The Walt Disney World Railroad is missing once of its classic locomotives, as the Roy O. Disney chugs off to Pennsylvania for an extensive refurbishment.
Listen to the clamor of the engine, the chug of the wheels and the call of the whistle as you travel aboard the Walt Disney World Railroad on relaxing 20-minute, 1.5-mile scenic round-trip tour of the Magic Kingdom.
The Walt Disney World Railroad consists of 4 vintage narrow-gauge steam trains—originally built between 1916 and 1928.
For now one of the three engines is missing, as The Roy O. Disney Number 4 locomotive has chugged off to Pennsylvania where it will undergo a multi-year refurbishment in Strasburg Railroad. The vintage locomotive left Walt Disney World recently, and is expected to undergoes an extensive refurbishment that will last last two years..
The Roy O. Disney is the last of the four Walt Disney World vintage locomotives to undergo an extensive refurbishment. All 4 historic steam locomotives were originally built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
The development of the Walt Disney World Railroad from the late 1960s to its opening in 1971 was overseen by Roger E. Broggie, who previously supervised the building of the Disneyland Railroad in Disneyland in Anaheim, California.
From his experience with the railroad at Disneyland, Broggie determined that it was better to use existing steam locomotives, rather than building them entirely from scratch like the Disneyland Railroad's first two locomotives.
In 1969, Broggie, determined that four locomotives built by Baldwin Locomotive Works could potentially be salvaged, along with a fifth locomotive built by Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works. Broggie paid a total of US$32,750 for all five locomotives.
The four Baldwin locomotives were all fully restores, but the Pittsburgh Locomotive could not be restored. Some of its parts were salvaged to help restore the four Baldwin locomotives, including its smokestack, which was fitted to the No. 4 locomotive, Roy O Disney.
Since 2010, overhauling services have taken place at the Strasburg Rail Road in Pennsylvania on three out of the four Disney Locomotives: No. 1 Walter E. Disney, No 2. Lilly Belle, and No. 3 Roger E. Broggie.
No 4, the Roy O. Disney the last of the four Walt Disney World locomotives to undergo an extensive refurbishment, and we can't wait to see number 4 back on the tracks in Magic Kingdom.
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