Walt Disney World Railroad
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The Walt Disney World Railroad is a narrow gauge railroad circling the Magic Kingdom theme park at Walt Disney World Resort. Operated by Main Street Operations, the 3 ft (914 mm) gauge, 1.5-mile (2.4 km) railroad circles the entire park with stations at Main Street, U.S.A., Frontierland, and Mickey's Toontown Fair. One of the busiest steam-powered railroads in the country, it transports over 1.5 million passengers each year.

History
Walt Disney was an avid railroad enthusiast, who had built a miniature steam railroad, called the Carolwood Pacific Railroad in his backyard. A full-size, narrow gauge railroad known as the Disneyland Railroad had been included in the design of Disneyland, and would be included in later parks in Paris and Tokyo.

Disney scouts, lead by Roger Broggie, purchased five locomotives from Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatan (United Railways of Yucatan) on Mexico's Yucatan peninsula in 1968. One of the five was deemed to be in too poor a condition to be restored and was later sold; the other four were brought to Tampa Shipyards in Tampa, Florida and restored by a crew headed by Disney imagineer and accomplished live steam builder Bob Harpur. New diesel boilers were constructed for the trains by Dixon Boiler Works of Los Angeles, California and the trains themselves were cosmetically backdated to appear older, including the use of bright colors and polished brass. The trains went into use with the opening of Walt Disney World on October 1, 1971.

During 1989–1990, the train played different versions of a song called "Mickey's Birthdayland Express" and "Rollin' on the Walt Disney World Express". After arriving at Frontierland, it went to Duckberg Station in what was then named Mickey's Birthdayland. During November 1990–1991, when Splash Mountain was under construction, the train only had one destination: it went backwards to Mickey's Starland, and then back to the Main Street U.S.A. station.

In recent years it has become necessary for the locomotives and some of the passenger cars to be overhauled. Key modifications to the passenger coaches in the past have involved removing the PA system/conductor's panel from a position on the rear of the third car, leaving the panel on a deck at the rear of the train for safer operation. Side panels were also recently added to the outside-facing sides of the coaches to keep passengers' legs (and other body parts) from reaching out the sides of the cars.

Trains
The railroad has four different locomotives and four sets of passenger cars. The four locomotives are rebuilt narrow-gauge locomotives, originally built more than seventy years ago by the Baldwin Locomotive Works of Philadelphia.

The railroad rosters four complete trainsets. A regular train consists of a steam locomotive, tender, and five passenger cars with a capacity of approximately 360 passengers and 2 wheelchairs. The tender has a capacity for 1,837 U.S. gallons (6,953 l) of water and 664 U.S. gallons (2,513 l) of fuel oil. The tender needs to be topped off with water every two or three trips (or circuits) around the park. The water tower is located at the Mickey's Toontown Fair station.

Operation
The railroad operates daily, taking its first passengers at 9 AM, year-round. In the past, for safety reasons, it was closed during the fireworks show due to its proximity to the staging area (about 100 yards (91 m) or so behind Fantasyland). Currently the policy is to remove the trains back to the roundhouse one hour before fireworks. The trains do not operate during special events such as Grad Nite, Night of Joy, Mickey's Pirate and Princess Party and Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party.

A round trip on the WDWRR is usually 20 minutes.

Crew
Each locomotive is manned by three Disney "cast members," a Conductor, an engineer, and a fireman. The engineer is charged with operation of the locomotive and the fireman is responsible for maintaining the fire as well as water level in the boiler.

The Conductors are responsible for the operation and safety of each station and the trains. Duties as station attendants involve passenger counts, answering questions and assisting passengers. While on the train the conductor runs the spiel box and makes safety announcements. Trains cannot move without approval from the conductor. The conductors work in rotation.

There are three different rotations that conductors can be assigned to. Conductors are in each spot of the rotation for 20 minutes. The rotation is also assigned a train. The two main rotations, called roundhouses, are called roundhouse one and roundhouse 2. Roundhouse one is responsible for fronterland greeter, station and train 1. Roundhouse two is responsible for main street and toontown station and train 2. When there is a third train, only one conductor works that train, the third train is staffed by 1 conductor, a fireman, an engineer, and a breaker who rotates to each position breaking the other cast members for one trip.

Opening
Early in the morning the first crew arrives at the enginehouse to get the first train ready to depart. The maintenance crew will mark on the board which trains are to be used and the order they are to be removed from the roundhouse.

The first crew will prep and take out the first train listed. A crew consists of 3 individuals: the engineer (charged with operation of the locomotive), the fireman (charged with operation of the boiler to provide the steam for the locomotive to operate), and the conductor (charged with management and safe operation of the train and its passengers). Safety and readiness checks are performed by the conductor as the enginemen prepare the locomotive for a day of operation, known as hostling.

As the atomizer requires around 30 pounds/inch? (200 kPa) of steam pressure to operate, a compressed air line must be tapped into the atomizer line when the fire is first lit until enough steam has been raised to re-light the fire atomizing on steam. The conductor, who is in charge of the train and its motion at all times, will inspect the track and arrangement of the switches in the yard outside of the roundhouse to ensure the train will have safe passage out of the roundhouse all the way to the park.

Once the boiler has reached working pressure and the engineers are ready to go, they will signal using the forward motion whistle (2 short whistles). After a reply from the conductor's buzzer (2 short buzzes) recognizing the whistle signal, the train will proceed into the park.

At different times during the trip into the park the engineers will test the safety systems on the train. The two main tests include intentionally popping the safety valves and running the train and running a red block light. The safety valves are set to release excess steam to maintain the boiler's maximum certified working pressure. Running the block light will trigger the brakes automatically, and this system is tested daily to insure it is working properly. These two tests are considered the most important to ensure safe operation of these steam trains. After the first train is on the line the second is not far behind. As this is going on, other conductors arrive at the stations in the park and prepare for the trains' arrival.

In Service
When the park opens, the first train departs from Main Street Station. The second will be just behind; at the block light between Toontown Fair and Main Street stations or in the Toontown Fair station. Typically, two trains are used daily, with a third sometimes coming out on busy days later in the morning.

Each lap around the Magic Kingdom should be completed in approximately 20 minutes. This timing is established and maintained by the first train. The second and third trains keep up with the first train as much as possible. The goal is to have the first train at Main Street Station on the hour and at :20 and :40 past. If the trains fall behind, they will need to catch up or drop behind a lap to get the first train to the top of the hour. This is necessary to facilitate proper closing procedures on the park's schedule.

Block Signals
The block signals let the engineers and conductor know the position of the trains on the system. The block signals on the WDWRR resemble a typical traffic light with three lights that are green, yellow, and red. On the main line there are six blocks. Three of them are the stations which include some length of track before the station. The other three blocks are spread out with one between each station.

The lights typically change in this order in both directions: Green <--> Yellow/Green <--> Red <--> Yellow/Red

Green Only; The next 2 blocks are completely clear. It is safe to proceed.
Yellow and Green; The next block is clear, however, the block beyond is occupied. It is safe to proceed, but be prepared to stop at the next block.
Red Only; The next block is occupied and it is not safe to proceed past this point.
Yellow and Red; The next 2 blocks are both occupied; it is not safe to proceed past this point.
In a two train operation the conductors will not allow the train to proceed on a Yellow/Green signal. This keeps the trains spaced for more consistent service in the stations and prevents the train from having to stop in between stations. In a three train operation conductors can move trains on the yellow/green signal. The reason for this is because there will almost always be a train in the second block ahead. Four train operations are not possible as there is not enough space, nor are there enough blocks to do so safely.

Whistles
As with any railroad, the whistles you hear all have meaning as they are warning/signaling devices. Many guests are unaware that whistles/horns' primary purpose was in fact communication. On the WDWRR, engineers use the whistle to communicate while the conductor uses the same patterns with a button which activates a buzzer in the cab of the locomotive. While the train is operated as a team, the conductor has the final say in the operation of the train; he is in command. At the stations, engineers will request to depart by signaling with 2 short whistles. The conductor will signal it is safe to do so by buzzing the cab with two short buzzes. The common whistles on the WDWRR are listed below:

One Short - Attention
Two Short – Forward Movement
Three Short – Reverse Movement
One Long, One Short – Approaching Station
One Long, Two Short – Crew spotted along track. (Also used as a general greeting)
Two Long, One Short, One Long – Public Crossing ahead.
Two Long, One Short – Meeting Point (Junction)
One Long – Stop Immediately / Emergent stop.
Four Long – Train in distress.
The train bell is rung upon the train's arrival towards a station as well as on its departure from it. As with the whistle, the bell being rung is an official and mandatory signaling sequence. This method is also used at the Disneyland Railroad.

Closing
At the end of the evening the conductors announce the departure of the last train. All guests can ride until the train arrives back at Main Street. Once back at Main Street the conductors walk the length of the train to ensure that there are no passengers remaining and any items left behind are unloaded to the station attendants and brought to lost and found. The procedure is the same for all trains.

After the train is cleared for departure, the conductor will signal the engineers with the forward movement signal. The train then departs for the Toontown Fair station. As the train passes through Frontierland, the station attendants can give a "thumbs up" indicating that they would like to jump aboard and will do so while the train is in motion. Once a train arrives at Toontown, the conductor jumps off and throws the switch to allow the train to back to the roundhouse.

At this point the engineer relies on the conductor to guide the train to back towards the enginehouse. The fireman will jump off the train to throw the Toontown switch back to allow another train to leave if one remains, otherwise the switch is left where it is. At each switch and crossing the conductor will signal to let the engineer know that the train successfully cleared a switch and can continue. This continues until the train is backed completely into the roundhouse.

The article text above is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Walt Disney World Railroad".