Steamed

Here is Mel with the conductor of his Disney Steam Train Tour. He has been in pig heaven all day with a grin on his face and a skip in his step. He won't grow up! And he refuses to blog. But he has decided that he'd like to work with this train set.

From his description, Walt was a big train fan. He was born in Chicago, but spent four years in a small town in Missouri. The Santa Fe railroad ran through the town and had their railyards there. Walt spent those years talking to the engineers and trainmen, who had stopovers in the town. So began his lifelong love of trains. Also, Main Street of the Magic Kingdom is representative the Missouri town of Walt's childhood.

In 1946, after making money as an animator, especially with Mickey, he and his wife bought 5 acre of land, on which he built 12th scale train set throughout their property. While Disneyland has one small train, when Walt designed Disney World, he had enough land to build a narrow gauge railroad, encircling the park, approx. a mile and a half, with three stations.

There are 4 engines that were built in Mexico, with a set of twins that were built side-by-side at the same time. They are named after Walt, his wife, his brother and the man who worked at his side, designing the railroad: Engine #1 Walter E. Disney, Engine #2 Lilly Belle, Engine #3 Roger E. Broggie, and Engine #4 Roy Disney. Roy refused to allow his engine to be used until after his death. The engine in the photo is #3. The tour was 3 hours long and Mel has his own railroad name tag and a special Steam Train trading pin, as his souvenir.

By the time he returned, it was lunch time. We went to Giordano's for pizza. FINALLY! Then, we decided to do laundry. It has been 15 days and we had six loads. We finished by 6:00 p.m. We debated about boating to the Magic Kingdom for the parade and fireworks. But by the time, we made up the bed, folded and stowed the clothing, we decided to stay in for the evening. Tomorrow is another day.