News Liberty Square Riverboat closing for long refurb

EricsBiscuit

Well-Known Member
I agree with you 100%. The engineering and construction of the WWII battleships is absolutely amazing to me. I had the opportunity to spend a whole day on the USS Alabama and USS Drum a while back. I wish I had a month and the master key to explore the whole ship from the keel to the radar mast.
For that matter I wish I had the "master key", permission, and SIX months to explore every corner of WDW. :D I would go everywhere, look at everything, and do everything - except Tinkerbell's zip line. I am afraid the cable would not be quite robust enough for me.
FYI the FIRST thing I would do is ride in the cab of all the locomotives and blow the whistle until it melted down. I have tried just about every trip to find someone who could approve riding in the cab but that seems to be one of the biggest "no-no" items there is. I've spent time in just about every kind of generating plant there is, including nuclear, and fully understand the hazards for that environment but there seems to be no way to get permission for that if you are not a WDWRR cast member. Yes, I have done the steam trains tour 3 times and been in the cab with the loco stationary, but I want to RIDE that thing! At least with the steamboat you can be right back there a few feet from the engines if you want to.
In Boy Scouts we spent 2 nights on the USS Alabama. It was incredible! On the DLRR they do cab rides.
 

steve2wdw

WDW Fan Since 1973
Is switching out the whistle something that can be accomplished during its next refurb, or is it too big a job and not worth the expense?
 

EricsBiscuit

Well-Known Member
Is switching out the whistle something that can be accomplished during its next refurb, or is it too big a job and not worth the expense?
Switching out the whistle is something that can be done in 5 min.
Unfortunately they had to use this whistle because hey used the wrong fittings. So, they'd need to replace more than just the whistle. It is being talked about though.
 

DisAl

Well-Known Member
Unfortunately they had to use this whistle because hey used the wrong fittings. So, they'd need to replace more than just the whistle. It is being talked about though.
Wrong fittings? Unless the steam supply pipe is too small to support a multi chime whistle any decent plumber should be able to change it out in a few minutes. I agree with CB above; it sounds like a whistle from a LITTLE tugboat or a small switch engine in a British railyard.
 

EricsBiscuit

Well-Known Member
Wrong fittings? Unless the steam supply pipe is too small to support a multi chime whistle any decent plumber should be able to change it out in a few minutes. I agree with CB above; it sounds like a whistle from a LITTLE tugboat or a small switch engine in a British railyard.
I honestly don't know how they messed it up.
 

Sneezy62

Well-Known Member
The old Transportation Tickets listed the motor trams as part of transportation at one time.

View attachment 324526
Thanks for posting this...I had forgotten that we needed tickets from the TTC to MK.

We made a lot of visits on complementary park tickets back then. Dad had friends in construction and those who worked building the parks seemed to have quite a supply of tickets.
 

DisAl

Well-Known Member
I think I may have figured out why they put that wimpy single chime whistle on the Liberty Belle. I was at MK last week and it looks to me like the steam supply line for the whistle is only a half inch pipe. It may be that that small pipe simply can't supply enough steam for a three chime whistle. You would think that as much as the spent on the refurb they could have addressed that.
It seems to me that before the refurb when they had (I think) a three chime whistle that if often would "wheeze and gurgle" a little before it would come up to full volume.
Attached below is a photo of the new boiler and controls. (Move along folks, nothing to see here......)
357309357310
 

Monorail_Red_77

Well-Known Member
I think I may have figured out why they put that wimpy single chime whistle on the Liberty Belle. I was at MK last week and it looks to me like the steam supply line for the whistle is only a half inch pipe. It may be that that small pipe simply can't supply enough steam for a three chime whistle. You would think that as much as the spent on the refurb they could have addressed that.
It seems to me that before the refurb when they had (I think) a three chime whistle that if often would "wheeze and gurgle" a little before it would come up to full volume.
Attached below is a photo of the new boiler and controls. (Move along folks, nothing to see here......)
View attachment 357309View attachment 357310
Yes the whistle sounded pretty bad to me when I was there on Mar 9. Thrbine time I could see it blow. Tons of steam was coming out and it was struggling to make a sound. Then it would finally sound.
 

larryz

I'm Just A Tourist!
Premium Member
Still wondering why there isn't one of these...

Of course, that looks like it has a 2" steam pipe...
Clearly, a 1/2" pipe couldn't feed that thing.
 
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Captain Barbossa

Well-Known Member
I think I may have figured out why they put that wimpy single chime whistle on the Liberty Belle. I was at MK last week and it looks to me like the steam supply line for the whistle is only a half inch pipe. It may be that that small pipe simply can't supply enough steam for a three chime whistle. You would think that as much as the spent on the refurb they could have addressed that.
It seems to me that before the refurb when they had (I think) a three chime whistle that if often would "wheeze and gurgle" a little before it would come up to full volume.
Attached below is a photo of the new boiler and controls. (Move along folks, nothing to see here......)
View attachment 357309View attachment 357310
That would make sense, but the whistle that was on it before the refurb was Roy’s old whistle, and that was a 3 chime and I don’t ever recall it having any issues in terms of not getting enough steam. I wonder if they had a bigger pipe to the whistle and then replaced it with the smaller pipe that you mentioned during the refurb. Either way, I can’t stand the new whistle. Like I’ve said before, it belongs on a tugboat, not a riverboat! It’s sure gonna be annoying to hear it when I’m at MK on Wednesday.
 

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