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Part one of this story
may be found at this link.
In 1959, the Disneyland-Alweg Monorail, operating—as the
steam trains—under the sponsorship of the Santa Fe Railway, became the first
daily operating monorail in the western hemisphere. The rectifiers and shops of
the Monorail were constructed in the northeast corner of the property, outside
the Berm, since the Monorail operated only in Tomorrowland. So far, history has
been selfish, and no photograph of the original Monorail facility has yet
surfaced publicly.
Note the Santa Fe blue cross logo on the
second monorail car.
When it was finally realized that the expanding fleet of the Santa Fe &
Disneyland railroad needed improved living quarters, it was decided to
combine the Monorail and steam train maintenance and storage facilities into
one structure.
Walt Disney in an undated publicity shot.
It's difficult to ascertain exactly when the new
Disneyland roundhouse was completed, but we can logically surmise that it was
in place by 1965 or '66, by the time two new Holiday Blue and Green trainsets
were added, which provided better viewing of the Primeval World Diorama. The
trains of the Santa Fe and Disneyland Railway now had a new home, and
everything was packed up and sent east to the new facility.
The old roundhouse survives to this day, as a shop where
ride vehicles are refurbished. Embedded in the pavement in front, mute witness
to the Santa Fe & Disneyland's earliest days, are the remnants of the
original roundhouse lead tracks.
Here
you can see the old roundhouse area as it exists today, with ride vehicles in
various states of rehab. At the top of the upper photo is the break in the
Disneyland Berm
where the trains used to access the mainline. Photos courtesy
David "Darkbeer" Michael.
The "new" roundhouse was and is quite a facility. The switch
off the mainline was placed on the outskirts of Tomorrowland, and again it
swept backwards and to the left, effectively camouflaging the now-visible
backstage area (this time, the trains didn't pass through a tunnel to get
backstage; they passed through a very noticeable cut in the Berm).
With the Monorail
switch track above, the roundhouse lead of the
Disneyland Railroad snakes its way off-stage to the left.
Once past the Berm, the track was split into the four
roundhouse tracks. The Santa Fe supplied genuine AT&SF switch lanterns,
with red and green lenses, which were placed on top of the switch control
mechanisms, lending even greater authenticity to the line.
Once backstage, the tracks split again before
entering the roundhouse.
Photo courtesy Preston Nirattisai.
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