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Walt Disney World Railroad

9 bytes added, 03:27, 19 February 2018
/* Attraction History */
The Walt Disney World Railroad is a working steam-engine which surrounds [[The Magic Kingdom]]. The railroad has stations in [[Main Street USA]], [[Frontierland]] and [[Fantasyland]].
==Attraction History==
The history of the Walt Disney World Railroad really begins with Walt Disney's love of trains. Even before he built Disneyland, Walt had a miniature train in his backyard called the Carolwood Pacific Railroad <ref> http://carolwood.com/ </ref>. In fact, Walt was so enthralled with trains that anytime he told guests about Disneyland, he would always conclude "and it should be surrounded by a train" <ref> http://www.waltdisney.org/blog/disney-and-lionel </ref>. Sure enough, when Disneyland opened in 1955, the park was surrounded by the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad. Walt Disney himself was in charge of building the railroad, and he even financed the construction himself <ref> http://www.waltdisney.org/blog/riding-rails-walt-disney </ref>. The Disneyland Railroad opened with Disneyland in 1955 and has been running ever since <ref> http://www.davelandweb.com/dlrr/ </ref>.
When Disney began designing Walt Disney World in Florida, they once again wanted to have a train surrounding the park. In 1969, Disney Imagineer scouts Roger Broggie and Earl Vilmer found and purchased five locomotives from the Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatan (United Railways of Yucatan) on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula <ref> https://www.mouseplanet.com/6779/Steam_Train_Tour_Part_3 </ref>. While one of the five trains was deemed unrepairable, the other four were sent by railway to Tampa Bay. Here, Disney Imagineer and train expert, Bob Harper oversaw their restoration<ref> http://www.imaginerding.com/2011/11/07/walt-disney-world-railroad-a-history/ </ref>. New boilers were built for the locomotives by the Dixon Boiler Works in Los Angeles, California. In order to make the trains look older, they were fitted with diamond smoke stacks and boiler jackets. The tenders also needed to be completely rebuilt and new fiberglass cabs were manufactured and installed. The trains were then painted with bright colors and brass, before being shipped to Walt Disney World <ref> http://www.wdwfamily.com/index.php/walt-disney-world-tours/74-behind-the-steam-train-tour </ref>. The Walt Disney World Railroad opened with the rest of the park on October 1, 1971 <ref> http://touringplans.com/magic-kingdom/attractions/opening-dates </ref>.