Western River Railroad
| Western River Railroad | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Western River Railroad station entrance
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 Adventureland Station on the Western
River Railroad in Tokyo Disneyland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Route length: | 1.61 km | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Gauge : | 762 mm ( narrow gauge ) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Western River Railroad ( Japanese ウ エ ス タ ン リ バ ー 鉄 道 , Uesutan Ribā Tetsudō or Western River Tetsudō ) is a 1.61 km long steam-powered narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 2 feet 6 inches (762 mm) in Tokyo Disneyland .
Rail operations
The Western River Railroad operates on a circular route with only one train station called Adventureland or Stillwater Junction . When the railway line went into operation when the park opened on April 15, 1983, Japanese railway laws required a railway line with more than one station to be subject to the same rules as conventional railway lines. To avoid this, only one train station was set up, so that no tickets have to be sold and the cars do not have to be completely closed. The regulations have since been relaxed, so that the DisneySea Electric Railway in Tokyo Disney Sea has several stations.
The railroad runs through only part of the park through Adventureland, Westernland and Critter Country. Passengers on the 15-minute train ride will pass the Jungle Cruise, Big Thunder Mountain , an old gold mining town with a caboose on the Rio Grande Southern Railroad , the Rivers of America , Splash Mountain and Primeval World before returning to the starting point. It is sponsored by Takara Tomy .
The maximum speed used to be 16 km / h and, since the fourth train went into service, 12 km / h. There are 3 cars per train, each with 48 seats. The gauge is narrower than other Disney narrow-gauge railways that have a 3- foot (914mm) gauge elsewhere .
Locomotives
The Western River Railroad operates four now oil-fired (formerly heavy oil-fired) steam locomotives with the wheel arrangement 1'B ( 2-4-0 ), which are named after West American rivers:
- No. 53: Colorado ; red; in operation since April 15, 1983. The number refers to the year 1953, in which Walt Disney presented the plans for the first Disneyland .
- No. 28: Missouri ; green; in service since April 15, 1983. The number refers to the year 1928, when Walt Disney's animated short film Steamboat Willie was released, his first animated cartoon with synchronized sound.
- No. 25: Rio Grande ; orange; in operation since April 15, 1983. The number refers to the year 1925 in which Walt Disney married his wife Lillian Disney .
- No. 20: Mississippi ; blue; in operation since October 1991. The number refers to the year 1920, in which Walt Disney founded the Iwerks-Disney Commercial Artists together with his friend Ub Iwerks . Some construction details are different from the three other locomotives.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b ウ エ ス タ ン リ バ ー 鉄 道 . In: Tokyo Disney Resort. Retrieved April 23, 2016 (Japanese).
- ^ Dave Smith: Disney A to Z: The Updated Official Encyclopedia , p. 602.
Coordinates: 35 ° 38 ′ 1.4 " N , 139 ° 52 ′ 56.7" E