The Return of E.P. Ripley

[180º]

The locomotive, not the person. Apparently it’s been out of service since before the re-route in 2018 and needed upgrades? LMG Vids caught it testing!

 

[TP2000]

Am I correct in thinking that E.P. Ripley (the man, not the locomotive) was an executive of the Santa Fe Railway that was honored with the locomotive name when the park opened in '55? Santa Fe sponsored the railroad into the early 70's.

EDIT: I Googled. Yup. Mr. Ripley was a former president of the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway. He was the president from 1895 until his death in 1920. In addition to the locomotive named after him at Disneyland, he also had a Liberty Ship named after him during the war.

Here's Mr. Ripley as Santa Fe's president in 1910. They sure don't do corporate head shots like they used to!

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Am I correct in thinking that E.P. Ripley (the man, not the locomotive) was an executive of the Santa Fe Railway that was honored with the locomotive name when the park opened in '55? Santa Fe sponsored the railroad into the early 70's.

Yes - and all 4 original Disneyland locomotives are named after Santa Fe executives. #5 - the Ward Kimball came along much later.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Great to hear the #2 is on the way back. Does anyone know why they have only been running 2 trains lately? Obviously on slower days they only need 2 but even on saturdays they haven’t been adding a 3rd train.

 

[PiratesMansion]

Great to hear the #2 is on the way back. Does anyone know why they have only been running 2 trains lately? Obviously on slower days they only need 2 but even on saturdays they haven’t been adding a 3rd train.

Presumably staffing issues?

It's not just slower days either. Last summer the train had an annoyingly long wait consistently because they just weren't running all of the trains they could have been.

I've seen 25 minute waits for the train much more frequently than I should be in the app.

 

[Rob562]

Great to hear the #2 is on the way back. Does anyone know why they have only been running 2 trains lately? Obviously on slower days they only need 2 but even on saturdays they haven’t been adding a 3rd train.

I've read reports that it's because of the fire at the NOS station. It damaged something in the signaling system, so they have to coordinate dispatches by radio. So they're limiting operations to two trains that are always on opposite sides of the park from each other.

-Rob

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I've read reports that it's because of the fire at the NOS station. It damaged something in the signaling system, so they have to coordinate dispatches by radio. So they're limiting operations to two trains that are always on opposite sides of the park from each other.

-Rob

Ohhhh that makes sense! I noticed the signals weren’t working.