Theme park entry is required to ride the train and visit this waymark. The Disneyland Railrad is listed as a miniature railroad on RailroadData (
visit link) due to its 4/5 scale and 3ft narrow gauge.
* According to Wikipedia: The live steam railway was constructed at a cost of US$240,000 and each of the original four locomotives cost in excess of $40,000 either to build or restore. It remains one of Disneyland's well-loved attractions as riders can use it as transportation to other areas of the park or to simply ride the trains on the "grand circle tour." The Main Street railroad station is the first thing visitors see upon entering Disneyland.
-Laid to 3 ft (914 mm) gauge, the most common narrow gauge used in North America, the train's track runs in a continuous loop around the park, which has subsequently expanded past the tracks in some places. The line features several grade crossings, including one located near It's a Small World, automatic block signals, and a roundhouse for locomotive storage, located backstage behind It's a Small World and shared with the Monorail.
-Under the original track plan, two trains (one freight and one passenger) could operate on the railroad simultaneously in the same clockwise direction. A Rail siding was incorporated at Main Street station and at Frontierland Station where one train had to wait to allow the other to pass. To allow the use of more than two trains, the operation was changed so that the trains no longer passed each other. The passing track at Main Street was disconnected and now is only used to display a narrow gauge Kalamazoo handcar, while the passing track at Frontierland was removed completely. Walt Disney dictated that a minimum of two trains were to operate at all times, and it is not uncommon for three or four trains to run simultaneously on busy days.
-As the train passes above the It's a Small World attraction in Fantasyland, it crosses a service road that is protected by two miniature wig-wag crossing signals. The Santa Fe Railway offered the use of full-scale crossing signals, but Disney declined as they would be out of scale with the trains. These scaled-down replicas were designed and built by the San Bernardino shops of the Santa Fe as a gift to Disneyland.
-In 2006, Disney added the first new steam engine in 47 years, the Ward Kimball, named after a legendary Disney animator.
*According to the "Disneyland Detective" By Kendra Trahan:
-"The Main Street train station is 270-ft long, but it uses forced perspective to make it seem even larger. It holds 300 people. There is a collection of pictures of Walt running the Lilly Belle and several of the people responsible for the railroad's creation on the back right wall."
-"Each steam engine is either an antique or modeled after one. There are four engines: E.P. Ripley and Fred Gurley (the ones with the small, narrow smoke stacks), C.K. Holliday and the Ernest S. Marsh (with tall, wide-mouthed stacks). Powered by oil-fueled boilers, each engine must stop several times a day to take on water. The engineers and firemen on board stoke the fire and keep constant watch on the gauges and water levels."
-"The Kalamazoo handcar near the Train Station was donated to Walt by the Kalamazoo Manufacturing Company in Michigan."
*Interesting Trivia from the OC Register (
visit link)
-The train engines of the Disneyland Railroad — “C.K. Holliday” (Engine No. 1), “E.P. Ripley” (Engine No. 2), “Fred G. Gurley” (Engine No. 3) and “Ernest S. Marsh” (Engine No. 4) were all named after the founders and executives of the Santa Fe Railroad.
-The “Disneyland Railroad” was originally sponsored by Santa Fe.
Both the “C.K. Holliday” and “E.P. Ripley” were built from scratch at the Walt Disney Studio prior to the opening of Disneyland. The “Fred G. Gurley” was built in 1895 and was used in Lousiana to haul sugar cane. The “Ernest S. Marsh” was built in 1925 and was used at a lumber mill in New England.
-A model of the “Lilly Belle,” Walt Disney’s 1/8th-scale model steam engine train, is on display in the Main Street Train Station. The “Lilly Belle” (named after Walt’s wife, Lillian) was built in 1949 by Walt Disney and other train enthusiasts at the Walt Disney Studio. The caboose was entirely built by Walt Disney himself. The little train made its debut at the Studio Christmas party that same year and was then installed and operated in Disney’s backyard. Because the Disney home was located on Carolwood Drive, Walt dubbed his railroad the Carolwood Pacific.
-The Presidential VIP car (caboose) of the Disneyland Railroad is also called the “Lilly Belle” and contains a lavish interior featuring photos of Walt at play with his model trains.