Walt's Disneyland Railroad | FULL DOCUMENTARY

the Disneyland railroad it's not your ordinary run-of-the-mill Theme Park train designed and built with accuracy and scale details it is considered the world's largest scale model railroad and operates just like the big ones did here now is the history of this beloved transportation system and how it all works Walt Disney was born in 1901 into a world where the only way to efficiently travel long distances across land was by steam railroad his uncle was an engineer on the Santa Fe railroad driving steam locomotives across the Missouri prairies and Farms when Walt was 15 he got a job as a news Butch selling newspapers from car to car aboard the Missouri Pacific Rail line this was the first time he developed a Fascination for trains and the interest only grew as he entered adulthood Disney Legend Ward Kimball recounted Walt's first time picking up the railroad hobbyist Obsession the first time I realized that Walt Disney was a genuine railroad fan was during a steam-up party at her home in 1945. I invited Walt to be the guest engineer I'm sure that I never saw him smile any wider than that evening when he pulled the throttle on the Emma Nevada as she steamed out of the engine house with her bell ringing and whistle blowing by the time the party was over Walt was hooked three years later in 1948 Walt Disney and Ward Kimball traveled by train to the Chicago railroad fair and were like a couple of kids enjoying their trains when Walt returned to the studio his fascination with trains had grown tenfold Walt continued to feed into his railroad Obsession and by the year 1950 it culminated in his own backyard livestream railroad which he called the Carrollwood Pacific with help from his fellow train enthusiasts he constructed a 1 8 scale miniature engine in the studio machine shop and called it the Lily Bell the Lily Bell is a type of engine called a 440 which was regarded as a standard American type back in the late 1870s the numbers indicate how many wheels it has four pilot Wheels which help support the front of the engine and steer it around curves plus four driving wheels that provide propulsion and zero trailing Wheels behind it the engine was inspired by the Central Pacific 173 the reason this specific engine was selected is actually because Walt's team was able to find a complete blueprint of it from which they could scale down the measurements to construct the Lily Bell on the weekends Walt gave friends and neighbors a ride on his Railroad and his backyard train became so popular he needed to add a stronger engine in order to haul more passengers but before he could complete it he had new ideas Brewing he wanted to combine his love of giving train rides what the Studio's need to offer a Disney Experience to tourists the result was his dream for an 11 acre Mickey Mouse park right across the street from his studio in Burbank it would be surrounded by a 1 8 scale railroad operating several trains on any given day but as with most of Walt's plans they continued to get bigger camera machinist turned imagineer Roger brogie was in charge of the railroad project Walt asked him if the studio could construct the trains Roger explained that they still had all the engineering drawings for the Lily Bell so all they needed to do was scale it up after a visit to Travel Town at Griffith Park to examine some Narrow Gauge steam equipment they took measurements back with them to the studio now I'm going to pause here to explain what Narrow Gauge is the typical railroads that crisscross the United States today have rails that are spaced four feet eight and a half inches apart we call this standard gauge but in the old days if the terrain called for sharper turns that standard gauge trains couldn't do they would construct a Narrow Gauge Railroad the most common size was three feet however just because the tracks were closer together didn't always mean the trains were smaller Roger and his team were tasked with finding out what scale the train should be in order for them to look proportionally correct to the narrow width of the Rails they used a massive chalkboard to draw the back end of a standard passenger car from the late 1800s Roger explained railroad cars are 10 feet wide so he drew a 10-foot car with a six foot eight inch door then reduced the size until we got down to a six foot doorway and so it was decided the car would be just over six feet wide with a six foot door and the overall scale of the car ended up 5 8 of real size which looked prototypical running on three Foot Rails both of Disney's engines one and two were structurally identical because they came from the same blueprints however while the CK holiday engine number one was designed to look like the Central Pacific 173 and would be a miniature replica of the old wood-burning locomotives from the 1870s complete with the diamond stack fire rester the EP Ripley engine number two was designed to look like the Baltimore and Ohio 774 a coal burning locomotive from the 1880s decorated with a large brass cap on its exhaust stack fabrication of the boilers was contracted out to Dixon boiler works of Los Angeles while the structural frame was built by Wilmington iron the decorative features and some of the running gear were all machined by the imagineers at the studio I'd like to take a moment to explain how a Disneyland steam locomotive Works since it would be really helpful to understanding the rest of the video a fuel source is burned in the Firebox at Disneyland they used to use number two diesel oil the fire then passes through the flus transferring heat to the surrounding water and then it exhausts up the stack the boiling water builds steam pressure to 150 psi and when the engineer pulls the throttle the steam is sent to the two-cylinder Pistons which push and pull at the driving rods turning the wheels The Spence team is then exhausted up the stack the locomotives are operated by an engineer who is in charge of moving the train and blowing the whistle and also by a fireman who manages the fuel and water levels maintains the fire and operates the Bell at Disneyland they refer to the firemen as a fire Roar since the person working the shift can be any gender the four driving Wheels provide all the pulling power in the form of Tractive effort the pilot Wheels on the front of the locomotive only help support the front of the boiler and help ease it around turns the tender which is the small car that is often seen behind a locomotive carries the water and fuel and supplies it using rubber hoses the tender provides no pulling power but its wheels are equipped with brakes so at least to help slow the train down and speaking of brakes the Disneyland railroad uses an old type of system called direct line braking basically a steam-powered compressor on the engine keeps air tanks on the engine pressurized all the cars on the train are hooked up to the air brake system through a network of air hoses and when the engineer applies air pressure to the system the brake cylinders on every car expand pushing the brake shoes against the wheels locomotive number two the EP Ripley would pull a set of six old-fashioned Passenger cars their late 19th century design was identifiable by their distinctive Clara story roofs and ornamented scroll work on the corner trims the passenger train was referred to as the retlaw one ret law being the name Walter spelled backwards but also the name of Walt Disney's private company which owned the Disneyland Railroad and Mark Twain riverboat Walt had the foresight to privately own these attractions so that it was he who had all the control and not the Disney Company the passenger cars would be built six and a half feet wide nine and a half feet tall and 36 feet long the windows and seats came from a school bus manufacturer which explains their familiar look meanwhile the wheel trucks and brake systems on each car were fabricated by cm lovestead of Seattle Washington the cars of the retlaw one train consisted of a combination baggage and passenger car called a combine and behind it were four regular passenger coaches and at the end was an observation car complete with an observation platform at the very rear of the train each car had two loudspeakers and five flush mounted brass lamps to illuminate the Interiors in the evenings with a total capacity of 268 passengers the retlaw one train could really cram a lot of guests in a tiny little space departing from Main Street Station on a Non-Stop return trip the other train originally called the retlaw 2 is a freight train that was pulled by the CK holiday and was designated to depart from frontierland station on a Non-Stop Journey back to frontierland utilizing the passing tracks at Main Street Station to go around the EP Ripley the train consisted of three cattle cars two Gondola cars and one caboose The Experience on this train was vastly different from the passenger train because this one was intended to give you the experience of being livestock it had only one bench per car while the rest was standing room only sliding doors would seal up the cattle cars and gondolas keeping you locked inside the whole trip guests in the gondola cars have the worst experience because they were directly subjected to the weather the freight cars measured six and a half feet wide and 25 feet long the Caboose also featured a cupola on top where guests could sit and get an overhead view of the whole train while both trains were mostly made from wood they did use a steel under frame for strength and longevity connecting each car is a set of couplers to the untrained die they may look like modern knuckle couplers but they are a much older version called Janny couplers which were designed to be compatible with the link and pin system that existed before the 1880s engine number one even has an authentic push bar which can be linked to a Janny coupler all the cars even came with replicas of period brake Wheels which could be turned manually to slow or stop a train or immobilize it when an engine is not present these details may seem insignificant but it's this attention to authentic detail which really adds to the Disneyland Railroad Admiral Joe Fowler the man tasked with overseeing construction of Disneyland had his crew construct the railroad roundhouse in under a week traditionally a roundhouse is well-round but since there were only two trains they built a rectangular building it was located behind frontierland near the rivers of America and was stocked with Machining equipment for maintaining the engines but the car barn Behind The Roundhouse was only a metal roof Without Walls so the cars were a little exposed to the weather after the engines arrived workers fitted the boiler with its insulation and started installing the plumbing and decorative features the expenses on the railroad had mounted to a grand total of 240 065 dollars the first trip around Disneyland happened one month before the park opened it was June 17 1955 and the designers and crew of The Railroad were there at five o'clock in the morning to begin the three-hour steam-up procedure starting up a steam engine isn't done with the turn of a key or the Press of a button it takes a while to get all that iron hot and all that water boiling and then you have to wait for the pressure to build on July 4th Walt Disney hosted an independence party at Disneyland for the studio workers and their families which included a partial ride around the park on the Disneyland railroad the track Loop was completed three days shy of Walton Lillian Disney's 30th wedding anniversary which was on July 13 1955. guests coming to the event got to ride the EP Ripley all the way around the park as well as enjoy a Twilight Shakedown Cruise aboard the Mark Twain to lend a bit of authenticity to the railroad Walt managed to get the attraction a sponsorship contract from the Atchison Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad in fact engines number one and two were named after former presidents of the Santa Fe railroad when Disneyland's opening day had come on July 17th guests lined up to ride aboard the trains the price of a train ticket was 50 cents for adults and 35 cents for children the original loop around the park was a length of 6 357 feet or 1.2 miles and with only one stop for each train the whole trip could be made in about seven minutes during the public opening of the park on July 18th there was an incident that occurred at Main Street Station while the passenger train was entering the station the crewmen switched the track while the Grand Canyon car number 106 was still rolling over it the result was that half the car was rolling on the passing tracks and struck the concrete edge of the entrance Bridge thankfully there were no injuries or further damage as for the crewmen who caused the incident he used the ensuing chaos as an opportunity to slip out of sight and leave the park never coming back the next year 1956 a station was added at Fantasyland and the trains no longer passed each other instead they ran single file stopping at all three depots to increase excitement on the railroad two tunnels were added one after the frontierland station near Fowler's Harbor and the other just passed the mine train ride on the approach to Fantasyland as ordinary as this may seem train tunnels have always fascinated Railway passengers Walt Disney loved his trains and he never missed an opportunity to walk up to Main Street Station wait for a train to pull up and tell the engineer that he would be taking over for the next lap around the park and the trains were certainly the most popular attractions at Disneyland just as previous surveys had predicted in the first year the Disneyland railroad carried 775 495 passengers but by the second year the number Rose to 1 million three hundred twenty nine thousand five hundred fifty three the lines at the stations would become unbearable and Walt knew they would need a third train the Disneyland railroad expansion of 1958 probably brought the most change to the railroad ever seen even to this day the first item on the list was adding a third steam engine to the fleet Roger brogie and Jerry best went looking for retired Narrow Gauge Engines for sale Jerry located one in Louisiana it was originally built to haul loads of sugarcane for the godshaw Sugar Company the engine was fabricated in 1894 by Baldwin locomotive Works in Philadelphia and was known as a zero four four T also known as a Forney style locomotive forneys were designed to travel relatively short distances they didn't need to haul a large tender behind them instead the water and fuel were stored in a square tank directly behind the cab and all of it was attached to a single frame in fact this type of design made for a more efficient locomotive because the weight of the water and fuel helped weigh down the engine giving it slightly better traction on the rails they purchased the engine for one thousand two hundred dollars with the agreements that an additional three hundred dollars would pay for it to be shipped by rail to Los Angeles to get the locomotive back to working order they had to take the whole thing apart down to every Nut and Bolt the old wooden cab was too rotten to keep so a new one was carved from Hardwood a new headlamp was created using an authentic design from the 1890s and new Janny couplers were installed on the front and rear of the locomotive the Firebox was given an atomizer allowing the engine to burn diesel oil instead of coal the end result was a steam engine that looked brand new but was in fact the oldest equipment on any Disney Park Railroad even to this day a final touch was added the studio crew fashioned a brand new set of pilot Wheels a purely aesthetic Choice the engine was now classified as a 2 4 4T Walt named the steamer Fred Gurley after his friend and chairman of the Santa Fe Railroad the engine number three Fred Gurley was purchased and restored for a combined cost of 37 061 which was still cheaper than it would have cost to build a new engine from scratch to accompany the Fred Gurley imagineer Bob gurr was asked to design a new set of Passenger cars Bob was inspired by the narangan set trolleys that transported people along the coasts of New England around the turn of the 20th century the close-knit bench seating allowed for a large number of passengers to fit in a relatively small amount of space he designed five cars each with 13 rows of bench seating the whole train could accommodate 325 passengers which was far more than either of the current trains and allowed for quicker passenger loading and unloading the Excursion train cost a total of 93 516 dollars to build and weighed 140 000 pounds when fully loaded the original railroad roundhouse had to be expanded with a third track in order to accommodate the extra train to further improve the comfort and efficiency of the railroad they added two more Gondola cars to the retlaw 2 freight train and each of the cars received two rows of sideways facing bench seats to handle a higher passenger load the red striped canvas tops were put over the gondola cars to Shield people from inclement weather the retlaw 2 freight train was then renamed the holiday special that's because it was originally built to be pulled by CK holiday and cassimbers were already used to referring to it as holidays train the railroad expansion also included a new Depot at Tomorrowland it was the fourth station and allowed guests to catch the train around the park on all four points of the compass the new station was designed in the modern googie style which was popular across Southern California during the 50s and 60s it was seen as futuristic and minimalist after departing Tomorrowland station the train would have to Traverse a long and boring struts of track with views of Backstage obstructed by an Earthen burn it was because of this that Walt felt his railroad was lacking a grand finale imagineer Marvin Davis suggested a diorama featuring Landscapes from several of America's national parks Walt actually liked the idea of a diorama and he had remembered the recent film he made where footage of the Grand Canyon was synchronized to the orchestrations of ferdi grocery's Grand Canyon Suite Walt then instructed imagineer Claude coats to design the whole diorama to feature the Grand Canyon the ingenious part about the project was that the building would serve a dual purpose as both a diorama and a cast member costume and locker room facility on the other side at 306 feet the Grand Canyon diorama was the longest in the world and artist Delmer Yocum was commissioned to paint the background featuring a view from the south rim it was the world's largest single seamless shade of canvas towering 34 feet high and stretching the entire 306 foot length of the backdrop the imagery was painted in 14 different colors and coated in over 300 gallons of paint and it offered various views of the canyon and its weather from sunrise to sunset the foreground of the diorama would feature plants native to the canyon it took over a year to preserve and fireproof the trees and bushes which were all cleverly hung upside down during the drying process so that the branches and leaves wouldn't sag downwards along the rim of the canyon you can see various creatures such as a rattlesnake a roadrunner a bobcat an armadillo mule deer an owl porcupines Ravens mountain lions a golden eagle rabbits skunks wild turkeys and bighorn sheep all the animals were taxidermized and had originally died of natural causes to maintain the preservation of the diorama panes of glass protect the animals and plants from the elements at eight feet tall and 20 feet long these were once the world's largest panes of glass the expansion of the Disneyland railroad was commemorated March 31st 1958. the ceremonies began at 11 30 a.m when a Native American band played music and Hopi Chief nivenua was on hand to bless the Excursion train as it entered the diorama with Walt Disney at the throttle of the Fred Gurley engine as the train puffed along guests could hear musical tunes of ferdy grofes on the trail Melody from his Grand Canyon Suite the little boy you see is little white cloud and he is playing the part of the Santa Fe railroads mascot Chico the exit tunnel of the Grand Canyon wasn't a tunnel at all but rather it was a wooden monitor roof bridge that allowed the trains to roll over a service road hidden from View altogether the diorama cost a resounding 367 814 which was much more than it had cost to build the entire Disneyland railroad back in 1955. the railroad soon saw a popularity boom as everyone flocked to the trains to take the Grand Circle Tour it was decided that a fourth locomotive should be added Roger brogie and Jerry best went back on the search for a vintage locomotive and found a special Little Engine That was once used to haul loads of sand originally created as a zero four zero T by Baldwin locomotive Works in 1925. this engine was once known as Porter style which was a design that improved Tractive effort by putting all the engine's weight on its four driving Wheels in the mid 50s the saddle tank had to be removed and instead a tender was fashioned out of an old side dumping sand car Roger and Jerry purchased the engine for two thousand dollars The Little Engine was from the 20th century and as such didn't possess any design features that fit with Walt's Victorian era Railroad at Ward Kimball's suggestion they made Engine Number Four look like the Montezuma which was a 2-4-0 that was originally built in 1871. restoration proved to be a difficult Endeavor because nearly everything except for the wheels rods and cylinders needed to be replaced finally after a year-long restoration Engine Number Four The Ernest s Marsh debuted at Disneyland on July 25th 1959 Engine Number Four may be the smallest engine on the Disneyland railroad but it is actually the most powerful in terms of Tractive effort because all of the locomotive's weight is sitting on its four driving Wheels the railroad wouldn't see another Expansion Project until 1962 when most of the Park's West Side was shut down for a complete remodel of attractions like the jungle cruise the mine train and the rivers of America new things were being added such as the Swiss Family Tree House the enchanted tiki room and New Orleans Square these Park expansions required the railroad to be realigned 100 feet further to the West a new station platform was built to service frontierland and New Orleans Square the original Depot structure was retired and moved to a display area on the other side of the tracks the sounds of a telegraph can be heard tapping out the first line of Disneyland's dedication speech next to the Old Depot is a new structure that was built to be a break room for railroad Engineers with the ever-increasing popularity of Disneyland came more and more crowds to the railroad it offered a Scenic escape from the hustle and bustle and it also was a welcoming respite for weary feet but the complaints were mounting against the old retlaw one passenger coaches on busy days they were slow to load and unload because each car had only two doors when the weather was hot the cars would be like ovens and despite the numerous Windows it was difficult for passengers on the left side of the train to fully see and enjoy the Grand Canyon diorama guests openly preferred the Excursion train or the holiday special Walt Disney ordered a replacement for the retlaw one with the intention to permanently retire the train Bob gurr was once again called upon to design two new trains which would allow Disneyland to run four at once on a busy summer day since most guests preferred the holiday special Bob designed his new train similar to the freight train he made the two new trains more efficient by giving them five long cars instead of eight short ones this reduced rolling friction and weight since there were fewer Wheels the original freight train was now referred to as holiday red then there was the new holiday green and holiday blue the latter two were put into service at Disneyland in 1965 and 1966 respectively but to house these new trains the railroad would need a larger roundhouse with more equipment and storage space it just so happened that the monorails needed a new storage facility as well and so the two projects were Consolidated into one building in 1966 the new roundhouse building had enough space for all four trains on the ground level and all four monorails above the original retlaw one train was never stored here instead they left it in the old roundhouse behind frontierland in 1965 Walt Disney had ideas for bringing some of his World's Fair attractions back to Disneyland the North End of the park was expanded further to create space for It's a small world and that meant moving the tracks as well that way the trains could pass through the facade of the ride unfortunately Fantasyland would be without a train station for another 19 years on the south side of the park work was underway to build a second diorama next to the original Walt couldn't bring the entire Ford's magic Skyway attraction back to Anaheim but he did make arrangements to bring back the large animatronic Dinosaurs the idea was to create a diorama of the extinct primeval world this also proved to be a genius idea because Disneyland's costume facility needed to expand again and the park was also in need of a larger Administration Building the new diorama building would be constructed into three sections with the massive primeval World sandwiched in between the HR building and the new three-story Administration Building an underground tunnel connected the basements of the two Office Buildings the original monitor roof Bridge installed in 1958 still serves as a dark transition between the two dioramas like its counterpart the Primeval World diorama takes you from dawn to dusk through a landscape populated with all kinds of Critters except this landscape is prehistoric and the critters you see are genuine dinosaurs well maybe they're not real or even paleontologically accurate but at the time Disneyland was the only place in the world where you could see life-sized dinosaurs moving and interacting with their natural environment at 40 feet tall and 400 feet long the Primeval world eclipsed its older neighbor as the world's longest and largest diorama and maintains that designation even to this day even by 1960 standards the dinosaurs weren't accurate because Walt Disney wanted them to resemble the animated versions from his 1940 movie Fantasia once the train enters the diorama you see multiple snails large dragonflies a pair of edifasaurus a family of six brontosaurs five pteranodons two Triceratops parents plus their clutch of hatchlings three ornithaminus and last but not least a showdown between a Stegosaurus and a Tyrannosaurus Rex piped into the tunnel are the loud noises of the Primitive landscape groans from the various creatures can be heard but back then there was no music to go along with this terrifying sight the Primeval World debuted at Disneyland in summer of 1966 and soon became a must-see addition to Disneyland even today some folks ride the train with not only the promise but the expectation that they will get to see dinosaurs there is something so magical about watching all the children on board the train gasp point and crane their necks it truly is a childhood dream come true [Music] the trains were the most popular attraction at Disneyland and Walt was able to enjoy it for 11 years however he died of lung cancer on December 15 1966. he was no longer around to dictate how his train operations ran but thankfully he had left the expensive Railroad in good standing with the two new trains holiday 4 and holiday 5 there was generally no need for the old retlaw one coaches except for days of inclement weather the train would be brought out from its abandoned garage backstage and pressed into service to Shield the guests from the bitter cold and rain guests stepping inside the coaches could see how dilapidated they had become with stuffing coming out of the seat cushions chipping paint and signs of water damage in 1974 the sponsorship contract with the Santa Fe railroad had come to an end and without money coming in the Disney company and retlaw Enterprises were reluctant to maintain the high maintenance budget that Santa Fe had once provided for the railroad retlaw Enterprises owned the Disneyland Railroad and was created by Walt Disney himself so that he could maintain control of the train operations not the Disney Company after his death ownership of retlaw went to his wife and daughters they were happy to keep the railroad operations going but money was becoming tight you see once Santa fe's sponsorship ended the Disney Company became the new sponsor what made matters worse was the energy crisis of the early 1970s it was becoming difficult to justify running four trains even on the busiest of days because of the scarcity of fuel and the rather large appetite the steam engines had for number two diesel oil Disney insisted that Rhett launcher prices reduce the train operations down to two trains even on busy days furthermore to cut back on maintenance costs the old retlaw one passenger train was permanently retired and left in the old roundhouse behind frontierland the original tunnel that connected The Roundhouse was boarded up in the style of an abandoned mine never to be opened again there was a genuine fear that the Disneyland railroad with its decaying infrastructure and reduced operations would Fall Into Obscurity and possibly someday would be altogether removed from Disneyland but there was one man who would never let that happen Ken Kohler was Disneyland's Transportation superintendent and he had moved up through the ranks of the Disneyland railroad under Walt Disney's leadership and was just as passionate about trains as ever he knew he needed to come up with an idea that would attract new attention to the railroad the goal was to show upper management how important the trains were and thereby get them to increase the operational budget so how did he do this well Ken realized that the American Bicentennial was only two years away and during the celebration Disneyland would be vying for the world's attention with all new attractions and entertainment royalty and dignitaries from around the globe would be coming to visit Disneyland since the park and its former Creator were seen as quintessential Americana Ken told the Disneyland and Rhett law company Executives that it would be useful to turn one of the old ratlaw Passenger cars into a posh private car for VIPs and heads of state he insisted the project wouldn't cost much and would be a great way to turn heads both companies agreed and a small budget was given to Ken's team to start the project the rear car called Grand Canyon number 106 was selected because of its observation deck surrounded by beautiful wrought iron railing Lily and Disney was asked to help with the redesign since she had an eye for Victorian details many of the car's inward facing seats were removed except for three sets which were kept and reupholstered with cranberry red mohair velvet the interior wall panels are still the original Hunter and mahogany but they were restained with a darker finish the white fiberglass skylights were replaced with faux stained glass also made of transparent fiberglass the beautiful patterns on the curb ceiling panels have been there since 1955 and were done by stencil but they look like authentic wood inlays which is a testament to the skills of the Disney Studio Carpenters of the 1950s an antique Victorian set tea and matching chair were purchased at auction and reupholstered in the same mohair velvet as other benches you'll also see a very odd antique here this beautiful piece is wrongly referred to as a smoking screen tour guides and conductors will often tell guests that these were used to Shield a lady's face from the cigar smoke the men puffed out but actually this is really a Victorian Fire screen it was used by both men and women in front of a fireplace to Shield their faces from the radiating Heat this also allowed them to sit by the fire at night without being blinded by it when they were reading or otherwise occupied another Oddity is this Japanese kimono hung near the window it is wrongly said that this kimono is a gift from Emperor Hirohito while the emperor did present a kimono to Lillian this one is not the original but rather a representation of it after all Disney would not display a gift from a Japanese emperor right next to an open window and exposed to direct sunlight because of Lillian's contributions to the private car it was decided to name it after her and so the Lily Bell private car debuted at Disneyland in 1975. and indeed Emperor Hirohito was the first guest to ride aboard he was fond of the Disney brand during his visit to Disneyland he purchased a Mickey Mouse watch and wore it for the rest of his life he was even buried with his Mickey Mouse watch still on his wrist guests riding aboard the Lily Bell could see Walt Disney's handmade Caboose from his backyard Railroad and electric fans in the corners of the car helped keep air flowing the car even has individual controls that allow tour guides or conductors to turn off the loudspeakers or turn on the lights without disrupting the rest of the train in 1996 the car underwent a slight refurbishment and returned to the rails but the continued effects of wood rot culminated in the decision to put the Lily Bell in storage after all a full restoration would be too expensive for a car rarely in use and her 8-ton girth was unnecessary dead weight for the overtax little steam engines she was stored at the very back of the new roundhouse her Windows boarded up and the Disney heirlooms inside were returned to the family the Lily Bell continued to rot away but in the early 2000s the resort president wanted to get the Lily Bell back into working order for the Park's 50th anniversary the private car was repaired and even received new ornate features such as brass wall sconces new curtains and additional antique props mounted on top of the marble tables The Roundhouse crew was even given the excess carpeting that was left over from the recent refreshing of Walt's Firehouse apartment the Lily Bell was once again a gleaming Jewel on the Disneyland Railroad and during the year of a million dream celebration of 2007 through 2010 guests who asked politely to ride aboard the Lily Bell were sometimes rewarded with their wish though the little private car is still attached to the end of holiday blue on days of good weather the only people allowed to ride aboard are VIPs and Club 33 members [Music] while ordinary Park guests couldn't ride aboard the Lily Bell they were certainly enthralled with it even to this day whenever people at the stations get a glimpse of it rolling by everyone turns their heads to get a look at the Regal little passenger coach watching at glitter and glisten as it speeds away the attention it gave to the Park's VIPs and heads of state had won over the affection of the company Executives in charge thanks to the Lily belt the maintenance Budget on the railroad increased and Walt's trains could continue rolling along for decades to come [Music] when the new bear country was under construction in 1971 they had to build a bridge over the new guest walkway and the area was further improved in 1989 with the addition of Splash Mountain because now guests on the railroad could peek inside the finale of the attraction before crossing over the renamed Critter country on their way to the rivers of America and in 1985 Fantasyland got its train station back in the form of vidiopolis station [Music] hello everyone welcome aboard the Disneyland railroad hello folks Disneyland Railroad hello folks welcome aboard the Disneyland railroad welcome aboard the Disneyland Railroad the first fully documented pre-recorded Spiel on the trains was done by Vic Perrin and debuted in 1980 back then the technology was rather simple the recordings were activated by the conductors Vic re-recorded the Spiel in 1987 but his narration was replaced by the more memorable thorough Ravenscroft version in 1990. for Disneyland's 40th anniversary in 1995 imagineers wanted to sprinkle a little more magic into the Disneyland railroad narration they were able to synchronize the narration with the landmarks by separating the Spiel into separate channels to play in separate cars four channels were used for trains green blue and the Excursion so that cars four and five of those trains shared the same timing as for the holiday Red Freight Train the audio was separated into five channels With Cars 4 and 5 sharing a channel and cars 6 7 and 8 sharing a channel this was especially useful because imagineers also hired an orchestra to record a new onboard soundtrack for both dioramas ferdy Griffey's on the trail now plays from the Train's onboard speakers during the Grand Canyon segment and during the Primeval world you can now hear the thunderous theme music to the 1961 movie Mysterious Island and lastly thorough Ravenscroft had to re-record his narration to reflect the fact that in 1995 vidiopolis station was already the new Toontown Depot in the year 2002 the thorough Ravenscroft narration was replaced with a more tongue-in-cheek style of narration done by actor Earl Bowen which became the railroad's longest running narration when it was replaced in 2017 with the current iteration voiced by Bob joles [Music] from a trip around Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom passengers will stand by to board for almost three decades the Disneyland Railroad and several other Disneyland attractions were owned and operated by Walt Disney's personal company retlaw Enterprises they also owned the rights to his name this meant that his family earned royalties every time his name was used including its use by the main Disney Company ratlaw eventually sold Walt's name and his attractions to Walt Disney Productions in 1982 giving them full control of the Disneyland Railroad back in 1992 a private railroad collector named Bill norrid had inquired about Disney's abandoned retlaw One cars after negotiations he acquired all five cars in exchange for giving Disney a steam locomotive the company was pleased with this deal because during Peak Seasons the Disneyland railroad would need to run all four locomotives out on the line pulling full trains which means they couldn't afford to send one locomotive away for restoration so having a fifth one could allow them that leeway they named the locomotive the ward Kimball in honor of the man who helped influence Walt Disney's railroad obsession they intended to put it to use on the Disneyland railroad however the engine was simply too heavy for the Seven Bridges around the park so Disney sent the engine to Walt Disney World but unfortunately it didn't weigh enough to efficiently haul the heavy trains up the Steep incline north of Tomorrowland so the engine was put in storage except for a few months in 1998 when it was displayed in front of epcot's American Adventure attraction while Disney kept the Lily Bell number 106 Bill norrid took the retlock cars 101 through 105 back with him and intended to use them for an amusement park he hoped to build unfortunately he died before his dream could come to fruition his family kept the combine number 101 because of its particular connection to Walt Disney the other cars numbered 102 through 105 were acquired by Rob Rossi who immediately put them to use on his private Railroad in Santa Margarita Ranch California in 2009 the Carrollwood Foundation named after Walt's backyard railroad acquired the combine number 101 it now sits fully restored and on display next to Walt Disney's Barn in Griffith Park California in 1999 Disney still had that locomotive they couldn't use and yet they still needed a fifth engine for the Disneyland Railroad they negotiated a trade with cedar fare for the acquisition of a small Forney engine called the mod L it was built by Baldwin locomotive Works in 1902 to be used on a plantation in Louisiana the mod L was carefully restored and renamed Ward Kimball headlamp Sports the silhouette of the animator's most famous character Jiminy Cricket the ward Kimball debuted at Disneyland in 2005 just in time for Disneyland's 50th Anniversary up until the Year 2007 the trains had been burning a low sulfur diesel oil but in an effort to be more environmentally friendly Disneyland switched to b-98 biodiesel which was made from the used cooking oil from the deep fryers around the park it not only Burns cleaner but it also is more sustainable again this doesn't mean any major changes had to be made the trains still operate on Steam but instead of burning petroleum diesel to heat the water they burn biodiesel the year 2008 saw a technological advancement by updating the block system since 1956 the Disneyland railroad maintained proper train dispatching through a system of light signals located at the start of designated block zones today Disneyland's track is separated into 10 zones green means go and red means stop it's a simple way to prevent collisions and also ensure that the trains arrive at the stations in a timely manner if a train enters an occupied block Zone all signals around the park will turn red signaling an emergency stop in the past an overgrown landscape made it difficult to see the block signal until the train was right up on it so in 2008 each engine had its own onboard block lights installed no matter where the train was on the track the engineer can always see the status of the Zone ahead but this also introduced a three-color system which was a little more complicated now the yellow color represents an occupied block and red is reserved for emergency stop since the new mobile block signal system is so useful Disneyland removed half of its original block lights around the loop leaving only one at each station plus an extra one before Toontown Depot there are days though where the mobile system fails and train Crews have to rely on the remaining five signals around the park in 2012 the dangerous tradition of having the conductors ride on the outside of the trains was put to a stop a space on each train was created for both a front and rear conductor the front conductor monitors the safety of the passengers on the first few cars as well as listens to the conductor radio for sudden instruction and they also used to operate the Spiel buttons the rear conductor monitors the safety of the guests on the last few cars and they are also in charge of using their push button to signal to the engineers whether to move the train forward reverse or stop when they press the button a tiny electric bell inside the cab of the locomotive will ring the year 2014 saw another technical advancement the front conductor no longer needed to operate the Spiel buttons instead each train is fitted with an RFID scanner on the front car and when the trains pass an RFID tag it will trigger the narration to start it's not always perfect but mostly it works very well this was also when the trains received new high-powered speakers on a side note the lights and loudspeakers on the trains have always been battery powered and the batteries are kept charged through two dynamos underneath the first car of each train as The Wheels on the car roll they spin the dynamos which generates power 2016 saw the most significant change in recent decades the rivers of America was downsized in order to make more space for the construction of Star Wars Galaxy's Edge and because of this change the railroad tracks would have to be rerouted while work was underway the Disneyland railroad was closed and at New Orleans square and Main Street Station the trains were put on display the ward Kimball was kept in service to help Shuffle the trains around pulling them back and forth through the dioramas since the frontierland tracks were completely ripped out the bridges around the park are not strong enough to hold two engines at the same time so a few of the passenger cars were connected between the display locomotive and the ward Kimball to provide ample space so that only one engine at a time is crossing a bridge when the Disneyland railroad reopened in 2017 it featured new narration done by Bob joles and there were new sites along the way such as the Panther and Adventureland once the trains reached the rivers of America the guests on board are treated to the beautiful new scenery the area has been re-themed to the Columbia River Gorge and features three different Bridges one over the South gateway to Galaxy's Edge another over a small waterfall and then a massive Trestle Bridge spanning 200 feet in length the largest on the Disneyland Railroad then the trains round the corner to the left it's the first time a significant left turn was installed on the railroad after passing a growling mountain lion the trains begin a downward descent along a two percent grade the steepest on the whole line and they Coast all the way into Toontown Depot without needing to keep the throttle open oddly enough the new tunnel between frontierland and Toontown Depot has three old posters of the Disneyland Railroad and Nature's Wonderland they are not kept illuminated instead they sit in darkness for reasons unknown imagineers also refresh the dioramas in the Grand Canyon scene projection technology shows birds flying over a sparkling Colorado River as well as Lightning Strikes and a pair of rainbows in the Primeval World scene blacklight paint illuminates the strange plants and animals in the early Dawn projection effects show hundreds of pteranodon flying around in the distance there is also a sandstorm Sunset behind the ornithomimus and the T-Rex battle is enhanced with the erupting peak of the volcano for the most part all of the 2017 changes have all been well received by Disney fans and park visitors and the scenery along the Disneyland railroad is looking better than ever the tracks around the railroad have been realigned so much over the years that the last stretch of track following the 1955 route is the section at Main Street Station also at this station you can still see the original passing tracks and the Rock ballast between the rails is still there the ballast was crushed to 5 8 scale but Disney no longer does this because the normal size Rock ballast doesn't get washed away by rain as easily on top of these passing tracks you might have seen this little yellow hand car it was a gift to Walt Disney by the Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company back in 1955. as part of a publicity stunt Golden Horseshoe star Wally Bogue was photographed pretending to push the cart as the EP Ripley barreled down the rails after him over the years railroad casimirs used to pull a prank where they took the hand car out for a spin around the park after hours it's for this reason that the hand car has now chained to the rails when frontierland needed a railroad station Walt first thought to use the one that Ward Kimball owned it used to be a set piece for the movie so dear to my heart but Ward loved it and refused to send it to Disneyland so imagineers were instructed to build an all-new one using Studio Blueprints and they even added covered platforms on either side of it today that building is preserved on the other side of the tracks from New Orleans Square station as for the original set piece that Ward Kimball kept it was destroyed by a wildfire in 2017. another interesting thing you can spot at this Depot is the semaphore in the olden days these were used by railroads as a signaling system that predated block lights this semaphore in particular is an authentic antique and it was given to Walt Disney as a gift from William white the chairman of the Delaware and Hudson Railroad Disneyland semaphore is still in operation and it actually signals when a train is approaching this is useful for the cast members that need to cross the railroad tracks here because the signal starts to move even before the station announcement plays nearby the highest elevation the Disneyland railroad goes is at Main Street Station where you are 10 feet above ground elevation to get up to this level the train climbs a one percent grade which spans the length of both dioramas that's right while you are passing through the Grand Canyon and primeval world you are actually going uphill after the trains continue past it's a small world you may have seen these cute little crossing gates these were built as a gift to Disneyland by the Santa Fe Railroad Company in 1955. they offered to give Disney full-sized crossing gates but he refused since they wouldn't be the same scale as his railroad so Santa Fe constructed these from scratch and the little wig wag signals at the top are powered by windshield wiper motors the crossing gates used to be installed by the old frontierland train station but when New Orleans Square was built they were moved here just a few feet away is the switch track which leads to the new roundhouse this switch track is interesting because the main line used to pass a lot closer to the retaining wall the turn radius of the roundhouse line would have been too tight so the Spur Line actually crossed over the main line and connected to a switch up ahead this is a really strange Oddity to Railroad fans unfortunately over the years the track was realigned a few feet further south eliminate aiding the strange crossover track the original railroad roundhouse behind frontierland was converted into a ride vehicle paint shop after the retlaw one cars were sold unfortunately this whole area backstage was completely demolished to make way for Star Wars Galaxy's Edge this picture taken in 2015 is possibly the very last photo of it I wanted to take a moment to talk about the speed of the trains the Disneyland railroad was built for sightseeing and therefore travels at speeds around 12 feet per second which is roughly 8 miles per hour but before the tracks around the river were rerouted to make way for Galaxy's Edge sometimes the engineers would push the trains at 20 feet per second or more as they puffed along the river technically speaking the fastest engines on the railroad would be the CK holiday and EP Ripley which could potentially reach 36 miles per hour if all the conditions were right this is called a blowdown and it is a procedure where Engineers clear sediment buildup from the boiler by opening a small valve that vents water from the bottom so now you might be wondering what's keeping this pressure vessel from exploding well first the engines operate at 150 psi that's pounds per square inch but the boiler tank is built to handle twice that pressure before failing also the crew constantly monitors the boiler pressure if it climbs above the normal amount there are pressure release valves at the top of the steam Dome that will automatically pop open to vent the steam this results in a rather deafening loud hiss that some of you may have heard the whistle and Bell aren't sounded arbitrarily the train crew communicates with each other through the whistle and Bell just like on a real Railroad one short toot means the train is stopped two means the train is about to move or is moving and three toots means the train is going to reverse if a train is preparing to cross a road like the one over by It's a Small World the required whistle signal is two long blasts followed by one short and one long again as for the Bell they usually ring it when they are coming to a stop at a station or when crossing a road when Disneyland added that left turn to the rivers of America it created a blind spot for the engineer because they can't see anything to the left of the boiler so before going into the turn they will sound the whistle twice and the fire will continue ringing the bell through the turn the Disneyland railroad is a magical part of the Disney Experience its Simplicity is overlooked by The Thrill Seekers but there is something to be said about the small spectacle of seeing these trains pull up to the station with their polished brass glistening in the sunlight Walt Disney had really tapped into his audience by insisting on building this railroad most people don't consider themselves rail fans but yet are still entranced by the side of a train and they continue to excite visitors young and old as they steam through the jungles deserts and forests of Disneyland crawling along the rim of a mighty Canyon and chugging back into the age of the dinosaurs the Disneyland trains have covered enough track around the park to circle the globe nearly 300 times a true Testament to their popularity and longevity this attraction is a classic part of the Disneyland experience when you ride aboard these iron horses you are transported across the Realms of the Magic Kingdom on ribbons of Steel one can easily forget their troubles and worries while taking an awe-inspiring lap around this marvelous Park aboard the mighty little steam trains of Walt's Disneyland Railroad [Music] oh foreign [Music]

Channel: Alex the Historian

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Id: ed0ymeIsFig

Length: 56min 33sec (3393 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 18 2023