Park Trains at Disneyland - 2008
by Joe Thompson

Disneyland - 2008

2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012 - introducing the DCA Red Cars
2013 - a truncated trip
Disneyland Books
Return to Park Trains and Tourist Trains

2008

We paid a short visit to Disneyland in August, 2008. The weather was warm and muggy.

Locomotive 2, EP Ripley, leaves the tunnel under Splash Mountain and crosses the Critter Country trestle. Parlor car Lilly Belle brings up the rear. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

We saw and rode behind Disneyland Railroad locomotives 2, 4, and 5. 2 (EP Ripley) is one of Disneyland's original locomotives, a 4-4-0, built in 1955 by Disney's WED Enterprises in the Burbank studios.

Disneyland locomotive 4, Ernest S Marsh, waits at Main Street Depot. August, 2008.

Engine 4 (Ernest S Marsh) is a Baldwin locomotive, built in 1925 as an 0-4-0, and converted by Disney to a 2-4-0 in 1959.

Locomotive 4, Ernest S Marsh, arrives at New Orleans Square station, pulling the train with cross-bench cars. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

A friendly fireman on Disneyland locomotive 4, Ernest S Marsh, as it waits at New Orleans Square. August, 2008.

Locomotive 4 pulls the train through It's a Small World, which is boarded up for renovation. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

Locomotive 5, Ward Kimball, arrives at New Orleans Square station. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

Number 5, the Ward Kimball, premiered at Disneyland on 25-June-2005, but we did not see it in operation until 2007. Ward Kimball, who passed away in 2002, was a Disney animator and railfan. He designed the gold Jiminy Crickets on the sides of the headlight. Number 5, a 2-4-4T, was built by Baldwin in 1902 as an 0-4-4T for a plantation railroad in Louisiana. This was Disneyland's first new locomotive since 1959. Disney acquired Number 5 in a trade with Cedar Point, an amusement park in Ohio, where it had operated as Number 1, the Maud L, from 1963 to the early 1990's. Cedar Point had added the leading pony truck. In return for Maud L, Cedar Point received the first Ward Kimball, a Davenport 2-4-4T which Disney had intended to operate on the Disneyland Railroad, but which proved to be too heavy for the bridge at Critter Country. The locomotive went to Walt Disney World in Florida, where it proved to be too light (!). The new Ward Kimball sat in storage until 2004, when restoration began at Boschan Boiler & Restorations.

Locomotive 5 pulls the train through It's a Small World, which is boarded up for renovation. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

Main Street Station. August, 2008.

Reggie waits with horse car 1 at the Plaza. August, 2008.

We saw and rode behind horse car Numbers 1 and 3. This year I noticed that a cast member badge with the horse's name was displayed inside the cars. This must reduce the incidence of questions like "What is the horse's name?"

This year I noticed that the horses have badges just like the other cast members. August, 2008.

At the other end of the line, Reggie waits with horse car 1 at the Depot. August, 2008.

Horse car 3, pulled by Big Red, leaves the Plaza. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

A look through horse car 3 as Jimmy waits at the Plaza. August, 2008.

A ride down Main Street from the Plaza to the Depot in car 3, pulled by Jimmy. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

The Disneyland firehouse. Horse cars pull in and out through the gate to the right. August, 2008.

A closer view of the Disneyland firehouse. Walt Disney and his family had a private apartment upstairs. August, 2008.

Monorail Red had recently returned to service after remodeling. August, 2008.

Monorails Purple and Red were operating while we were there. Monorail Red had returned the previous month, refurbished into a Mark VII monorail. It resembles the original monorails. They cleverly reduced seating capacity and made the windows so they could open only a crack. I assume this was for safety reasons. The blower for ventilation was ineffective. They had to take the train out of service during the middle (busiest) part of the day.

Monorail Red cruises by the Matterhorn entrance. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

We had our second ride in the nose compartment of a monorail. It was cool again.

Nose ride on Monorail Purple, from the time it dove into the park to Tomorrowland Station. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

The Disneyland firetruck in front of Sleeping Beauty's Castle. August, 2008.

The Disneyland horseless carriage lays over at the Plaza. August, 2008.

I did not get to ride on the new Toy Story Mania ride in California Adventures, but the family did. They enjoyed it.

A sign advertises Toy Story Mania. August, 2008.

Mutoscopes at the Penny Arcade. August, 2008.

More Mutoscopes at the Penny Arcade. August, 2008.

I always like to have Mickey Mouse pancakes at the River Belle Terrace. I took the photo on the left in July, 2006. Note that they have started to use plastic plates and utensils. Sad. August, 2008.