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Disneyland Railroad

From Biocrawler, the free encyclopedia.

The Disneyland Railroad is a narrow gauge railroad located at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, that was inaugurated on that theme park's opening day, July 17, 1955. A similar railroad at Disneyland Paris in Marne-la-Vallée, France commenced operation on April 12, 1992.

Contents

1 History

1.1 From concept to inauguration
1.2 The Viewliner
1.3 The Grand Canyon/Primeval World
1.4 Alterations and modernization

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History

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From concept to inauguration

"In some way or another, I have always loved trains." , (1901-1966), founder of and the , seen here in the cab of the Ernest S. Marsh at Main Street Station.

"In some way or another, I have always loved trains." Walter Elias Disney, (1901-1966), founder of Disneyland and the Walt Disney Company, seen here in the cab of the Ernest S. Marsh at Main Street Station.

The Disneyland Railroad was inspired by Walt Disney's love for trains and his backyard Carolwood Pacific Railroad, a love he shared with Disney animators Ward Kimball and Ollie Johnston. Sponsored by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (when it operated as the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, until 1974) and originally consisting solely of custom-built five-eighths scale equipment. Laid to three-foot gauge, the most common narrow gauge measurement used in North America, the railroad is laid in a continuous loop around the park, which has subsequently expanded past the tracks in some places. The line features crossing guards, automatic block signals, and a roundhouse for locomotive storage.

The Walt Disney Company constructed the original two locomotives in its own workshops under the supervision of Roger E. Broggie. Patterned after the Lilly Belle, a miniature steam locomotive Broggie had made for Walt's backyard Carolwood Pacific Railroad, these were also models of classic "Wild West" style American 4-4-0s, but built to a larger five-eighths scale. No. 1 was given a big wood-burning "balloon" stack and a large, pointed pilot (cowcatcher) while No. 2 was given a straight stack and smaller pilot common to East Coast coal-burning locomotives.

Two more locomotives were later acquired from outside sources, since this was cheaper than building new ones and since many narrow-gauge lines were closing down and selling their equipment. All three were given extensive renovations before entering service, including new boilers. Number 4 and the new number 5 are "Forney" locomotives, a type of tank locomotive. As an 1894 product of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, number 4 is the oldest locomotive in service at any Disney property.

All the Disneyland locomotives burn diesel fuel, which is less polluting (though more expensive) than the coal, wood, or heavy "Bunker C" oil normally used on steam locomotives.

Under the original track plan, two trains (one freight, and one passenger) could operate on the railroad simultaneously, running in opposite directions. A passing track was incorporated at Main Street station where one train had to wait to allow the other to pass. Later, for safety reasons, and to allow the use of more than two trains, the line was changed so that trains in normal service run in a clockwise direction only. The passing track was disconnected and now is only used to display a handcar.

Walt Disney, along with California Governor Goodwin J. Knight and Fred G. Gurley (in his capacity of president of the Santa Fe) presided over the opening-day ceremonies.

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The Viewliner

The Viewliner prepares to depart the Tomorrowland Station in 1957, with non other than Walt Disney himself manning the controls.

On June 26, 1957 the narrow gauge Santa Fe & Disneyland Viewliner (billed by Disneyland as "the fastest miniature train in the world") commenced operation. Two separate trains, designed and built as scale replicas of General Motors' futuristic Aerotrain, traveled along a figure-eight track through parts of Tomorrowland and Fantasyland parallel to a portion of the DLRR main line. The Tomorrowland train featured cars that were named for the planets, while the cars of the Fantasyland train were named after various Disney characters.

The modern, streamlined trains were placed into service to represent the future of rail travel, in contract to the steam-powered DLRR which represented its past. Motive power for each train consisted of an integral head-end unit driven by an Oldsmobile "Rocket" V8 gasoline engine. Oldsmobile also furnished the windscreen, doors and instrument console for each of the two 5,000 lb. locomotives. The attraction operated until September 15, 1958 when construction began on the Matterhorn and Submarine Voyage; the Disneyland Monorail System ultimately took the place of the Viewliner in June of 1959.

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The Grand Canyon/Primeval World

The 1958 addition of the "Grand Canyon" diorama (what was once a long tunnel through a backstage service area) necessitated a change in the rolling stock as well; instead of facing forward, the benches of the new flatcars now faced right so that the scenes could be better enjoyed by the passengers.

The diorama, which includes the park's only taxidermy animals in lifelike poses, is the longest in the world. Painted on a single piece of seamless canvas, the rear of the diorama measures 306 feet long, 34 feet high, and is covered with 300 gallons of paint. The cost was US$367,000 and took more than 80,000 man-hours to construct. The main theme of Ferde Grofe's "On The Trail" is piped in through the train's sound system as it enters the diorama. In 1966, the diorama was expanded with a prehistoric theme to become the "Grand Canyon/Primeval World" diorama, with Audio-Animatronic dinosaurs from Walt Disney's Ford Magic Skyway attraction at the 1964 New York World's Fair. New rolling stock with bench seats facing right were added at that time in order that passengers could better view the diorama.

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Alterations and modernization

The 1969 installation and opening of The Haunted Mansion required minor realignment of the main line since part of the new attraction extended beneath the roadbed. The DLRR was in near-continuous operation since the park's 1955 opening day until December, 2004 when the system was shut down for reballasting, regauging and new block signals as part of Disneyland's fiftieth anniversary celebration. Five open-air, clerestory-roofed observation cars with forward-facing seats dating from the park's opening were also returned to service in 2004 after undergoing a three-year restoration.

In 1999, Disney purchased the inoperable Maud L locomotive from the Cedar Point Amusement Park in Sandusky, Ohio, and sent it to a Southern California shop to restore it and transform it into a Disneyland Railroad locomotive. This 1902 Baldwin loco is now Disneyland Railroad locomotive number 5 and is the first added since 1959. Originally named for Maud Lepine, daughter of one of the original owners and a name kept throughout the unit's service life, it is now named after the late Ward Kimball, one of Disney's Nine Old Men and an avid railroad preservationist.

The attraction reopened on March 17, 2005. It was the most prolonged closure of the railroad in park history.

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Stations

The 1.5-mile loop originally only stopped at Main Street, USA and Frontierland, but now stops at Mickey's Toontown and Tomorrowland as well. The mansard-roofed Main Street Station is themed to the rest of Main Street with an early 1900s (Victorian) design, and is the first Disneyland structure visitors see upon entering the park. A sign on the roof shows an elevation of 138 feet above sea level and a population number that roughly corresponds with the number of visitors to the park over the past five decades. As of January 2005 the number stood at 500 million. A handcar is on permanent display on a siding in front of the station that once allowed two trains to run the loop, while passing each other at the two original stations. It was donated to Walt Disney himself around the time the park opened by its maker, Kalamazoo Manufacturing.

The onetime Frontierland station stop now serves New Orleans Square. Its station is a platform whose canopy is of similar style to that at Main Street Station. A building on the opposite side of the tracks once served as the station platform; it was removed from service in 1962 and now serves primarily as an ornamental detail. The telegraph sound effect that can be heard emanating from the building is actual railroad code that repeats the first two lines of Walt Disney's 1955 opening day speech.

Fantasyland Station was re-themed to a somewhat "cartoonish" design in 1992 to correspond with the new Mickey's Toontown which opened in January, 1993. Tomorrowland's station features a Googie-style architectural design and was originally light blue (the exit signs are still white and blue), but was repainted copper, brown, and orange in 1998 to correspond with the new Tomorrowland color scheme. The station has recently undergone renovation and is now painted in a combination of the land's new and old color schemes.

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Locomotives

The Disneyland Railroad in Anaheim, California currently has five narrow-gauge steam locomotives (the original four are named after former Santa Fe CEOs):

1: C.K. Holliday, a 4-4-0 built in the Walt Disney Studio in 1954; went into service at Disneyland on Opening Day, 1955. Named for Cyrus Kurtz Holliday, founder of the Santa Fe Railroad in 1859.

2: E.P Ripley, a 4-4-0 built in the Walt Disney Studio in 1954; went into service at Disneyland on Opening Day, 1955. Named for Edward Payson Ripley, an early president of the ATSF after its 1895 reorganization.

3: Fred Gurley, built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1894, went into service at Disneyland March 28, 1958. The locomotive, named for the then-current chairman of the ATSF, is the oldest single piece of railroad equipment in use at any Disney theme park. The 2-4-4T tank locomotive, used in Louisiana to transport sugar cane, was purchased in working condition for US$1300; nevertheless, more than $35,000 was expended on its restoration.

4: Ernest S. Marsh, a 2-4-0 built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1925; went into service at Disneyland July 25, 1959. Named for the Santa Fe's then-current president, the Marsh originally served the Raritan River Sand Company in New Jersey.

5: Ward Kimball, a 0-4-4T Forney, serial number 20925, built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1902 for the Laurel Valley Plantation of Louisiana and later received in trade from Cedar Point Amusement Park as the inoperative Maud L in 1999. Cedar Point added a lead truck during its service there, making it a 2-4-4T. Restoration was begun by Boschan Boiler and Restorations in 2004 and the unit went into service in Summer 2005 as part of the park's fiftieth anniversary celebration. Named for the famous Disney animator.

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Trivia

In order to offset construction costs, the Walt Disney Company solicited a number of major railroads for corporate sponsorship of the attraction in 1953; the Santa Fe was the only company to respond.
From 1955 until 1974 (when the railroad's sponsorship ended), the Santa Fe "rail pass" was honored in lieu of the required "D" coupon.
By Disneyland's own estimates, the trains make more than 13,000 trips around the park annually.

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References

Duke, Donald (1997). Santa Fe: The Railroad Gateway to the American West, Volume One. Golden West Books, San Marino, CA. ISBN 0-87095-110-6.
(1979). Disneyland: The First Quarter Century. Walt Disney Productions, Burbank, California.
(2000). Guide to Tourist Railroad and Museums. Kalmbach Publishing Co., Waukesha, Wisconsin. ISBN 0081-542X.

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