WDWRR closing, Thoughts?

DisAl

Well-Known Member
If I have this wrong, someone please feel free to correct me, but WDW Carousel of Progress was built and appeared in the 1964 World's Fair, then moved to Disneyland then moved again to WDW. I believe it was created and built by Walt Disney and WED Enterprises.
Off subject for this thread, but go to this link on Wikipedia:
It was at the 1964-65 Worlds Fair in NY, was in Disneyland from 67-73, then moved to the MK in 75.
Walt died before it was moved to MK so technically he was not in it at MK but was certainly in THAT attraction at its other locations. It was supposedly one of his favorites according to the Wikipedia article.
 
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Disone

Well-Known Member
I have to say I really missed riding the train on my trip to MK in Jan'19. During our last trip in May '18 I believe we rode it around the MK 3 times in one seating. There is just something about riding it that is just so relaxing and enjoyable.
Agreed. It will be back soon enough. Well not soon enough.....
 

Disneyrailfan1996

Active Member
Original Poster
Well, I have an update. We have more tack leaving Main Street now. No clue how far. But it’s much farther than it was when I was last there in March (a lot can happen in 2 or 2 1/2 months!). We have a blue tarp a little bit down the line, but I’ll be honest and say that I am not sure what it’s for. Having not ridden the liberty belle yet this month, it’s hard to say just how far the track has progressed. There’s no progress from fantasyland to Main Street, and there might not be for some time given that Tron is still under construction (there’s not even a bed yet!) In regards to the tarp, it could either be equipment or a stack of ties underneath. Roger is still there and hasn’t moved an inch (obviously). I’m going to guess they will try to swap roger for either (likely) Roy or Lilly. If they don’t swap locos under their own power, it will be interesting, to say the least, to see how they switch them out. Even if it isn’t done under steam, I would LOVE to catch the swap on video from wherever I can film on the property assuming that I can see it (if it means I have to stay up until 2 AM, I likely would do it all in the name of steam). Meanwhile, to me Disney, until at the very least the wildlife express reopens, still won’t be the same with the horse drawn trolley currently being the only Disney railroad in operation I’m on the fence about the monorail and peoplemover counting).
 

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Disneyrailfan1996

Active Member
Original Poster
I have a second update: as of this morning, the tarp was removed and we have some equipment underneath. Tree trimming was also occurring at Main Street station. Speaking of Main Street station, the front was decorated for Memorial Day, but roger was not (I think they used to decorate the locos at least for the fourth from pictures I’ve seen, but they probably discontinued that a few years ago and never did so for Memorial Day.)
 

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Disneyrailfan1996

Active Member
Original Poster
So about a month ago, Roger was taken backstage and swapped out for Roy. They aren’t letting guests ring the bell, though. The signal at Main Street is now lit up too. I also heard a cast member say that there’s now 2 locos at strasburg (Walter is still there, I’m assuming, and when asked, she confirmed it, but I’m not sure if that’s just misinformation or not. So now Roger is most likely up in Strasburg unless something went wrong with Lilly and they needed to send her back (HIGHLY unlikely).
 

DisAl

Well-Known Member
Maybe they had complaints about the bell. When we were there in March we could hear the bell at the Contemporary.
I'm sure they heard it when I rung it too. ;)
In my opinion though it would have been even better if they had steam up and let you blow the whistle!
(One of my best "treats" was on my first MBOST tour. I was the only one on the tour that day and I DID get to blow the whistle.:D:D:D)
 

DisAl

Well-Known Member
Another web site says the railroad will be closed until at least October 2020 due to the Tron construction.
 

Disneyrailfan1996

Active Member
Original Poster
Okay, so I got some scoop re: the WDWRR’s closure. Despite the railroad being closed, Lilly and Roy are fired up. Roy is done once a week when guests are gone, and Lilly is fired and run for a modified steam train tour whenever it goes out (which I believe is daily) and then put away after the tour group is brought back to fantasyland. Lilly is going to assume these duties until Walter comes back per a YouTube video description. Roy, however, sometimes you can smell that he was recently fired depending on what day you visit him. I’m guessing the smell lingers for a day or two after firing, but with no knowledge of when he is fired, it’s hard to say. On a side note Looking at his whistle, the valve says “Lunkenheimer” so at least the valve is a lunkenheimerthe. The whistle could be a lunkenheimer too, but I can’t confirm or deny it as I don’t see “lunkenheimer” or any other name othe whistle itself.

Then another question: why can’t they run the train backwards until they reopen it officially? 3 problems: 1) there’s not enough track (I will get to that in a bit), 2) there’s only Two locos and one is parked at Main Street (this sort of ties in with the missing track), and 3) as a CM told me when I asked if running the train backwards is possible, it’s not good for the springs and couplers. I was told they were damaged over time (how is anybody’s guess.)

as I mentioned earlier there’s track missing the only unaffected section of the route is Frontierland to Fantasyland. That said, Main Street is practically isolated. Per a map that I saw out in plain sight on Main Street: After the curve leaving Main Street until just before the Splash Mountain tunnel, there’s track missing. Next, Fantasyland to Main Street is the most segmented. obviously, there’s the construction on Tron, so there’s missing track there. After Tron and between the old arcade and Space Mountain, track is present, but behind the restrooms and Walt Disney’s Carousel of Progress all the way up to a section of the beginning last curve, there’s track missing. Then, if I recall seeing in person correctly, there’s just a brief track section present that runs parallel to the new retention pond (not accounted for on the map) and then between there and somewhere before the bridge, there’s track missing. The map was seen in late august, and from my guess and from what I’ve been able to see, it’s likely still accurate.

hopefully this settles some curious minds and or keeps everyone anticipating the Railroad’s reopening! I may be doing a steam train tour next month, so I’ll be sure to post pictures if I go.
 

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Captain Barbossa

Well-Known Member
Roy is done once a week when guests are gone,
Not too sure about that.

Lilly is fired and run for a modified steam train tour
Lilly took over tour duties back in June. Like always, tours are done 5 days a week, Sunday-Thursday. Guests are picked up and dropped off at Fantasyland Station. Once the WDWRR reopens, Roy will take over as the tour locomotive.

On a side note Looking at his whistle, the valve says “Lunkenheimer” so at least the valve is a lunkenheimerthe. The whistle could be a lunkenheimer too, but I can’t confirm or deny it as I don’t see “lunkenheimer” or any other name othe whistle itself.
Roy’s whistle is not a Lunkenheimer. It’s a Crosby 6inch 3 chime. However, the fitting could be from a Lunkenheimer.

Then another question: why can’t they run the train backwards until they reopen it officially?
Running backwards from Fantasyland-Frontierland, Frontierland-Main Street is much more complicated than running backwards from Main Street-Fantasyland like they did when Splash was being built. Too many safety issues as well. It has nothing to do with “not enough track” (not sure what you’re trying to imply by that) or the fact that there are only 2 operating locomotives on the property at the moment. And Disney sees it as an opportunity to save money by not running the locomotives.

After the curve leaving Main Street until just before the Splash Mountain tunnel, there’s track missing.
Track work between Main Street and Frontierland was completed before they started on Frontierland-Fantasyland, which was completed in June.
 

Captain Barbossa

Well-Known Member


Both of these threads have already been discussing the WDWRR work and provide great pictures of the work between Fantasyland and Main Street.
 

DisAl

Well-Known Member
Anything is easy if you don't know what it takes to do it, but why couldn't they have done the tunnel for the train early on in the TRON project and gotten the trains running while the rest of the TRON project was being built?
 

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Trains run backwards in push-pull mode all the time. Including at Disney world where they run backwards from fantasyland, over a grade crossing to the shop.

Now it would be limited capacity and confusing to some guests running in shuttle mode, but it’s entirely possible. It’s also entirely possible that Disney could have built a temporary spur track around the construction site, or a new loop that would have allowed operation.... I’m not sure why we always limit what the worlds #1 attended attraction can accomplish.
 

Captain Barbossa

Well-Known Member
Trains run backwards in push-pull mode all the time. Including at Disney world where they run backwards from fantasyland, over a grade crossing to the shop.
Running backwards from Fantasyland Station to the roundhouse backstage, which is a short 3min trip, once per day is completely different than running backwards onstage from Fantasyland-Frontierland and Frontierland-Main Street on a regular basis.

It’s also entirely possible that Disney could have built a temporary spur track around the construction site, or a new loop that would have allowed operation
You’re joking, right?
 

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Running backwards from Fantasyland Station to the roundhouse backstage, which is a short 3min trip, once per day is completely different than running backwards onstage from Fantasyland-Frontierland and Frontierland-Main Street on a regular basis.


You’re joking, right?

Explain to me how it’s different? I was a conductor for a tourist railroad and we did shove moves over the entire length of the railroad all the time, sometimes in normal operation based on train length. The train moves the same in either direction. One could actually argue that it’s less stress on the couplers... but that’s a silly point since the couplers were designed for the daily stress they have.

I’m not saying they should be running in shuttle mode, that has operational issues they may not want to deal with. But physically it’s totally possible.

To the second part... it’s not a total joke. There’s enough property they could have built a couple of ballon tracks if they wanted to. Why not?
 

Captain Barbossa

Well-Known Member
Explain to me how it’s different? I was a conductor for a tourist railroad and we did shove moves over the entire length of the railroad all the time, sometimes in normal operation based on train length. The train moves the same in either direction. One could actually argue that it’s less stress on the couplers... but that’s a silly point since the couplers were designed for the daily stress they have.

I’m not saying they should be running in shuttle mode, that has operational issues they may not want to deal with. But physically it’s totally possible.
You kinda answered your question yourself. I’m not talking about it being physically different, I’m talking about it being operationally different.

To the second part... it’s not a total joke. There’s enough property they could have built a couple of ballon tracks if they wanted to. Why not?
I assume you mean balloon tracks, and if so, no, there is not enough space anywhere to build them. And even if there was, Disney wouldn’t waste time, money, and other resources to build them knowing that they would be gone in a year or 2.
 

TrainsOfDisney

Well-Known Member
Disney spends a lot of money on things that will be gone in 2 years. If keeping the railroad operating was a priority I’m sure there were options. That’s all I’m saying.
 

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