News Walter E. Disney overhaul

[trainplane3]

611?

This thing:

 

[TrainsOfDisney]

I mean since you asked.... here’s the 611 at Strasburg. The 611 is a famous steam locomotive that was built in Roanoke VA and is owned by the museum there. She was visiting Strasburg Railroad for the last few weeks. Here’s a couple photos i happened to snap

The Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania also owns and maintains steam locomotives and historic wooden passenger cars and operates them daily. Great place to visit with or without the Disney connection.

 

[Disone]

This thing:

She.Is.Stunning.

 

[Captain Barbossa]

She.Is.Stunning.

Stunning is an understatement.

 

[_caleb]

Serious question for our awesome train people: is a locomotive/engine typically referred to as a “she?” Or does the name of the engine dictate its pronoun? Not getting social or political here, I’m just curious how WDW refers to its trains: ”he,” “she,” or “it?”

 

[ABQ]

I'd love to know the logistics of moving a locomotive from FL to Strasbourg and back. Was the Walter E Disney just placed on a flatbed truck and driven to a nearby train line that connects all the way to PA and placed on some cargo train bed? Is it that simple?

 

[WDW Monorail]

I'd love to know the logistics of moving a locomotive from FL to Strasbourg and back. Was the Walter E Disney just placed on a flatbed truck and driven to a nearby train line that connects all the way to PA and placed on some cargo train bed? Is it that simple?

Simpler. The flatbed truck carried it all the way, door to door service. It’d be quite difficult and, I’m not entirely certain, but likely impossible for the locomotive to travel on raillines from Florida to Pennsylvania given the track gauge. Not to mention you’d burn through quite a bit of fuel and water without any sort of refueling facilities available enroute, if a route existed.

Not sure it’s worth the extra effort to switch from the overland flatbed trailer to a railroad car either.

 

[ABQ]

Simpler. The flatbed truck carried it all the way, door to door service. It’d be quite difficult and, I’m not entirely certain, but likely impossible for the locomotive to travel on raillines from Florida to Pennsylvania given the track gauge. Not to mention you’d burn through quite a bit of fuel and water without any sort of refueling facilities available enroute, if a route existed.

Not sure it’s worth the extra effort to switch from the overland flatbed trailer to a railroad car either.

gotcha. But in terms of traveling on a train line, I meant it would be placed on a cargo line, not driven itself, but buy a typical cargo train as...cargo.

 

[jbolen2]

I'd love to know the logistics of moving a locomotive from FL to Strasbourg and back. Was the Walter E Disney just placed on a flatbed truck and driven to a nearby train line that connects all the way to PA and placed on some cargo train bed? Is it that simple?

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

 

[trainplane3]

gotcha. But in terms of traveling on a train line, I meant it would be placed on a cargo line, not driven itself, but buy a typical cargo train as...cargo.

You mean put it in a consist of a freight train (on the rails itself) or on a flat bed car in a freight train consist?
They'd still have to offload it onto a flatbed truck to get it to WDW no matter what.

 

[WDW Monorail]

gotcha. But in terms of traveling on a train line, I meant it would be placed on a cargo line, not driven itself, but buy a typical cargo train as...cargo.

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.

 

[stratman50th]

Great thread everybody! Glad it got bumped or I'd have never seen it.

 

[Disone]

Serious question for our awesome train people: is a locomotive/engine typically referred to as a “she?” Or does the name of the engine dictate its pronoun? Not getting social or political here, I’m just curious how WDW refers to its trains: ”he,” “she,” or “it?”

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 *name. Disclaimer all this is my opinion only.

*typo corrected

 

[SpoiledBlueMilk]

The single best tour you can do at Disney in my opinion is the train tour. Amazing from start to finish. it's amazing to see the WDW train yard and you get to learn about how the train operates and get into the cab with the operators. Then they roll one out and do a steam burst - absolutely amazing.

 

[stratman50th]

Just some promotion for another cool thread!
https://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/wdw-railroad-photos.957024/

 

[Captain Barbossa]

Serious question for our awesome train people: is a locomotive/engine typically referred to as a “she?” Or does the name of the engine dictate its pronoun? Not getting social or political here, I’m just curious how WDW refers to its trains: ”he,” “she,” or “it?”

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)

 

[Andrew M]

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.

Ha yep, the Big Boy seems to confuse some people on the he/she debate, but in general it's 'she'. Then again it's 2019 so I'm not sure if I'm allowed to assume a Steam Locomotive's gender..

 

[RaveOnEd]

Stunning is an understatement.

I was there for a few of the weekends at Strasburg (I work across the road in the Museum in the restoration shop and as an exhibit guide in some of the locomotives). This was the first time I saw 611, and majestic or magnificent immediately came to mind. I did one of the rides behind her, and it just walked away with a huge string of coaches like it was nothing.

 

[Andrew M]

If they did, then I guess it wouldn't be "super-secret" then, even though it's not a secret since everyone knows where it is. I tip my hat to those who've been able to successfully sneak in there and take pictures.

Hope you had a great time seeing 611!

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..

 

[RaveOnEd]

If they did, then I guess it wouldn't be "super-secret" then, even though it's not a secret since everyone knows where it is. I tip my hat to those who've been able to successfully sneak in there and take pictures.

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!