Will It Go Round in Circles (continued)

Disneyland's original roundhouse can be seen in the
upper right corner, bordering a grove of orange trees.

In this detail you can see one of the two original "Retlaw One"
passenger cars in the pole barn behind the roundhouse.

Here are the original Disneyland passenger coaches (the one in the foreground,
Grand Canyon, would eventually be transformed into the Lilly Belle), under the pole barn
behind the roundhouse. Photo courtesy Carlene Thie, www.apepenpublishing.com

Broggie told Fowler that they'd need the roundhouse constructed sooner rather than later, so work on the two locomotives could continue. Fowler had led a Seabee unit during WWII, building airfields and bridges in record time, so constructing the rather modest roundhouse facility would be a piece of cake. In one week, a concrete foundation had been poured with two sets of track, and the corrugated sheet metal structure was in place. Here, the first two Disneyland locomotives were finally assembled.

This August 1955 view of the original Disneyland
roundhouse shows the simplicity of the structure.

The switch track to access the roundhouse from the mainline passed through a tunnel off to passengers' left and to the rear, effectively rendering it nearly invisible to guests, who were usually gazing off to the right or front. Once through the tunnel, the track split into the two main lead tracks into the roundhouse.

The roundhouse itself really wasn't a glamorous affair, but it included everything needed to service the trains. A large sliding door opened to reveal the two locomotive stalls. The two tracks passed through the roundhouse and out the back, providing shelter for the passenger cars. Lights were placed under the eaves of the car shed, so work could be done at night, and large canvas curtains could be unfurled during inclement weather to help protect the cars.

The C.K. Holliday sits inside the original roundhouse.

No switching would be needed—the trains were simply backed in. Off to the southern portion of the structure was the machine shop, which included the tools necessary to service the cars and locomotives. Large windows were placed all around the building to provide light.

A very rare photo showing white-smocked machinists at work in the
roundhouse. The headlight of the C.K. Holliday is in the right foreground.

In the late 1950s, however, the railroad proved immensely popular, and the decision was soon made to acquire another train. The original two tracks soon became inadequate as the railroad grew. When the Fred Gurley and the Excursion cars were added in 1958, a third track was needed. Photos on page 249 in Michael Broggie's book Walt Disney's Railroad Story show three sets of track approaching the roundhouse, and it appears the third track is placed outside the roundhouse, paralleling it on the left hand side. It's assumed a covering was constructed, but no evidence has yet surfaced one way or the other.

In this official Santa Fe Railway photograph, the C.K. Holliday steams past the
passenger train. The car immediately next to the engine is the Grand Canyon.

When the Ernest S. Marsh joined the fleet in 1959, occasional shuffling of engines and cars would need to take place, but the railroad finally outgrew the facility in the mid-1960s, with the addition of two new sets of cars—the Holiday Blue and Holiday Green—which were constructed to allow better viewing of the new Primeval World dioramas.

The time had finally arrived to build a brand new facility, and some decisions had to be made. Not only would the facility need to be built wider to accommodate four trains, it would need to be taller as well.

To be continued...

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Steve DeGaetano is author of Welcome Aboard the Disneyland Railroad! Portions of this article were excerpted from that book. Steve’s latest book, the history of Disneyland’s newest locomotive, the Ward Kimball, will be available in April. You can read more about From Plantation to Theme Park, the Story of Disneyland Railroad Locomotive No. 5, the Ward Kimball, and place a pre-order for it, by using this link.

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© 2007 Steve DeGaetano