News Walter E. Disney overhaul

[n2hifi]

I've been in the shop there (working at the Museum allows me a lot of stuff I never expected, like getting "Railroader's Discount" in the stores and restaurants at Strasburg and just up the road!) and I agreed that as long as I didn't take photos of Walter or touch anything they were working on, I could walk around and look at things!

So I saw it there in different phases of it's rebuilding. The shop there is amazing to see, since it's a working steam shop!

I visit the Museum of Transportation in Saint Louis as often as I can (about 5 minutes from my work). A couple of years ago an employee asked me if I had any questions so I asked if they had any Vanderbilt Tenders. That must have been the magic password because I was whisked away to the hidden (not open to the public) areas of the park to see the projects they were working on in the shop and about a dozen other things that were not of show quality but still really cool. And yes they did have a Vanderbilt Tender, but it was in really rough shape. That was one of those 'best day ever' kind of days.

 

[Boek68]

Let me brag for a second while we are nerding out over trains here. I recently had the awesome opportunity to watch Big Boy roll “his” way through Illinois.

Was a sight to behold.

 

[RaveOnEd]

Let me brag for a second while we are nerding out over trains here. I recently had the awesome opportunity to watch Big Boy roll “his” way through Illinois.

Was a sight to behold.

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Wow. I've seen the one in Steamtown a couple hours from here in Scranton, PA, but that's nothing compared to seeing 4014 in motion! That must have been amazing!

 

[_caleb]

To me??? I default Typically to a "she" but if it has a male name, its a male. 611 is a she. Big Boy is a he. Disney steam engines gender is determined by the me. Disclaimer all this is my opinion only.

Yep, steam locomotives are traditionally referred to as she/females unless the locomotive has a gender specific name (example: Walter, Roger, and Roy), or if the locomotive’s class has a gender specific name. (example: Union Pacific’s 4-8-8-4 Big Boys)

Thanks for the insight!

 

[Captain Barbossa]

im surprised there were no pictures of it at any point being flatbedded there Or any of the others that have went.

These are of Roy returning to the roundhouse on the flatbed truck following his last overhaul at Tweetsie about 20 years ago.

I work across the road in the Museum in the restoration shop and as an exhibit guide in some of the locomotives

Oh wow, that’s really cool. Could you possibly tell me whether y’all’s turntable is operable or not?

Yes, it was incredible. You don't realize how big it is until you're up close and it dwarfs #90. Luckily Strasburg has a pretty good playground, so my wife and kids we're able to stay busy while I was geeking out..

Glad to hear that y’all had a great time. And if you think 611 makes 90 look small, you should’ve seen her next to 89 the day she arrived.

 

[HauntedMansionFLA]

Awesome pictures. It’s sad it won’t be running till 2021.

Maybe they can get the right to Casey Jones for Disney+

 

[mrerk]

As I said, it’s just not worth the extra effort to transport it via intermodal means. Driving it by truck is the fastest, most direct option.

Just curious, what would something like that weigh?

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Just curious, what would something like that weigh?

The Disneyland Railroad Locomotives, which are the same gauge but a bit smaller, are in the 20,000lb range.

 

[ThatMouse]

So trains won't be running until 2021? I saw Lilly Belle was sitting there last Christmas, but didn't realize #1 was out getting overhauled.

On a related note, I found the Disney train at a garage sale. I was thinking of painting it and adding the headlamp to look closer to the real one. I don't have a running HO track anymore, but just had to have this for $5! I've seen some modelers make up a mock track and scene. If only I could find a train station to scale!

 

[Captain Barbossa]

Just curious, what would something like that weigh?

Both Walter and Roger weigh 67,000lbs, Lilly weighs 61,000lbs, and Roy weighs 51,000lbs. All weights are dry.

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

Both Walter and Roger weigh 67,000lbs, Lilly weighs 61,000lbs, and Roy weighs 51,000lbs. All weights are dry.

Thanks! Glad I posted the Disneyland weights to show just how much bigger the wdw ones are. I would have guessed double, but they are triple the weights!

 

[Captain Barbossa]

Both Walter and Roger weigh 67,000lbs, Lilly weighs 61,000lbs, and Roy weighs 51,000lbs. All weights are dry.

Each tender holds 664 gallons of oil and 1,837 gallons of water. (I'll let y'all do the math and figure out how much each locomotive weighs with a full tender ) Though I'm not sure if the capacities of the new tenders, Lilly's for example, are different.

 

[mrerk]

Both Walter and Roger weigh 67,000lbs, Lilly weighs 61,000lbs, and Roy weighs 51,000lbs. All weights are dry.

Thanks for that. I would have guessed much higher.

 

[Captain Barbossa]

Thanks for that. I would have guessed much higher.

While they’re about triple the size of DLRR’s locomotives, they are still on the small size and were much bigger during their Yucatan days. Disney scaled down their size a bit when they acquired them.

 

[RaveOnEd]

These are of Roy returning to the roundhouse on the flatbed truck following his last overhaul at Tweetsie about 20 years ago.
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Oh wow, that’s really cool. Could you possibly tell me whether y’all’s turntable is operable or not?


Glad to hear that y’all had a great time. And if you think 611 makes 90 look small, you should’ve seen her next to 89 the day she arrived.

The turntable in the yard is operable. In fact, we were just doing some checks and refreshing of paint on it a few weeks ago. It's also going to become part of the new roundhouse addition to the museum, which will house 5 of the main Pennsy engines.

 

[RaveOnEd]

So trains won't be running until 2021? I saw Lilly Belle was sitting there last Christmas, but didn't realize #1 was out getting overhauled.

On a related note, I found the Disney train at a garage sale. I was thinking of painting it and adding the headlamp to look closer to the real one. I don't have a running HO track anymore, but just had to have this for $5! I've seen some modelers make up a mock track and scene. If only I could find a train station to scale!

View attachment 421730

Great find! I've never seen them for that low a price! I got one set for $25.00 (engine was in pieces and had to put it back together) and another my dad found, which was sealed in the box. Those were made by Life-Like, and they were special make: Life-Like hasn't had a 4-6-0 available since the 1970's or so.

It's a great runner! I'll sometimes have a day running that, the Bachmann Carolwood Pacific set, and the 1965 Tyco SF&D set.

 

[trainplane3]

The turntable in the yard is operable. In fact, we were just doing some checks and refreshing of paint on it a few weeks ago. It's also going to become part of the new roundhouse addition to the museum, which will house 5 of the main Pennsy engines.

Never knew that actually worked.

Another expansion? Wow. That place keeps slowly growing.

It'd be nice to see 4800 cleaned up. It was looking really rough when I was out there a decade ago. I'm sure it doesn't look any better now.

 

[SpoiledBlueMilk]

 

[RaveOnEd]

Never knew that actually worked.

Another expansion? Wow. That place keeps slowly growing.

It'd be nice to see 4800 cleaned up. It was looking really rough when I was out there a decade ago. I'm sure it doesn't look any better now.

Yeah, the turntable has been used to sometimes move the locomotives around when repositioning them in the yard or getting them ready for the museum.

4800 is on the list, sometime close after the 5 steam engines are done. Right now, it's a decision as to what paint scheme to go with. The original idea was to do it in "as-delivered" scheme, but the number boards and headlights were in different positions then. They may still do it, since there are tuscan GG-1s here and there and the "Black Jack" 4935 is in the black with slight hint of Brunswick color.

Just a matter of time, money and personnel to get to things.

 

[Captain Barbossa]

The turntable in the yard is operable. In fact, we were just doing some checks and refreshing of paint on it a few weeks ago. It's also going to become part of the new roundhouse addition to the museum, which will house 5 of the main Pennsy engines.

Thanks for settling the score. There’s been an ongoing feud on the live-cam chat the past month on whether it works or not. Some people were “very sure” that y’all had given 611 permission to turn around on the table before departing Strasburg lol.