Walt Disney World Railroad

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Walt Disney World Railroad
A train in Fantasyland of the Magic Kingdom
A train in Fantasyland of the Magic Kingdom
Walt Disney World Railroad route
Route
Route length: 2.4 km
Gauge : 914 mm ( English 3-foot track )
Legend
            
Engine shed
            
(usually not accessible)
            
            
Frontierland
            
Fantasyland
            
Cinderella Castle
            
            
            
            
Main Street Tram
            
Main Street, USA
            
Monorail , ferry , and bus

The Walt Disney World Railroad ( WDWRR ) is a 1.5 mile ( 1.5 mile ) historic steam locomotive, 3- foot (914 mm) gauge, narrow-gauge railway  in the Magic Kingdom amusement park at Walt Disney World Resort in Bay Lake , about 30 kilometers southwest of Orlando , Florida .

Rail operations

The Walt Disney World Railroad operates on a circular route with three stations in Main Street, USA , Frontierland and Fantasyland . The 2.4 km long railway line, which was built by WED Enterprises , is operated by four historic steam locomotives from the Baldwin Locomotive Works . Each of the four locomotives pulls five passenger cars with 75 seats each for up to 375 passengers per train. It was put into operation on October 1, 1971 when the amusement park opened. Since then it has become one of the world's most popular steam trains with 3.7 million passengers a year.

The train ride begins on Main Street, USA at the entrance to the amusement park and goes clockwise through a tunnel under Splash Mountain and past several attractions. The locomotives are driven by a driver and a stoker, and a conductor takes care of the passengers.

After stopping at Frontierland station, passengers will see several animatronic figures of Indians and wild animals until they arrive at Frontierland station, formerly called Mickey's Toontown Fair. On the last section of the route, the train ride passes the Space Mountain roller coaster before arriving back in Main Street, USA.

history

Steam locomotives from Mexico

A typical steam locomotive of the Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatán in Mexico, where the locomotives were found

The development of the Walt Disney World Railroad has been since the 1960s until the opening in 1971 of E. Roger Broggie , vice president and general manager of Mapo, Inc. directed the also previously the construction of the Disneyland Railroad at Disneyland of Anaheim , California . It had become clear to him that refurbished locomotives were better suited for this purpose than the first two new California builds. He contacted the railroad historian Gerald M. Best , who did indeed know where such locomotives were available: On a boneyard , a storage area for used locomotives, in Mérida, Yucatán , Mexico , the Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatán had several steam locomotives of the desired 914 gauge mm and mothballed with three different axis sequences. Roger E. Broggie and his Disney colleague and railroad expert Earl Vilmer traveled to Merida in 1969 to locate the four Baldwin Locomotive Works locomotives in the yard and another Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works in a park in front of the railroad company's headquarters across the street to inspect and assess whether these could be overhauled.

Broggie paid a total of $ 32,750 for all five engines: $ 8,000 each for the four Baldwin engines and $ 750 for the Pittsburgh engine on display in the park. The locomotives and included in selling spare parts such as brass - fittings were by railroad to the Gulf of Mexico brought back to the United States.

General overhaul in Florida

Roger E. Broggie steam locomotive

The locomotives were taken to the Tampa Ship Repair & Dry Dock Company in Tampa, Florida for a major overhaul , which had the space, expertise, and appropriate equipment for the major overhaul. There the Transportation Superintendent Earl Vilmer, who had accompanied Broggie to Mexico, took over the general overhaul together with the project engineer Bob Harpur and the machinist supervisor of the dry dock George Britton. The four Baldwinl locomotives were each given a newly built, smaller boiler from the Dixon Boiler Works. They were given driver's cabs made of fiberglass and new tenders built on the historic bogies . Many of the original parts, such as the wheels, the coupling rods, the steam domes and the brass bells have been successfully reused. The fire boxes for steam generation were converted from coal to heating oil. Since then they have normally used 95 liters of fuel and 760 liters of water per hour.

Despite the success in restoring the four Baldwin locomotives, the Pittsburgh locomotive could not be restored due to numerous problems, so it was first mothballed in California and then sold to a locomotive dealer.

Installation

The four restored locomotives and a total of 20 completely newly built open passenger cars were completed in less than two years. The first locomotives were delivered to the amusement park on May 15, 1971, several months before the park opened.

Rail vehicles

The locomotives and passenger cars are listed in the following table.

number Surname Namesake image Wheel alignment Construction year Manufacturer Builder number Passenger cars Recommissioning status
1 Walter E. Disney Walt Disney Walter E Disney on track.jpg 4-6-0 May 1925 Baldwin Locomotive Works 58444 Five red passenger cars 1st October 1971 Operational
2 Lilly Belle Lillian Disney Lilly Belle on track.jpg 2-6-0 September 1928 Baldwin Locomotive Works 60598 Five green passenger cars 1st October 1971 Operational
3 Roger E. Broggie Roger E. Broggie Roger E Broggie on track.jpg 4-6-0 May 1925 Baldwin Locomotive Works 58445 Five yellow passenger cars 1st October 1971 Operational
4th Roy O. Disney Roy O. Disney Roy O Disney on track.jpg 4-4-0 February 1916 Baldwin Locomotive Works 42915 Five blue passenger cars 1st December 1971 Operational

literature

  • Dana Amendola: All Aboard: The Wonderful World of Disney Trains , 1st. Edition, Disney Editions , 2015, ISBN 978-1-4231-1714-8 .
  • Kate Bradshaw et al .: Fodor's Walt Disney World 2013 , 1st. Edition, Fodor's , 2013, ISBN 978-0-307-92944-0 .
  • Michael Broggie: Walt Disney's Railroad Story: The Small-Scale Fascination That Led to a Full-Scale Kingdom , 4th. Edition, The Donning Company Publishers , 2014, ISBN 978-1-57864-914-3 .

Web links

Commons : Walt Disney World Railroad  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Surviving Steam Locomotives in Florida . Steamlocomotive.com . Archived from the original on February 14, 2017. Retrieved February 14, 2017.
  2. ^ A b How Walt Disney's Love of Trains Changed the World . The Huffington Post . March 18, 2015. Archived from the original on March 18, 2016. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
  3. ↑ a b c Broggie, 2014, p. 317.
  4. ↑ a b Broggie, 2014, pp. 393–394.
  5. ↑ a b Broggie, 2014, p. 331.
  6. ↑ a b Broggie, 2014, p. 333.
  7. ^ Magic Kingdom and Fun Facts . WDWRadio . September 14, 2007. Archived from the original on January 9, 2012. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
  8. ↑ Bradshaw et al., 2013, p. 233.
  9. ↑ The Quick 10: 10 Magic Kingdom Attractions and Their Secrets . Mental floss . October 1, 2008. Archived from the original on November 1, 2015. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
  10. ↑ Celebrate 40th birthday of Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom (and check out these 'secret' spots) . Tampa Bay Times . September 28, 2011. Archived from the original on July 31, 2013. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
  11. ^ Walt Disney World Railroad . Theme Park Insider . February 10, 2006. Archived from the original on September 5, 2015. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
  12. ↑ Broggie, 2014, p. 216.
  13. ↑ Broggie, 2014, p. 318.
  14. ↑ a b c Broggie, 2014, pp. 320–323.
  15. ↑ a b c Amendola, 2014, p. 148.
  16. ↑ a b Broggie, 2014, p. 324.
  17. ↑ Broggie, 2014, p. 328.
  18. ↑ a b c d e Broggie, 2014, p. 329.
  19. ↑ May 15, 1971: Walt Disney World Railroad . Orlando Sentinel . May 15, 1971. Retrieved June 19, 2016.
  20. ↑ Amendola, 2014, pp. 150–157.

Coordinates: 28 ° 24'59 "  N , 81 ° 34'52.3"  W.