Walt Disney World Railroad: 8-5-2023.
In early August of 2023, I took a little trip down to the smoldering hot region of Orlando Florida to visit Walt Disney World. Ever since hearing about the reopening of the Walt Disney World Railroad (having not been running since 2018 and having not seen the trains since I was a child), I figured it was time to bite the bullet and drag myself down to the Magic Kingdom.
The Walt Disney World Railroad is a roughly 1 1/2 mile long 3-foot narrow gauge railroad that circles the Magic Kingdom (main region of the Walt Disney World Resort). Having three stops connecting the front of the park with the western and northeast regions respectively (the three stops being Main Street USA (the front/south), Frontierland (the west both figuratively and literally), and Fantasyland (the northeast)). Providing guests with not only a tour of the park from perspectives you cannot see any other way, but also a needed form of transportation for guests trying to get to each region without having to walk far.
The Magic Kingdom has four steam locomotives. Each one has roughly the same history but the locomotives themselves are slightly different.
The #1 "Walter E. Disney" and the #3 "Roger E. Broggie" were built in 1925 as sister 4-6-0 "ten-wheeler" types and actually have consecutive serial numbers (58444 and 58445)
The #2 "Lilly Belle" was built in 1928 as a 2-6-0 "Mogul" type and is the most powerful of the four locomotives.
The #4 "Roy O. Disney" was built in 1916 as a 4-4-0 "American."
All four 3-foot narrow gauge steamers were built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works for the United Railways of Yucatan (which was in south Mexico). All four hauled mostly rope and fiber down in the Yucatan Peninsula until they were eventually retired. In 1969, the new version of Disney was under construction in Florida. The Magic Kingdom was slated to have a steam train circle the park in the same way the trains did out in Disneyland in California. The United States had either scrapped or preserved all of the steam locomotives that were left, and narrow gauge in particular was some of the hardest to find. After many attempts to find narrow gauge locomotives, Roger Broggie (the imagineer who was tasked to find the locomotives) finally found some down in the Yucatan. After examining them and getting some legal action to the Mexican government, Roger was able to acquire four locomotives from a boneyard for roughly $32,000 (which was roughly equivalent to $266,000 today). They were restored two years later and in 1971, the Walt Disney World Railroad opened with the Magic Kingdom.
The locomotives I was able to see were the #1 "Walter E. Disney" and #4 "Roy O. Disney."
*While I was filming the ride footage behind Roy, the train stalled on the hill!
*Recently Roy received a new whistle. The whistle is a replica of a Baldwin 3 chime with modified chambers. I do not know the reason why they made the replica but from what I've heard from the crew is the original modified 4" American 3 chime had cracks in it and common knowledge tells me they got tired of repairing it since the 2010's.
*Roger E. Broggie was still having a complete rebuild done at the Strasburg Railroad at the time of this production. Although it is getting pretty close to being finished.
*Lilly Belle was having a monthly inspection at the time of this video.
Enjoy the sights and sounds of steam circling around the Magic Kingdom!