Tombstone Junction was a small, Western-town-themed park located on Kentucky Route 90 in McCreary County, Kentucky near the Cumberland Falls State Resort Park. It began operating in the 1960s and continued uninterrupted until it was heavily damaged by fire in 1989. The park continued with limited operation until it was completely destroyed by a second fire in 1991. The venue featured a recreation of a small, Western frontier town complete with train station, working saloon, dance hall, jailhouse, shanties, and shops. There was also an outdoor amphitheater that hosted live shows featuring country and western music of the period.
The leading attraction at Tombstone Junction was a -mile ride aboard a full-sized standard-gauge operating steam train.
Background
The park developed from the building and operation of a tourist railroad attraction called the "Cumberland Falls Scenic Railroad" in the 1960s. The railroad was built by Millard and Morris Stephens from nearby Whitley City as an attraction to complement The Falls Motel (also owned by the Stephens) which was near Cumberland Falls State Resort Park, both of which were a very short distance from the park itself.
The railroad was built and laid around the edges of a large cut between two mountains that had been filled in enough so that a mile L-shaped circle of track could be laid. The building of the Cumberland Falls Scenic Railroad followed a small trend of insular purpose built scenic railroads which were built during the 1960s that developed into full-fledged parks. More famous examples include the "Rebel Railroad" in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee which eventually grew into what is known as the Dollywood theme park today and the Tweetsie Railroad in Blowing Rock, North Carolina, which is still in operation under that name to this day. The specific difference being that these two operations were built to accommodate smaller 36" narrow gauge equipment (as seen in many parks today) while the Cumberland Falls Scenic was a full sized standard gauge railroad.
For the second season of operation, the railroad's developers made in-house additions of buildings, shops, and The Red Garter Saloon using help from the local residents. The various stages of development of a functional park were planned out with each season adding new attractions, shops, stores and shows. The town portion of the park went by the operating name of "Tombstone Junction" and the railroad went by the operating name of "Old #77". However, the corporate name for the entire operation was "Cumberland Falls Scenic Railroad, Inc." Locals referred to the park as simply "The Junction."
The "Town" and Country Western Environment
Outside of the scenic railroad the park consisted primarily of the "town" area of Tombstone Junction. This consisted of a faux western era town which was entered through a wooden fort entrance which housed the ticket office. The town consisted of the Red Garter Saloon where magic and stage shows were held, an outdoor theater where shows for park guest entertainers were staged, as well as several buildings such as the train station, jail, gift shops, boutiques, etc. A themed building known as "Pa's Cabin" which acted as a poor mans fun house allowed visitors to traverse a wilderness cabin where the interior floor had been slated at a steep angle. There was also a faux grave yard known as "Boot Hill".
Local residents were also used as characters to populate the town of Tombstone Junction. The local community was very involved in the park. The park focused on audience-involving stage shows, gunfights, music shows, and a group of gunfighters who interacted with the visitors. This was to make up for the fact that outside of the train ride the park never operated any mechanical rides.
Tombstone Junction was perhaps most known for bringing nationally known entertainers to the South Central Kentucky area and offering family entertainment to the area for a reasonable price. Entertainers such as The Judds, Randy Travis, Dolly Parton, Kenny Rogers, Barbara Mandrell, Conway Twitty, and Loretta Lynn were part of the Sunday Concert Series that took place every Sunday from April to October. Every Sunday brought a famous recording artist or band to The Junction and they performed on the Outdoor Stage.
The Cumberland Falls Scenic Railroad AKA Old 77
Old #77
The park's biggest attraction was "Old #77", a full-sized fully operational standard gauge steam train.
Passengers boarded and departed at the park's only station. This was situated almost directly in the center of the park and served as a focal point for the rest of the operation. The station also housed the park's business offices where files were kept and housed an extensive collection of autographed photos from country-western stars that had visited the park.
The route was a mile L-shaped self-contained loop of track with the town of Tombstone Junction on one end that traveled through the wooded hills of the Falls area and came back again. The line featured steep overlooks, sharp turns, and rough track. It was actually a very close representation of what riding a hastily laid early 20th century rail line would have been. A prominent feature of the line was a steep grade the locomotive had to traverse just before the train would complete the loop and return to the park station. The grade started at 4% which then rose to 6% and the finally a short stretch that abruptly rose to 8% just before the train had to make an extremely tight 180-degree turn in front of the station to get positioned for the next trip. This turn being so tight that the grab irons on the fireman's side of the tender would scrape the grab irons on the back of the cab. This made for fantastic smoke and sound as the rod engine worked hard on what normally would have been a geared locomotive environment.
The 180-degree turn the line made in front of the train station was so tight that running the locomotive through it occasionally proved problematic. On one specific occasion the locomotive was being operated by engineer Bill Johnson and fireman Don Vanover, the locomotives sanders had accidentally been left on as it entered the curve which caused the drivers to "bite" the rail, this caused the locomotive to physically lift itself up and off the track. The derailment occurred next to the amphitheater stage just prior to the start of a Loretta Lynn performance. This was at the top of the 8% grade that the train had to pull which made re-railing the locomotive difficult.
At the trip's halfway point, the ride featured a train robbery where the train was stopped by "bandits" who would rob the train until the Tombstone Junction sheriff rode up and had a drawing match with the ringleader. The winner varied. The "robbery" was held at the bottom of the grade and was not only for the entertainment of the tourists, but also gave the engine crew time to service the engine and build a full head of steam to pull the steep mountain grade back into the park.
Additional to the ride loop was a short spur which lead to a small "yard" containing a storage track for additional equipment and a short track into a maintenance shed.
Locomotives and cars
The park owned three steam locomotives. When the railroad was originally built in the 1960s, two former U.S. Army 0-6-0T saddle tank locomotives were purchased as Army surplus with the idea that they would power the train ride. These locomotives were U.S. Army #5002 and #5014, both USATC S100 class tank engines, built by H.K. Porter & Co. in 1942. However, the steep grades proved too much for these engines and their use was abandoned almost from the start. These engines were moved to a spare equipment track next to the park's maintenance shed where they were displayed until the park's closing.
The third engine and the one that proved powerful enough to pull the train over the steep grades was a 90-ton 0-6-0 ALCO switcher originally built for the Union Railroad in Pennsylvania as their #77. #77 was a USRA design that had actually been developed by Lima Locomotive Works, but was contracted to be built by the American Locomotive Company at its Schenectady, New York works in January 1944 (serial number 71323). It was later sold to the Morehead and North Fork Railroad in Morehead, KY as their #14. After the M&NF dieselized on April 1, 1963, #14 was purchased for the park from the M&NF and renumbered back to #77. #77 was moved by rail from Morehead to the Kentucky and Tennessee Railway yards at Stearns, Kentucky. From there it was trucked into the park where it was put into operation on the tourist railroad.
The locomotives were hand painted and usually featured a paint scheme consisting of flat black and large hand painted banners with "Cumberland Falls Scenic RailRoad" in large block letters during the park's earliest years. Sometime in the 1970s this herald was changed to "Tombstone Junction Railroad”.
The 5 passenger cars were modified wooden B&O Railroad cabooses. These had the cupolas removed, large open windows cut out of the sides, and seating installed from old, scrapped school buses. The cars were painted a bright shade of red with large painted banners reading "Cumberland Falls Scenic Railroad" on the sides during the park's earliest years. In later years the coaches were each painted a bright shade of orange, blue, yellow, and green with a hand painted banner reading "Tombstone Junction". The 5th coach retained its original red color but saw less and less service in the park's later years and was usually seen on a side track as an "extra" coach.
Also on site was an old, open-top hopper car of unknown origin, presumably used as ballast spreader car. This was kept on a siding next to the displayed 0-6-0T saddle tankers during the park's operation.
After Tombstone Junction ceased operation, the rail equipment was sold at auction. Harmon Taylor of Stearns, KY bought the 0-6-0 Alco "Old 77" so that it would stay in McCreary County. The two smaller locomotives were sold to other interests.
Number 77, as of 2023, is located in the old steam shop building of the Kentucky & Tennessee Railway in Stearns, KY. An attempt was made to restore the locomotive to operation for use on the Big South Fork Scenic Railway which operates over the K&T's tracks. Several years of restoration efforts ultimately failed to bring the locomotive back to operation. Major faults with project management ultimately led to the restoration effort being dropped after the expenditure of over 1.5 million dollars, with a significant portion of that being provided by public funds. The engine was placed in storage in the back of the steam shop building in a disassembled state. The restoration also resulted in the loss of a lot of the engine's "original fabric" from the park days as the original tender was completely scrapped (save for the steel deck) and rebuilt new. The original cab was scrapped, as well as the original smoke box and major portions of plumbing deemed unfit for service.