Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Disneyland Railroad at Frontierland Station, 1973

For those of you who happen to be fans of the Disneyland Railroad, I have three nice scans (circa 1973) for you, courtesy of our Mysterious Benefactor. 

All three of these were taken while the train (pulled by the C.K. Holliday, I believe) was stopped at Frontierland Station - he name wouldn't be changed to New Orleans Square Station until 1996, you might be surprised to learn. The crew is topping off the tender with water from the delightful water tower.

One detail I noticed is that the stacks of barrels, kegs, and other freight waiting on the platform are neat and shiny and not dusty and worn.

As I've mentioned before, seeing that Santa Fe logo makes me happy. Everything's going to be OK if the Santa Fe Railroad is handling things. I wonder how often they had to refill the tender? If I had my copy of Steve DeGaetano's "Welcome Aboard the Disneyland Railroad" book handy (it's at my place, and I'm not there right now!), I'm sure it would have the answer.

And there she goes, all ready for another Grand Circle Tour of the Magic Kingdom! Do the trains still have a caboose attached these days? And if so, do they let people ride in the caboose?

I'm still visiting family, but I'll be back soon. Thanks for checking in!


Nanook said...


Some wonderful shots, here. Once again - if you didn't know the 'scene' was part of a theme park, located in Anaheim, California, you'd think you were looking at a station somewhere in small town America. Pretty incredible.

Thanks, Major, and 'our Mysterious Benefactor'.

stu29573 said...

I'm sorry to say that the caboose is no more. I seem to remember the reason is that the guy in the caboose observed the train for derailings, reset track switches, etc...all of which is now done electronically. There was a time when the cabooses were being sold off, that the average Joe could buy one for fairly cheap. Alas, that is much harder to do now, so unfortunately the "end of the caboose" era and the "tiny home" era didn't really overlap. Crud.

JC Shannon said...

There is something about a train. I love aviation, but it lacks the magic of the railroad, especially the steam era. Who wouldn't want to be an engineer for just one trip around the park? Oh, and I would love to take the Monorail for a spin as well. Thanks Major and MB for the scans.

K. Martinez said...

When you think bout it, Disneyland has had a lot of railway system transportation type attractions through the years. There's the Disneyland Railroad, Horse-Drawn Streetcar, Mine Train thru Nature's Wonderland, Casey Jr. RR, Viewliner, Alweg Monorail System and PeopleMover. That's seven right there. That was Walt and his love of trains. Demonstrating different modes of transportation from the past, present and future including the rail.

These are awesome shots. Of course Mysterious Benefactor has shared some pretty amazing Frontierland pics before. Thank you, MB and Major.

Dean Finder said...

I think it was Sam Gennaway who made the case that Disneyland was primarily a transportation museum before the massive dark rides in the 1960s.

Melissa said...

I like that these shots aren't just, "Ooh, pretty trains" - it looks like they were taken by somebody familiar with and interested in how a railroad operates.

Alonzo P Hawk said...

These are some great shots. Thanks to our mystery benny factor and the Major for posting. Makes me want to hop off here for some clam chowder (in a bread bowl of course) on a cold boxing day.


MAJOR: these shots were obviously taken by an employee or “guest” of an employee since the photographer is standing on the non-guest side. Great and rare views!

Your observation regarding the fire barrels and prop freight being unweathered : that would be an authentic detail since a actual “live” or functioning railroad would be shipping new freight. The fire barrels would also be kept in fine shape and brightly painted since they were a necessary tool to help put out potential fires which were a constant threat to buildings of the 19th Century.
The fire barrels and fire buckets and chests can be seen still at Frontierland and man street stations and the Bear ( Criiter) Country trestle. These are authentic details that seem to have been left off the newly added Frontierland area reduction trestles.

Fire barrels were usually filled with sand. But as much as I know about the Disneyland Railroad and real period railroads I have a question: the Frontierland Station has always featured the large red fire barrels .... but also smaller keg size barrels that feature a top and upper rung painted red-with the lower portion remaining a natural wood.
Does anybody know if that has a historic fiction, use or meaning ??

Melissa said...


JG said...

One of the highlights of my Disneyland visiting career was to be able to stand on that side of the track during the recent rail shutdown while the ROA was re-routed for Wookie World. But there was only one train to see, and it wasn't moving. Very fine photos indeed.

A friend bought a caboose years ago and turned it into his office behind his house. Cheaper than a building and no permit required since wheels. Sadly, all burned down in last year's fires.

@Ken and Dean, I read an article once in an architecture magazine where Disneyland was referred to as "Transportation Porn", citing not only the trains, but submarines, spaceships and many other vehicles. The author was dismissive of Disney and the whole concept of the immersive environment as "artificial" etc. The world of "High Architecture" has always hated Disney because Disney made modern environments that people enjoyed, unlike the oppressive "Architecture" of the schools, which no one likes, but we all must endure in the real world. We silly citizens, who do not know what is good for us, must be guided by our betters, who alone have taste. Disneyland proves in many ways that the Architectural Emperors have no clothes.

@Mike Cozart, I am unfamiliar with any reasons why those smaller barrels would be painted that way, but it seems like it was done so specifically and consistently that it would not be accidental. I would be very interested to hear why.