars lost most of their historic appearance and design in the process of being turned into smaltzy open-air theme park pieces.   Much of the two C&S cars’ half-century old character was destroyed as everything but their frames and running gear were ripped out and discarded, only to be replaced by seats and rider car shells. 

Sadly, Magic Mountain closed up in less than a year. The cars moved around many times, even becoming part of a restaurant at the site. 

Today, 1116 still operates on the Georgetown Loop. 8308's frame and trucks are at the Colorado Railroad Museum.