Walt Disney + Trains

Also - they have a locomotive shop tour  - has anybody done this ?

https://disneyworld.disney.go....d-steam-trains-tour/

I did the Disney World Backshop Tour discussed in the article.  It was very cool.  I would do it again and I recommend it to anyone that is a railfan or fan of Walt Disney.  He was an amazing man.

On a related note, my wife and I miss the Disney licensed cars that Lionel used to make.  I wish Lionel would get that license back.  I would really love a high end scale version of the Lilly Belle.  I have seen these HO Santa Fe & Disneyland cars and would really love O scale versions.  

I've done the steam trains tour in Florida, and it is simply amazing.  From being picked up early in the morning at Main Street Station by the train and taken back to their shops, you are shown everything from the locomotive cabs, what they fuel them with, you even get to throw the switches to get the train out for the first run for the park's opening!  

You also get a ton of stories and history about Walt, his love of trains, and the trains there.

It was worth getting up early in the morning to do, and you get a commemorative pin and named an honorary Conductor for the day.

At the end of that, I met my wife and daughter at EPCOT, so I got to ride the monorail right after.  So I went from steam to a monorail in a matter of a few hours!

BTW, the story about the locos being found in Mexico is great.  They found them and purchased them, and when the Disney folks said that they would arrange for shipping, the Mexico group they bought them from were slightly offended.  So they agreed to have Mexico handle the shipping to the US border with the Disney people overseeing.

As the trains were being moved, there were people cheering them on along the route, glad that the trains were having another life somewhere, proud that they could supply something to Disney World!

I have taken the tour also.. Amazing from beginning to end. I will do it next time we go.

It is good  to See Main Street USA completely empty at 7AM! 

Yeah, a ton all right. I went on this tour with my wife and parents. All were cool with it Dad especially liked looking at the locomotives, as he's always interested in old school mechanical stuff) until we got back to thee main street station. A word of advice, LEAVE at that point. The rest was an insanely-long lecture on Disney and his RR stuff. People were falling asleep and a couple just got up to leave. We were getting up to leave ourselves when it was finally over with. The pin we each got simply wasn't worth it (my wife kept hers, saying that she'd earned it the hard way). My folks were so drained at that point that they couldn't go any further. We never got beyond main street the entire day and left the park right after lunch (another note to self, going with elderly folks with mobility issues is a very bad idea for Disneyworld) as Mom wasn't getting along too well at that time. I think they'd have held on much better if we'd gone a year later...

Only do this tour if you're going with die-hard Disney fans. Anyone else will be bored to tears once they get off the train at the station.

......."more passengers than Amtrak"...... Should there be a return to steam on Amtrak? 

FYI, there's an entire forum devoted to this: http://www.burnsland.com/disneyrailroads/

Walt & Ward Kimball were great friends. Walt loved all kinds of trains.

I've done the tour twice, but only seen the end presentation Lee is not fond of in all it's glory once (my most recent trip).

The first time we had some issues with the trains, so we weren't' able to get the ride back to Main Street like we were supposed to from the Roundhouse.  The tour guide did give us all sorts of back stories while other crew members were trying to get the engines going though.  (May have been much of the same discussion that normally happens at the station, but without the Easel with the pictures).

The second time it went pretty much as planned, though our sequence was slightly different because it was Extra Magic hour morning.  (note I still did it voluntarily a second time even though my first event had technical difficulties). 

On a normal morning, you get there and the park is not open for a few hours, so you leave on a train that is waiting when you arrive (so you can get good pics of a stationary engine parked right in front of the station).  I think it was that train that was then used to bring the characters to the station for the welcome show. 

On the extra magic hours morning, they do the welcome show (which is also nice to see if you have not - though not as part of the tour) first, and then you take the train the characters arrived on to kick off your tour.  (so while you get to see the welcome show, (so you do not get a good pic of the engine stopped right in front of the station since it is not yet there when you are in front of the station)  You also get to watch the hordes of people transform Main Street from empty to full when they let down the ropes after the welcome show completes.

It is a long tour, and a fair amount of it in the Roundhouse is a lot of standing as you look at the engines, so I'd agree that could be a factor for some.

I'd still recommend it, but if others in your group are not at all into trains or not serious Disney fanatics, it might be best to not drag them with you.

As always at WDW, weather can be a factor.  I was lucky it did not rain on either of the dates I took this tour.  One was in May, one was in January.  I suspect it could be a bit much in July or August, depending on just how bad the heat and humidity are.

-Dave

(Edited because in my haste I think in my recollection I merged another day I was there with the tour day.  I believe Lee is correct, we were on the other side of the station looking up Main Street when the welcome show was happening, so we did not see it as part of the tour.  We were the first guests in the park, we were looking up Main Street before going upstairs to get on the train.  Sorry for the misinformation!)

They told us it's the first tour of any kind to let people into the park each morning. It really is cool to be able to mill around the Main Street depot area with abosultely NOBODY else there. Got some great photos that morning.

You have to hang out in the depot until they confirm all the fireworks for the first train are then safe. You ride that train back to the enginehouse, where it is put away.

They have a locomotive set up under steam and everyone gets to look around the cab and get all the photos they want...

You then ride the first run of another train onto the park's line.

You can also sometimes see monorail operations going on as they do their work in the same area the steam shop is in.

Like I said, if I ever get back there, I'd love to do it again, but I'd just leave the train and go on with the rest of the day from there.

You can find information on Walt Disney and his fascination with trains both real and model. The website is Carolwood its a historic site, interesting if you enjoy this stuff. There is a great book regarding Walt Disney and his trains or you purchase the download that's listed on the website too, its a good read.

I wish MTH would get it because they already have the molds for a pretty accurate model The 19th cent era 4-6-0 MTH makes is based on the two matching ex Mexican Baldwins run at the park.

I think in my haste, I might have melded 2 days together, it must have been a different day I saw the welcome show(didn't have trip notes in front of me while typing).  I think you are correct.  I edited my post to try to correct my error.

Those are some good pics, BTW!

-Dave

There was a very "close but no cigar" moment a few years ago. 

When there was a train exhibit in the Opera House at Disneyland, along with the G Gauge Ward Kimball that they did offer for sale, there was an MTH O Gauge engine sitting conspicuously in a case, but it was not offered for sale at the time.  Everyone was hoping for it, but for some reason it must not have worked out.

I am pretty sure the engines intended for this project ended up being the President Washington and President Lincoln engines MTH offered a couple years ago.

-Dave

I have done the tour at Disney World and it is great,the engines in Mexico were used to haul sugar in the Yucatan,also did the one in Disneyland,Ca,excellent tour.Disney just completed the story and display of Walt and his Trains in the San Francisco Presidio,very well done,it took three hours to see it all.

Mikey

Dave,
My experience was in 2011, it could have changed since then.

Lee

My family and I just did the tour in December, 4 total hours of great history.  I would agree that depending on the docent assigned to your group giving the lecture, it could be boring back at the station.  Being a Disney fan all of my life and loving trains as I do, I was pretty knowledgable prior to the tour, but still enjoyed it immensely.  The cost of the 5, yes 5 trains purchased by Disney amounted to a pretty good $6000 investment.  Four of the trains were restored and are still in use today.  Engine 5 was in such bad condition it was salvaged for parts.  They almost did not make it back into the US.  They could not get clearance to bring them into the us from Mexico.  The were only allowed to enter the country when they proved they were made in the US and were being returned.  I would recommend this tour to anyone...by the way, my wife was in a wheelchair and they did a wonderful job accommodating her throughout the tour...the only thing she didn't do was climb into the cab.  It was a highlight for me to light the firebox with asbestos glove and oil soaked rag.

Check out this LCCA video from our Special Event we had with the Carrolwood  Historical Society group.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=TB8o2YStfV8

al K. 

I attended a recent special exhibit of Walt Disney Trains at the Disney Family Museum.    The exhibit closed March 15.

The exhibit went through Walt Disney's love of trains, his building all his parks with a train around the perimeter, how trains were featured in many of his films, his own live steam train, his boyhood job of selling stuff on trains, etc.   The bottom line is that trains, both real and model, played a huge roll in his life.

His live steam train is displayed at the Disney Family Museum along with all of his Oscars and other items.  Walt personally won nearly 60 Oscars which is far more than any other individual.  This number does not include the Oscars that the Disney Company has won since his death.  I would definitely recommend a trip to the museum if you visit  the San Francisco Bay  Area.

The Disney Family Museum was founded by his daughter, Diane, to display family items. She did not the Museum to be confused with Disneyland or the other parks.  This is the reason she located it in San Francisco.  She also lived in the SF Bay Area for most of her life.   

Joe

Took the tour back in 2001.  It was very informative and fun.  Got the opportunity to throw the switch after touring the engine facilities.  Highlight of my day! 

Currently I'm reading the book "Walt Disney's Railroad Story" written by Michael Broggie (son of Roger Broggie, mechanical engineer to the Walt Disney Company).  It chronicles Walt's fascination with trains, from his childhood, through his building of his own 1/8 scale railroad on his home property (The Carolwood Pacific RR) which eventually led to the building of Disneyland.  Very informative book.

My dad and I took the behind the scenes tour of the trains at Disney World in 2008 had a great time

For years, my father worked at Walt Disney World (his "post-retirement" job), until health issues forced his real retirement a few years ago. He was a conductor on the WDWRR, and was instrumental in the initial development, script-writing, and implementation of the railroad's behind-the-scenes tour.  I'll have to confirm it with him, but I'm pretty sure he was the tour guide on their very first tour. 

For my father, this tour was a work of love. He still talks about all of the wonderful people he met over the years, and could talk for hours-- sorry, Lee!!    about why trains were so important to Walt Disney, and why they are so prominent at Main Street. 

One thing I didn't realize, was that this is considered by the DOT as an official railroad, so all of the crew must be properly trained and liscensed, and they must follow all of the same work rules as any other "real" railroad.  

With the help of my father, my two sons inherited their love for trains, especially of the steam variety.  My older son's interest has cooled significantly, but my younger son (now 13) is going strong, and already has a very nice Lionel collection and layout in a spare room upstairs.  I only wish they could have seen their Grandfather present the tour, but unfortunately, they were still too young when he retired. 

I'll bring this thread to my father's attention, I'm sure he'll be glad to hear that so many of you have enjoyed the tour over the years.  If anyone has any questions for him about his experiences, I'll be sure to pass them along to him...

have a a great weekend, everybody

-Kevin