- 6/2/2025
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TravelTranscript
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00:10Straight ahead lies the heartline of America, an old-fashioned main street.
00:15Hometown USA, combining the color of frontier days with the oncoming excitement of the new 20th century.
00:21Like much of the rest of Disneyland, the railroad was built slightly smaller than full-size.
00:32Both the train and its tracks are about 5-8 scale, making its cars 3 feet narrower than standard train cars.
00:40Its doorway is closer to 6 feet tall than 7, its track about 36 inches wide instead of the standard 56 and a half.
00:47Friendlier and less intimidating.
00:50Roger E. Brogy, master machinist at Disney Studios, was familiar with fabricating small camera parts with precision.
00:57Walt approached him to create a 1-8 scale live steam locomotive while training Walt as a machinist.
01:03Since the first spark of the idea of the park, which would later evolve into Disneyland,
01:08each design concept held one thing in common, and it will be surrounded by a train, Walt Disney said.
01:13Here, we were building 5-8 scale railroad cars to run on Disneyland's own narrow-gauge line, the Disneyland and Santa Fe.
01:26When you board one of these coaches and circle the park on the three-quarter mile trip,
01:31you'll have an old-fashioned but easy-riding view of all four realms of Disneyland.
01:36Like our many other projects, the Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad was feeling the effects of the final push.
01:51It needed only a few letters of recommendation from a dozen sign painters, and the installation of its trucks, and a few other accessories to be ready for its trial run.
02:01At this point, we felt much like our friend the beaver in the picture Lady and the Tramp.
02:19It's not so much the work as the doggone hauling, for now began the job of moving Disneyland to Disneyland.
02:26It's not so much the end of the park.
02:56For the next few weeks, as far as we were concerned, all roads led to Disneyland.
03:14At Farmer Boulevard, our trucks completed the first leg of the trip and turned onto the Hollywood freeway.
03:35From here, straight on to Disneyland, it was a breeze.
03:43It's often said that the Los Angeles drivers are a hearty breeze.
03:47They're used to almost everything.
03:48But when a man's missed his coffee and is late for work, a boxcar rolling down the freeway can be quite a surprise.
03:55To the thousands of Los Angeles motorists who travel the freeways daily, this view of the Los Angeles City Hall is a familiar landline.
04:08Once past downtown Los Angeles, we swing onto the Santa Ana freeway toward the city of Anaheim.
04:18This is probably the only time that Disneyland and Santa Fe will roll beneath the tracks of its big brother, the Super Chief.
04:36As we turn off the freeway onto Harbor Boulevard, we finally reach our destination.
04:45For example, this construction that's going on right now would have been done just four months prior to the opening.
04:51And you can see in what Ross stayed it's still in.
04:53The Disneyland Railroad was inspired by Walt Disney's love for trains, while tinkering into the barn of his live-steamed backyard, Carolwood Pacific Railroad.
05:03In 1953, the Walt Disney Company solicited major railroads for corporate sponsorship of the attraction.
05:09The Etchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway was the only company to respond.
05:15AT&SF sponsorship offset construction and fabrication costs, and it opened and operated as the Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad until 1974.
05:24One consequence of the sponsorship is from 1955 to 1974, the Santa Fe Rail Pass was able to be used in lieu of a D coupon to ride the train.
05:33Unlike most of Disneyland and its arrangements with its sponsors, the Disneyland Railroad, as well as the Mark Twain Riverboat, and later the Monorail,
05:41was entirely owned and operated by Walt himself, as owner, president, and sole proprietor of Rettlaw, which is Walter spelled backwards, incorporated privately for the operation.
05:51He mortgaged his Palm Springs property, Smoke Tree Ranch, financed the construction of the Disneyland Railroad, Mark Twain Riverboat, and later the Monorail.
06:00Cast members worked directly for Walt, and he personally autographed their paychecks.
06:04Rettlaw originally custom-built all of its full-scale, three-foot, narrow-gauge equipment in-house, through creative financing, paying his other companies for the work.
06:12In addition to the unpowered rolling stock, WED Enterprises constructed the original two locomotives in the roundhouse at Disneyland,
06:20then located west of Holiday Land under the supervision of Roger Brogy, the first Imagineer,
06:25on a temporary reassignment from his duties of machinist-engineer at the Disney Studios camera shops.
06:31Locomotives are examples of American-style 4-4-0s.
06:35Using the 1-8th-scale miniature Carrowood Pacific No. 173 Lily Bell Live Steam locomotive,
06:41which Walt commissioned Brogy to fabricate for his backyard as a pattern,
06:44the No. 1 and No. 2 locomotives were scaled up from the practical 1-8th Live Steam model,
06:50enlarged to a full-scale, three-foot, narrow-gauge Disneyland Railroad trackage,
06:55visually similar to the proportions of 5-8ths standard gauge.
07:01Under that tarp in the middle is what would eventually become the portrait of Mickey Mouse in Flowers.
07:17It's amazing, all the work going on, and that takes forever to get that portion of the scene complete.
07:23They'd probably put a lot of effort into making sure that Mickey looked right from the forced perspective.
07:28There it begins now, because you view it down at eye level,
07:33which means it had to be stretched vertically, almost like an anamorphic Mickey.
07:40Walt Disney was certainly a master at realizing even the documentation of the building of one of his venues
07:46would be important someday as an historical record.
07:50This was shot from a tower that was used, obviously, for the time-lapse,
07:54but there are several towers all over the park that were used for the time-lapse, as we're going to get into.
08:01What you're about to see is the testing of the train here with guests prior to the initial opening day on July 17th.
08:09The fire tube boilers are fired by spraying and igniting fuel oil onto a carbon-based ceramic firebrick plate burner.
08:18Locomotive number one was given a big, spark-arresting diamond stack of wood-burning locomotives
08:24and a large, pointed pilot, or cow-catcher, representing a workhorse used to construct a railroad.
08:29Flagship number two was given a straight stack and smaller pilot, common to East Coast coal-burning locomotives
08:36representing highball speed of express passenger service on smooth, straight rails.
08:42From safety and signaling to conductors punching passenger tickets with a smile,
08:46all aspects of operations were just like the big ones.
08:49Two trains operated on opening day.
08:51Locomotive number one serviced the Frontierland Depot,
08:54hauling a freight train consisting of cattle cars, gondolas numbered 201 to 205,
08:59and a caboose number 208.
09:01Locomotive number two serviced only Main Street Station.
09:04It hauled a passenger train consisting of yellow coaches, number 101,
09:09the combined partial baggage express and coach seating,
09:13coaches number 102 through 105,
09:16and the Grand Canyon observation coach, number 106,
09:19with larger arched windows, an observation platform, and drumhead at the rear.
09:24The two trains could operate on the railroad simultaneously and independently,
09:28in the same clockwise direction.
09:30Rail sightings at Main Street Station and Frontierland Depot
09:33allowed them to pass the one disembarking and barking passengers.
09:38July 17, 1955, beginning the historic ABC broadcast with Art Linkletter and Ronald Reagan on the platform
09:45as Walt throttled down number two, pulling Rettlaw 1 into Main Street Station.
09:51Art introduced him, along with California Governor Goodwin J. Knight and Fred G. Gurley,
09:57in his capacity as President of the Santa Fe and their families,
10:00riding in the open door of the combined number 101,
10:04as they began to preside over the opening day ceremonies.
10:08When the tracks were realigned to accommodate It's a Small World,
10:11the Fantasyland Station was closed and the Tomorrowland Station was built.
10:15The passing track at Main Street Station has been disconnected and now is only used
10:19to display a three-foot, narrow-gauge Kalamazoo handcar.
10:23The tracks at Frontierland Depot were moved several times and the passing track was removed completely.
10:29The original station was moved across the tracks and the New Orleans Square Frontierland Station replaced it.
10:35Walt Disney dictated that two trains were to operate at all times,
10:38and it is not uncommon for three or four trains to operate simultaneously on busy days.
10:44Walt's railroading hobby qualified him with extensive experience operating steam locomotives,
10:49and guests frequently saw him making rounds of the park acting as engineer in a locomotive cab.
10:55As the park had grown and ridership increased, more trains were needed.
10:59When more trains were eventually added, the operation was changed.
11:03The trains no longer passed each other, and a Fantasyland Station was built at Storybook Land.
11:09The Main Street Station is a typical 1900-era brick structure with gabled roof, cupolas, and the town clock.
11:16Inside, the Lily Bell, the scale model locomotive, which once circled Walt Disney's home, is on display.
11:23The Frontierland Station is a framed building housing a clattering telegraph office and baggage handling facilities.
11:30In New Tomorrowland, guests board trains of the Santa Fe Disneyland Railroad for a journey through the Grand Canyon and Primeval World.
11:38Frontierland Dictionary 1968 includes five trains, all of 1890 vintage or older.
11:44They depart regularly from the Main Street Station at Disneyland Main Entrance for a trip completely around the Magic Kingdom,
11:51with stops at Frontierland and Tomorrowland.
11:53Each land is viewed on the one and a quarter mile journey climaxed by a trip through the Grand Canyon and Primeval World.
12:00Your attention please, Santa Fe and Disneyland passenger train, E.P. Ripley, downloading on track number one,
12:16for a trip around the Disney's Magic Kingdom.
12:20All aboard!
12:22Hello, everyone.
12:40Welcome aboard the Disneyland Railroad.
12:43We are now beginning a grand circle tour around the Magic Kingdom.
12:46We'll be stopping at Frontierland and Tomorrowland before reaching the exciting climax of our trip,
12:54a journey across the rim of the Grand Canyon and into the spectacular Primeval World.
13:00Now, don't be surprised if you hear the roar of a lion or the trumpet of a wild bull elephant,
13:05because we're riding through the jungles of Adventureland, one of seven themed lands here at Disneyland.
13:11Just ahead is the enchanting home of It's a Small World, Walt Disney's salute to children around the globe.
13:23Here, happy children sing, dance, and celebrate the common bonds of people everywhere.
13:28In front of this colorful attraction are the topiary gardens,
13:32where plants grow in the shapes of some rather unusual animals.
13:36In the distance is the ice-capped Matterhorn Mountain.
13:39We're now leaving the land of fantasy and entering the world of the future, Tomorrowland.
13:48We're now about to travel along the rim of the Grand Canyon.
13:53All the animals, trees, and birds you will see are typical of those actually found there.
14:09We're now approaching the Main Street Station.
14:27If you are disembarking here, please remain seated until we come to a complete stop.
14:31Then, kindly gather your belongings and step carefully from the train.
14:37Thank you for traveling with us aboard the Disneyland Railroad.
14:40Specs, capacity 2,384 per hour.
14:43Cycle time, 17 minutes, 30 seconds.
14:44Trip time, 12 minutes.
14:45Trips per hour, 10.
14:46Distance traveled, 6,215 feet.
14:48Speed, 4 miles per hour.
14:51Publicity photo of the CK Holiday outside the Roundhouse.
14:55Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad trains are currently operating at Santa Margarita Ranch in San Luis Obispo.
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