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The Walt Disney World Railroad (or WDWRR for short) is a narrow gauge〔(Surviving Steam Locomotive Search )〕 railroad in the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World Resort. Operated by Main Street Operations, the railroad circles the entire park with stations at Main Street, U.S.A., Frontierland, and Fantasyland (formerly Mickey's Toontown Fair). One of the world's busiest steam-powered railroads, it transports 3.7 million passengers each year.〔(Huffington Post - How Walt Disney's Love of Trains Changed the World )〕 ==History== Walt Disney was an avid railroad enthusiast, who had built a miniature steam railroad, called the Carolwood Pacific Railroad, in his backyard. A full-size, narrow gauge railroad known as the Disneyland Railroad had been included in the design of Disneyland, and would be included at later parks in Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong. For Walt Disney World, instead of building steam locomotives from scratch like the Disneyland Railroad, Disney Imagineers Roger Broggie and Earl Vilmer are trying to find the steam locomotives everywhere. Until, a railroad historian named Jerry Best had a collection of the Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatán (United Railways of Yucatán) locomotive photos on Mexico's Yucatán Peninsula and the imagineers purchased five steam locomotives in 1969. However, one of the five locomotives, deemed to be in too poor a condition to be restored, was sold and presumed scrapped. The other four were shipped by rail to the Tampa Ship Repair & Dry Dock Company in Tampa, Florida, they were restored by a crew headed by Disney Imagineer and accomplished live steam builder Bob Harpur. Roger and Earl met a machinist named George Britton, who worked for the Tampa Ship Repair & Dry Dock Company. They asked him to help them rebuilt these four steam locomotives, but George doesn't know anything about trains. So, the Disney Imagineers informed him that he would be taught everything he needed to know in order to restore these four steam locomotives. Intrigued by the challenge of learning something new, George agreed to shift from repairing huge oil tankers to steam engines. With a crew of only five, they completed the rebuilding and restoration on time and under budget. In addition, new boilers were constructed for the steam locomotives by the Dixon Boiler Works of Los Angeles, California and the steam locomotives themselves were cosmetically backdated to appear older; which included the addition of diamond smoke stacks, square headlamps, boiler jackets, bright colors, and polished brass. The tenders were also completely rebuilt from the frame up. New cabs were manufactured out of fiberglass and installed on the steam locomotives. Also, a total of twenty open-air excursion coaches were constructed from scratch at the shipyards and each of them could seat up to seventy five passengers. The trains went into service with the opening of Walt Disney World on October 1, 1971. When it came time to hire a foreman to run the steam train operations, George Britton was recommended for the position by Earl Vilmer. Over the years, numerous modifications have been made to the railroad: * In May 1972, a second train station was opened as a stop for ''Frontierland''. * In 1973, all four steam locomotives were given some oil painting on their headlamps' engineer's side. * In June 1988, the second row of seat in the first coach on all of the trains was removed and ramps were installed to allow for wheelchair access. It was also during this year that a third train station was constructed as part of ''Mickey's Birthdayland'', an expansion to the Magic Kingdom to celebrate Mickey Mouse's 60th birthday. Between 1988–1990, different versions of a song called "Mickey's Birthdayland Express" and "Rollin' on the Walt Disney World Express" were played during the trip. Additionally, an automated on-board narration (which features Ron Schneider) was added to the trains eliminating the needs for the conductors to perform the spiel live as they had done from opening day. After departing Main Street U.S.A. and Frontierland, the train traveled to Duckberg Station at ''Mickey's Birthdayland'' (later renamed ''Mickey's Starland'' in May 1990 and finally ''Mickey's Toontown Fair'' in October 1996 during an extensive refurbishment). * In November 1990, the original Frontierland Station was demolished to make room for the new Splash Mountain ride, the tracks between Main Street U.S.A. & Mickey's Starland was turned into a shuttle, and the Adventureland parade crossing is being turned into a jungle-themed version. During this time, the train had only one destination: it traveled backwards from Main Street U.S.A. to ''Mickey's Starland'' and then forward back to Main Street U.S.A. In late 1991, a new Frontierland Station opened and it allowed the trains to make the full grand circle tour of the park once again. * In 1992, all four steam locomotives were given some marker lamps on their smokeboxes. * Between 1996 and 2003, all four steam locomotives received overhauls at the Tweetsie Railroad workshops in Blowing Rock, North Carolina. * In 1996, a pedestrian crossing was added right next to Tomorrowland where the cast members will walked towards the railroad track to get to the Space Mountain building to do their jobs. * In 1998, all four steam locomotives were modified with heat exchangers which make them run properly, using less fuel, and preheated the water that goes into their boiler. * In 1999, the P.A. system/conductor's spiel panel was moved from its position on the rear platform of the third coach to the rear platform on the last coach, which allows the conductor see the entire train at one time for safer operation to reminded the passengers to keep their feet and legs inside the fourth and last coaches. * In 2001, the window reading "Walt Disney World Railroad Office, Keeping Dreams On Track, Walter E. Disney, Chief Engineer" was added to the front of the Main Street U.S.A. train station to celebrate and honor Walt Disney's 100th birthday. * In June 29, 2002, the on-board narration narrated by Ron Schneider was replaced by Earl Hindman, which was about to repeat the safety warnings in Spanish. * In May 2004, Mickey's Toontown Fair station was torn down and completely rebuilt, although its appearance after the rebuilding is almost exactly the same as the original station. * In 2006, the solid side panels were installed to the left side of the coaches on all of the trains to keep the passengers from sticking their feet and legs outside the coaches. However, one set of coaches will have their solid side panels removed, because they're used exclusively for the park opening ceremonies that are held each morning. Characters will ride the train to Main Street Station, disembark on the outer station platform and participate in the park opening song and dance performance. * In September 2007, a new E-stop control box was installed on the steam locomotives. It's basically a safety check for the conductor, located on the last coach of the train. He/she will use a toggle switch to activate a buzzer in the cab, in case he/she spots a dangerous situation with guests. When that buzzer goes off in the cab, the engineer is supposed to reverse the train to a complete stop. The automatic brakes on the coaches, which go off as described above, when a train runs a red light. It's to keep trains separated in the six block zones on the main line. * In August 2009, the third row of seat in the first coach on all of the trains was removed to give more room for two wheelchairs. * On February 12, 2011, Mickey's Toontown Fair was closed and demolished to make way for the new Fantasyland Storybook Circus. Mickey's Toontown Fair station was demolished and a new Fantasyland Station was built in its place. During construction of the Fantasyland Station, a new on-board narration was introduced, which referenced the Fantasyland expansion and referred to the former Toontown Station stop as the "Watering Outpost" since the trains still had to stop there in order to top off the tender with water and maintain the railroad's operating schedule. The new Fantasyland Station opened on March 12, 2012 and is themed to resemble a railroad roundhouse. It features restroom facilities and a children's splash park themed to the Casey Junior Circus Train from the Dumbo animated film. * In March 2012, operating procedures were changed to meet updated the OSHA fall protection requirements, which no longer allowed the firemen to stand on the top of the tender during refills at the water tower. Instead, the handrails were added to the back left side of the tender and a little platform was added right next to the water tower so that the firemen would climb on it and reach the tender steam generator box ledge. They use a boat hook pole to open the water tank lid, turn the wheel on the water tower to lower the water spout down from the water tower, open/close the horizontal valve on the water tower, raise the water spout back up, and flip the water tank lid closed. * As of 2013, the steam locomotives now had lack of maintenance and refurbishment. * As of late May 2014, the on-board narration was getting a final upgrade with the references about the new Seven Dwarfs Mine Train during the trip from Frontierland to Fantasyland. * On September 29, 2014, the Walt Disney World Railroad was closed for an extensive refurbishment for the first time since the park opened. During this time, the tracks between Main Street U.S.A. and Fantasyland (which had been in service since the park opened in 1971) were replaced. The blowdown bridge on the spur line leading back to the facilities building was demolished and rebuilt. The Indian village is updated with new scenery along with the backside of the park. The rotating Frontierland bridge was repainted and had its wood deckings replaced. The Main Street U.S.A. and Frontierland stations were renovated. The steam locomotives were cleaned-up, repainted and maintained. The awnings around the roofs on all of the coaches were replaced and the refurbishment was done in November 7, 2014. The newly refurbished railroad was reopened and resumed operations in November 8, 2014. * On October 12, 2015, the Walt Disney World Railroad is scheduled to be closed for a second major refurbishment to replace the tracks between Fantasyland and Main Street U.S.A., which have not been replaced in last year's refurbishment. During the track maintenance, the solid pieces of metals were welded into each rails to prevent them from coming apart. The steam locomotives were cleaned-up, repainted and maintained once again. Frontierland station is renovated again and the Fantasyland station maintenance buildings are rehabbed. The refurbishment was done in November 20, 2015 and the railroad was reopened in November 21, 2015 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Walt Disney World Railroad」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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