The California Zephyr train at Disney California Adventure was one of my son's favorite things to see when visiting the park.
I think it's safe to say that most two year old boys love trains. In our household three words we hear everyday are Mickey, train, and dinosaur. Whenever we see a train, my son starts busting out the "wooo wooo", and he smiles with excitement. The same rings true for the California Zephyr.
We have taken many pictures with the train, and I personally loved how we could board the train to order ice cream, cookies, or cupcakes on one end and shop for toys on the other.
With the changes going on throughout Disney California Adventure, the California Zephyr no longer fits in with the new design. When I saw the construction boards hiding the train last week I felt a little sad. No longer will my son cry out "train" or make the noises (at least not in Disney California Adventure, now Disneyland is another story), but we also wont be able to take anymore pictures with it.
With the train being taken out over the weekend, I had to wonder what would Disney do with it? Would they find a place for it somewhere on Disney property or would it just disappear forever?
Well I have some great news! Disney has donated the train to Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, California, where it will become part of the Zephyr project collection.
“Walt
Disney’s love of trains made this donation perfectly fitting,” said
Disneyland Resort President George A. Kalogridis. “The expansion of
Disney California Adventure park provided the opportunity for us to make
this meaningful donation and we are thrilled the train will offer
museum visitors and train enthusiasts an immersive experience, much like
it did here.”
Visitors
to the museum will learn about the history of the famous 1950s
passenger train through the donated artifacts, while the recreated
locomotive will offer the chance to experience what it was like for
engineers to guide the stainless steel Zephyr trains through
California’s Feather River Canyon.
The
cab once operated as a real locomotive. It is an authentic rendition of
the Western Pacific Railroad – one of the three railroads that operated
the California Zephyr between Chicago and San Francisco from 1949 to
1970. It wears the same number as the last locomotive to lead a
westbound California Zephyr into Oakland, Calif. on March 20, 1970. The
California Zephyr is one of the most celebrated “name trains” of the
1950s and 60s.
The
California Zephyr was introduced in 1949. It wasn’t the fastest train
between Chicago and California, but it offered the best of western
scenery. The train departed Denver early in the morning, then climbed
up the Front Range of the Rockies and traveled the canyons of Colorado
rivers. In California, the train crossed the Sierra Nevada, traveling
along the amazing canyons of the Feather River on the line of the
Western Pacific Railroad. A 1950s advertising slogan for the train
promised “Beauty by Day, All the Way!”
Today,
Amtrak operates its own California Zephyr over part of the original
route. As one of the most popular long distance trains, it still offers
the best scenery. The modern version crosses the Sierra Nevada using
Donner Pass (formerly owned by a rival railroad to the Western Pacific)
along Interstate 80 instead of following the Feather River route.
Most
of the passenger cars built for “The Silver Lady,” as the California
Zephyr was sometimes known, survived the end of the operation of the
train. A surprising number still exist today in museums, as well as in
charter service.
The
Zephyr Project collection includes a complete and operational
locomotive and several passenger cars, including a dome coach, dome
buffet dormitory and the last intact dining car from the train. A rare
opportunity to travel the original route of the California Zephyr will
occur August 19th through 21st as a special 12 car-passenger train heads
from Oakland to Portola for the annual Railroad Days festival. For
more information, visit www.portolarailroaddays.com.
Knowing the train was donated to the Western Pacific Railroad Museum, where it will live on as a tool for learning makes the sting of it's departure a little more easier to bare, dont' you think?
Photos of the removal of the California Zephyr provided by with permission from The Disneyland Resort.
5 comments:
Yes it did sadden me to hear about the removal of the train. i am a train enthusiast myself. The museum in Portola sounds like a lot of fun. i have been to the Railroad museum in Sacramento, the Model train Railroad museum in San Diego and the Train Museum in Perris. if your son likes trains a lot the Perris and SD museums are a lot of fun! :-)Yes it did sadden me to hear about the removal of the train. i am a train enthusiast myself. The museum in Portola sounds like a lot of fun. i have been to the Railroad museum in Sacramento, the Model train Railroad museum in San Diego and the Train Museum in Perris. if your son likes trains a lot the Perris and SD museums are a lot of fun! :-)
How sad to see that train taken out! We, too, loved the opportunity to go inside for an ice cream. DS is a train enthusiast and will be heartbroken when he sees it gone the next time we go to DCA. It is nice that the train is being donated to a museum, but I'm not sure that we will get a chance to go see it.
I feel sad for you little one who will probably look for it when he goes. It's hard to understand that kind of change at that age.
Thanks God its finally out of there, it was sad to see the old train with holes cut open in the cars and is sad to see that the engines frame is not intact. I hope the museum can restore the engine and cars to their former glory and I'll be much happier to see the engine moving down the line with is old 567 prime mover pulling cars from the legendary CZ. Sad they wont have a train in California Adventure, but the train is going to a much better place.
I visited Disneyland for the first time in 2010, after having been to Disney World several times over the past 15 years. This trains was one of the highlights of my visit, knowing that Walt himself had a love of trains.
I think it is sad that they've removed a piece which was more connected to "Uncle Walt", than many of the visitors realized. I hope they add something else train-themed to keep the park's personality as much as Walt's was.
Sad to see the train and GG bridge go...but very excited to see what the entrance will look like when they're all done with construction!
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