Park Trains at Disneyland - 2009
by Joe Thompson

Disneyland - 2009

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

2009

We paid a visit to Disneyland in July, 2009. The weather was uncomfortably warm and muggy. A lady passed out while waiting in line at the Hungry Bear. Cast members and signs repeatedly warned guests to drink water. The First Aid station offerred to refill water bottles for free.

Disneyland Railroad locomotive #3, Fred Gurley, arrives at New Orleans Square late one afternoon. Number 3 premiered at Disneyland in 1959. It is a 2-4-4T built by Balwin in 1895. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

We saw Disneyland Railroad locomotives 1, 3, 4, and 5. We did not see 2 (EP Ripley). We mostly rode behind 4 and 5. Number 1 is one of Disneyland's original locomotives, a 4-4-0, built in 1955 by Disney's WED Enterprises in the Burbank studios.

Disneyland Railroad locomotive 1, CK Holliday, arrives at Main Street Depot. July, 2009.

Disneyland Railroad locomotive 4, Ernest S Marsh, arrives at New Orleans Square Station. July, 2009.

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 5, Ward Kimball, arrives one morning at New Orleans Square station, pulling the train with private car Lilly Belle. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

A view of the cab of Number 5, the Ward Kimball, shows the fireman and engineer operating the train through the Rivers of America. July, 2009.

Locomotive 5, Ward Kimball, pulls the train with private car Lilly Belle across the Critter Country trestle. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

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

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.

An interior view of a car at New Orleans Square Station. Private car Lilly Belle is visible through the rear windows. July, 2009.

A locomotive sits in front of the engine house. The upper level is used as the monorail shop. July, 2009.

Caleb waits with horse car 1 at the depot. Caleb has a personality. July, 2009.

We saw and rode behind horse car Numbers 1, 2 and 3. Last year a cast member badge with the horse's name was displayed inside the cars. This year only Reggie had his badge.

Disneyland Railroad Horse Car 1, pulled by Caleb, passes from crowded Main Street to the loop at the Depot. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

Disneyland Railroad Horse Car 1, pulled by Caleb, passes through crowds on its way to the Depot. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

A ride up Main Street on Disneyland Railroad Horse Car 1, pulled by Caleb, as it travels from the Depot to the Plaza. The yellow Franklin horseless carriage and the double decker bus pass in the opposite direction. Last year I did a video going the opposite way. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

Red waits with horse car 2 at the depot. Taken from the double decker bus. July, 2009.

Early one morning, a cast member applies grease to the curve at the passing loop. July, 2009.

We went to catch a horse car at the Plaza. My wife asked "Where do the horse cars stop?" "Here," I said. July, 2009.

After we got on, Caleb pulled horse car 1 around the loop at the Plaza. July, 2009.

Taken from aboard horse car 1, pulled by Caleb, showing car 2 pulled by Big Red, as they go through the passing loop on Main Street. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

Reggie waits with horse car 3 at the Depot. July, 2009.

Early one morning, Monorail Orange pulls into Downtown Disney station. July, 2009.

Monorails Orange and Blue were operating while we were there. Each had been refurbished into a Mark VII monorail. Disney had installed improved windows which helped to make ventilation better than it had been on Monorail red the year before. Monorail Blue was frequently out of service.

Mark VII Monorail Orange passes the Lego Store on its way to Downtown Disney Station on an early admission morning. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

Monorail Orange displays the new windows, which have improved ventilation on the Mark VII monorails. July, 2009.

Monorail Orange sits at Tomorrowland Station. July, 2009.

Late one afternoon, Monorail Blue rolls across the Golden Gate Bridge in Disney's California Adventure. Planned changes to the park may remove the Golden Gate Bridge. July, 2009.

An early morning view shows Disneyland's Mark VII Monorail Orange passing Tomorrowland Terrace and entering Tomorrowland Station. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

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

The operator's station on Monorail Orange. July, 2009.

A ride in the nose of Disneyland's Mark VII Monorail Orange from Downtown Disney Station to Tomorrowland Station. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

The Disneyland Double Decker bus at the Depot. July, 2009.

A view from the front seat on the upper deck of Disneyland's Double Decker Bus as it travels from the Depot to the Plaza. I like the way the pedestrians scatter in front of it. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

Disneyland's Double Decker Bus and red Horseless Carriage near the end of their trip towards the Plaza. (Adobe Flash is required. Some browsers will require two clicks to start the video.)

This view from the red Disneyland horseless carriage, which is a 7/8 scale replica of a 1903 Franklin, shows horse car 2 pulled by Red. July, 2009.

In Toontown, the Jolley Trolley was still out of service. Car 1 was no longer on static display on the passing loop. This view shows the carbarn with strollers parked on the tracks. July, 2009.

The Jolley Trolley still appears on the bedspreads in the Disneyland Hotel. July, 2009.

A view along the abandoned tracks of the Peoplemover and Rocket Rods, taken from the Astro Orbiter. I wish they would bring back the Peoplemover. July, 2009.

The Opera House, which had featured the "Disneyland: The First 50 Magical Years" was closed. I was surprised that they had not brought back "Great Moments With Mister Lincoln" in time for the bicentennial of his birth. This poster in front of the Opera House says that the show would be "Opening Later This Year in Honor of his 200th Birthday." July, 2009.

A recently painted Mutoscope at the Penny Arcade. July, 2009.

Another Mutoscope at the Penny Arcade. July, 2009.

Two Mutoscopes at the Penny Arcade. July, 2009.

I always like to have Mickey Mouse pancakes at the River Belle Terrace. July, 2009.

Small World was open this year. The refurbishment included new boats, which appeared to be narrower and lighter than the old ones. There were no rubber bumpers on the sterns.

My family managed to ride every ride in the park, except for the kids' rides in Toontown.

This large sign at the Plaza lists wait times and operating statuses for various attractions. The worst wait was 45 minutes that afternoon. Small World closed several times during the week. Indiana Jones also broke down frequently, perhaps because of the heat. July, 2009.

We stayed at the Disneyland Hotel in the newly renamed Dreams Tower. It used to be the Sierra. The three towers have been renamed after the Disney cruise ships. The towers are supposed to be remodeled in the near future.

California Adventures is supposed to be extensively changed after this season.

This year I got to ride on the new Toy Story Mania ride in California Adventures. It was fun.

At Disney's California Adventure, extensive work was going on in the lagoon for the World of Color show. This was taken from Mickey's Fun Wheel. July, 2009.

At Disney's California Adventure, the rotunda of the Palace of Fine Arts peers above fences advertising the new Little Mermaid ride. The theater that hosted a show about California has been demolished. July, 2009.

At Disney's California Adventure, extensive fences hide the construction sites for the Little Mermaid ride and the World of Color show. July, 2009.