Walt Disney World Railroad - History

History

Walt Disney was an avid railroad enthusiast, who had built a miniature steam railroad, called the Carolwood Pacific Railroad, in his backyard. A full-size, narrow gauge railroad known as the Disneyland Railroad had been included in the design of Disneyland, and would be included at later parks in Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong. For Walt Disney World, Disney scouts Roger Broggie and Earl Vilmer found and purchased five locomotives from Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatan (United Railways of Yucatan) on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula in 1969.

One of the five, deemed to be in too poor a condition to be restored, was sold and presumed scrapped. The other four were shipped by rail to the Tampa Shipyards in Tampa, Florida and restored by a crew headed by Disney Imagineer and accomplished live steam builder Bob Harpur. New boilers were constructed for the trains by Dixon Boiler Works of Los Angeles, California and the locomotives themselves were cosmetically backdated to appear older; which included the addition of diamond smoke stacks, square headlamps, boiler jackets, as well as the use of bright colors and polished brass. The tenders were also completely rebuilt from the frame up and new fiberglass cabs were manufactured and installed on the locomotives. In addition, a total of twenty open-air excursion cars were constructed at the shipyards, each of which could seat up to seventy five passengers. The trains went into service with the opening of Walt Disney World on October 1, 1971.

In 1989, a third train station was constructed as part of Mickey's Birthdayland, an expansion to the Magic Kingdom to celebrate Mickey Mouse's 60th birthday. From 1989–1990, different versions of a song called "Mickey's Birthdayland Express" and "Rollin' on the Walt Disney World Express" were played during the trip. Additionally, an automated on-board narration was added to the trains eliminating the need for the conductors to perform the spiel live. After departing Frontierland, the train traveled to Duckberg Station at Mickey's Birthdayland (later renamed Mickey's Starland and finally Mickey's Toontown Fair). During 1990 - 1991, when Splash Mountain was under construction in Frontierland, the train had only one destination: it traveled backwards from Main Street U.S.A. to Mickey's Starland and then forward back to Main Street U.S.A. It was during this time that the original Frontierland Station was closed and demolished to make way for Splash Mountain and the current Frontierland Station was constructed, which opened in 1991.

In recent years, several of the locomotives and some of the passenger coaches have been overhauled. Key modifications to the passenger coaches have involved moving the PA system/conductor's spiel panel from a position on the rear of the third car to the rear platform on the last car. This lets the conductor see the entire train at one time which allows for safer operation. Side panels were added to the outside-facing sides of the coaches in 2009 to keep passengers from sticking their legs and feet outside of the cars. One set of coaches does not have these outside-facing panels because it is used exclusively for the park opening ceremonies that are held each morning. Characters ride the train to Main Street Station, disembark on the outer station platform and participate in the park opening song and dance performance.

On February 12, 2011, Mickey's Toontown Fair was permanently closed to make way for an expansion to Fantasyland. As a result, the Toontown Station was closed and demolished and a new Fantasyland Station was built in its place. Following the closure of Toontown Station, a new on-board narration was introduced, which referenced the Fantasyland expansion and referred to the former Toontown Station stop as the "Watering Outpost" during construction since trains were still required to stop there in order to top off the tender with water and maintain the railroad's operating schedule. The new Fantasyland Station opened on March 12, 2012 and is themed to resemble a railroad roundhouse. It features restroom facilities and a children's splash park themed to the Casey Junior Circus Train from the Dumbo animated film.