Located in the "tiny town of Tumbleweed," the Big Thunder Mountain Railroad whisks tourists around the grounds of an abandoned mining camp.

Mining was prosperous and an extensive line of mine trains were set up to transport the ore. Unbeknownst to the settlers, the Mountain was a sacred spot to local Native Americans and was cursed.

Before long, the settlers' desecration of the mountain caused a great tragedy, (terrible earthquake or flash flood, depending on the park) which befell the mines and town and they were abandoned. Some time later, the locomotives were found to be racing around the mountain on their own, without engineers or a crew.