The Walt Disney World Railroad (or WDWRR for short) is a narrow gauge railroad circling the Magic Kingdom at the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida. Operated by Main Street Operations, the 3 ft (914 mm) gauge, 1.5-mile (2.4 kilometers) railroad circles the entire park with stations at Main Street, U.S.A., Frontierland, and formerly at the now-closed Mickey's Toontown Fair (But this stop reopened as Fantasyland station after the opening of Storybook Circus). One of the busiest steam-powered railroads, it transports over 3.7 million passengers each year.
Attraction Characteristics
- Embark on a relaxing 20-minute, 1.5-mile scenic tour on board an authentic steam-powered train.
- Listen to the clamor of the engine, the chug of the wheels and the call of the whistle as you travel aboard the Walt Disney World Railroad. Offering convenient stops at Main Street, U.S.A., Fantasyland, and Frontierland, it's the perfect way to preview the magic at Magic Kingdom park and take in the picturesque scenery.
- The Walt Disney World Railroad is also a handy way to get around quickly and easily. And because the trains are scheduled to arrive at each station every four to ten minutes at most times throughout the day, you never have to worry about waiting a long time to ride one.
Trains
The railroad has four different locomotives and four sets of passenger cars. The four locomotives were found on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico before they were taken and refurbished at the Tampa Shipbuilding and Dry Dock Company. These locomotives are narrow-gauge locomotives, built between 1916 and 1928 by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia.
A regular train consists of a steam locomotive, tender and five passenger cars with a capacity of approximately 365 passengers and two wheelchairs. The tender has a capacity for 1837 U.S. gallons (6953 liters) of water and 664 U.S. gallons (2514 liters) of fuel oil. The tender needs to be topped off with water every three or four trips (or circuits) around the park. The water tower is located at the former Mickey's Toontown Fair station, necessitating the trains still stop there to refill.
All four passenger car seats face forward and are based on the Excursion III trainset of the Disneyland Railroad.
Locomotives
Each of the four locomotives is named after those who greatly contributed to the efforts of the Disney Company and the Walt Disney World Resort.
No. 1 "Walter E. Disney"
This locomotive is named after the man behind the mouse, Walt Disney (1901-1966). Walt loved railroads and his parks have always displayed his love for trains.
- Built: 1925
- Wheel Configuration: 4-6-0 "Ten-Wheeler"
- Serial Number: 58444
- Locomotive Colors: Red cab with red boiler jacket
- Coaches Color: Red with red poles
- Coaches Number Series: 100
- Coaches Status: Operational
- Driver Diameter: 44 inches (1,118 mm)
- Boiler Pressure: 160 Psi (1.10316 MPa)
- Locomotive and Tender Weight (dry): 67,000 pounds (30,390 kg)
- Entering Service: October 1, 1971
- Locomotive Status: Out of Service
In August 2016, the Walter E. Disney went out of service and shipped off to the Strasburg Rail Road workshop (the same place where the #2 Lilly Belle get a boiler rebuild for almost six years) for an extensive overhaul in Halloween 2016.
No. 2 "Lilly Belle"
The Lilly Belle is named after Walt Disney's wife Lillian Disney (born Lillian Marie Bounds) (1899-1997). Lilly Belle is also the name of the scaled-down steam locomotive Disney ran in his own backyard and the parlor car of the Disneyland Railroad. It should also be noted that Lilly Belle was built in 1928, which would make it as old as Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse.
- Built: 1928
- Wheel Configuration: 2-6-0 "Mogul"
- Serial Number: 60598
- Locomotive Color: Green cab with green boiler jacket
- Coaches Color: Green with green poles
- Coaches Number Series: 200
- Coaches Status: Operational
- Driver Diameter: 44 inches (1,118 mm)
- Boiler Pressure: 160 Psi (1.10316 MPa)
- Locomotive and Tender Weight (dry): 61,000 pounds (27,669 kg)
- Entering Service: October 1, 1971
- Locomotive Status: Operational
Back in late summer 2010, the Lilly Belle has been taken out of service and shipped off to the Strasburg Rail Road workshop for a new boiler. The overhaul was originally scheduled 10-12 months but to no avail. On July 21, 2016, the Lilly Belle arrived back on Walt Disney World's property and back in operating service again on Thanksgiving 2016.
No. 3 "Roger E. Broggie"
This locomotive is named after Roger E. Broggie (1908-1991), who led the effort of acquiring the locomotives for the Walt Disney World Railroad and helped build Disney's own Carolwood Pacific Railroad. Roger Broggie was also the original Disney Imagineer who worked on the EPCOT theme park project.
- Built: 1925
- Wheel Configuration: 4-6-0 "Ten Wheeler"
- Serial Number: 58455
- Locomotive Colors: Red cab with green boiler jacket
- Coach Color: Yellow with red poles
- Coach Number Series: 300
- Coaches Status: Operational
- Driver Diameter: 44 inches (1,118 mm)
- Boiler Pressure: 160 Psi (1.10316 MPa)
- Locomotive and Tender Weight (dry): 67,000 pounds (30,390 kg)
- Entering Service: October 1, 1971
- Status: Operational
- Driver Diameter: 44 inches (111 cm)
- Locomotive and Tender Weight (dry): 67,000 pounds (30,390 kg)
- Locomotive Status: Operational
No. 4 "Roy O. Disney"
The Number 4 locomotive is named after Walt Disney's older brother and business partner, Roy Oliver Disney (1893-1971). Roy saw the completion of his brother's dream after Walt's death in 1966 due to lung cancer and completed the construction of the then named "Disney World". Roy renamed the resort to "Walt Disney World" in Walt's honor and died just shortly after the Magic Kingdom opened on October 1, 1971.
- Built: 1916
- Wheel Configuration: 4-4-0 "American"
- Serial Number: 42915
- Locomotive Colors: Green cab with red boiler jacket
- Coach Colors: Blue with blue poles
- Coach Number Series: 400
- Coaches Status: Operational
- Driver Diameter: 46 inches (116 cm)
- Boiler Pressure: 160 Psi (1.10316 MPa)
- Valve Gear: Stephenson valve gear
- Locomotive and Tender Weight (dry): 51,000 pounds (23,133 kg)
- Locomotive Status: Operational
Roy was offered to have the second 4-6-0 ten wheeler (which is now the "Roger E. Broggie") named after him so that the Walt Disney and Roy Disney engines would be alike, but he refused because he "didn't want to be compared to all the great things Walt has done". The Roy O. Disney was the only WDWRR locomotive that was not steaming at the park on Opening Day 1971. Its restoration was not finished until December of that year, shortly after Roy's Death on December 20, 1971, due to a stroke, thus allowing the company to name the locomotive in his honor.
Trivia
- The #1 Walter E. Disney and #2 Lilly Belle locomotives were both equipped with Buckeye 3" 3 chime whistles. However, the #2's sounded at very high pitch.
- The #3 Roger E. Broggie locomotive originally had the same whistle as the #1 and #2 locomotives (which sounded at a low pitch). However, it was replaced with a Crosby 4" 3-chime whistle since Jan 2014.
- The #4 Roy O. Disney is the only locomotive to be equipped with a lonesome Hancock Short Bell 3 chime whistle, but there were rumors that it came off the Admiral Joe Fowler riverboat which got damaged during a refurbishment in 1980. Back in the late 1980s, the whistle had its one of its chambers clogged up, which made it sounded so deep and low-pitched. Sometime around summer 2015, the Roy O. Disney's Hancock whistle was unclogged and sounded prototypical again.
- Imagineer Roger Broggie didn't like the sound of the bell on the #3 locomotive (before it was named after him). Because he said, "sounded like a hammer hitting an old frying pan." So George Britton decided to swap out one of the riverboat's bells (which it's still under construction) and today the #3 Roger E. Broggie ended up having the clearest-ringing locomotive bell on the WDWRR.
- There is a wooden leg labeled "Smith" among the props at the Frontierland Train Station as a silly nod to Mary Poppins.
- The Window reading "Walt Disney World Railroad Office, keeping dreams on track, Walter E. Disney, Chief Engineer," on the front of the Main Street U.S.A. station is the only window that can be seen from outside the park.
- The fifth locomotive that Roger E. Broggie and Earl Vilmer purchased was a mogul like the Lilly Belle, deemed in very poor condition to be restored, was sold to a party in California and presumed scrapped.
Gallery
See also
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