Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Jinx & I went to Disney World a couple of weeks ago. I found out they have a behind the scene yard tour. Sign me up!!!
The tour started at 7:30am at the entrance to Magic Kingdom.
They have 4 steam trains named:
Engine #1- The "Walter E Disney"
Engine #2- The "Lilly Belle" (I did not see this one)
Engine #3- The "Roger E Broggie"
Engine #4- The "Roy O. Disney"
All were purchased from Mexico. Brought to Florida and rebuilt.
We rode the Engine #1 from the train station to the yard.
We had a very knowledgeable tour guide that new his stuff well. He explained how the engines worked with history of how Walt Disney got into steam engines.
There are 18 images with commentary.
Pat

#1--Engine #3, "Roger E Broggie"

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#2--Engine #4 pulling up beside #3 for photo op as the Engineer and Fireman continue systems check.

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#3--This is about the only place you will see two engines side by

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#4--Engine #4 heading out to the main line. Notice the steam coming out from the cylinders. Will mention this later.

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#5-- When Disney World acquired these engines the tender tanks were rusted out. Everything was rebuilt using the original wheels and suspension.

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#6--Steam driven generators are mounted on the back of the tenders.

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#7--The tour guide

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#8--This contraption uses steam to "pump" water from the tank into the broiler. This is the first time I've seen this on a steam engine.

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#9--The guide is taking 4 of us at a time to explain the cab controls.

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#10--The Fireman's controls. The brass horizonal lever is to regulate how much diesel flows to the burner. The vertical item above the brass lever and to the left with the bolts is a sightglass to see how much water is in the boiler. One of the water valves fills up the boiler to the proper level. The hole in the bottom is for lighting the burner and to view the burner.

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#11--The Engineer's controls. The horizonal bar at the top of the boiler and sticks out to the right is the throttle. It controls how much steam is used to operate the engine. The tall vertical lever on the right side of the boiler controls how fast the engine moves forward, reverse or neutral. Another way to say this is slow would be low gear for more power to get the train moveing. The small foot lever is to bleed any impurities that may have settled in the cylinders. This is used when the train first starts to move as in image #4, above. The horizonal moving brass lever at the bottom is to apply air brakes on the car. These engines do not have any "brakes". To my knowledge, the engines can "brake" by using the cylinders without any steam (sort of like a negative pressure in the cylinder, I think). At the top of the image is part of the speedometer that goes up to 20 mph. I don't know what they did before speedometers were invented.

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#12--

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#13--Lighting some type of material soaked in diesel to fire up the burner inside the firebox.

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#14--Posing

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#15--The following posters are located in the train station.

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#16

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#17

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#18

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ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

Very good Pat, I really like trains.

James56 Loc: Nashville, Tennessee

Cool stuff Pat, thanks for the behind the scenes tour. It was quite interesting.

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Earnest and James,
Hope you come back to see the rest of the images!!!!
Sorry, it took so long to post.
Pat

ebbote Loc: Hockley, Texas

I did and they are all very good.

Tom DePuy Loc: Waxhaw, N.C.

great photo's and story....looks like you in your version of Heaven

rlaugh Loc: Michigan & Florida

Very informative fine set!!

Swamp-Cork Loc: Lanexa, Virginia

Wonderful series, Pat and great information! Really enjoyed! Thanks!

Elliern Loc: Myrtle Beach, SC

Fascinating information and also loved all the behind the scenes shots. Thank you for sharing this.

docshark Loc: Millersville, PA

Wow Pat what a great set. I really enjoyed the photos and the commentary. It must have been a super tour. I didn't know they had that. If I had I would have been all over that last year.
-Doc

warrior Loc: Paso Robles CA

:thumbup: Let me know when all the measles are gone!

2Dragons Loc: The Back of Beyond

Loved your pictures of the old trains! Years ago when we went to Disney World I was delighted to see the old trains and I could have spent hours just riding around Disney World on those old trains.

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Well, I do enjoy the steam trains!!!
Thanks for looking and commenting.
Pat

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Thank you!!
You need to run over there and check it out!
Pat

Jay Pat Loc: Round Rock, Texas, USA

Thanks for the kind words!
Pat