9/9; Gurley Story, Pt. V

[Al Lutz]

Steve concludes the history of the Disneyland Railroad's third engine, Discuss Part Five in this series here...

DIRECT ARTICLE LINK: MiceAge.com - A different look at Disney...

[SeaWolf38]

Great ending, Steve! I enjoyed every part of the story, and maybe we'll see more DLRR history in the near future. Thank you for bringing that to MiceAge! :oD

[Steve DeGaetano]

Thanks, SeaWolf. My focus is definitely on the history of the railroad, but we'll be stepping ouside the box every now and then. Look for what may be the definitive history of the Sailing Ship Columbia in an upcoming series of articles!

[KENfromOC]

Great story and photos - but I am a little puzzled by the final page of photos. The "restored" engine does not have the second boiler plate on it (as shown in previous photos) - What gives? Where these taken before the restoration?

[Steve DeGaetano]

Originally Posted by KENfromOC

Great story and photos - but I am a little puzzled by the final page of photos. The "restored" engine does not have the second boiler plate on it (as shown in previous photos) - What gives? Where these taken before the restoration?

Part 4 of this series, which had some technical glitches--it's fixed and you can read the previous installment here: http://miceage.micechat.com/stevedeg.../sd032508a.htm--discussed the fate of the second set of plates (Called "XO" plates, for "Extra Order," meaning it has a new boiler on an old frame). The pertinent part reads,

Sadly, going the way of the Ward Kimball's class lamps, the XO plates were removed by Disney before the engine entered service. The photos in this article are the only images available showing the plates installed on the boiler.

[WillyWonka]

So where's the plate now? In someone's closet?

[ralzap]

Another Great Article.....Thank you! I went to the Sacramento Train Museum a few weeks ago, and saw Baldwin plates on many trains. Walt would have loved these stories.

[Steve DeGaetano]

Originally Posted by WillyWonka

So where's the plate now? In someone's closet?

I think Boschan has them--sort of like souvenirs of his work on the project.

He actually owns the patterns, and his idea is that if he ever gets any big projects again, he can have one poured with a new job number as a gift to his client.

[BigThunder]

Great ending to the series, Steve. Looking forward to your articles on Colombia.

[toemblem]

Great article.
I sat near the conductor one night last January and I asked him about the return of the number 3 engine. He told me that there were several problems and that No. 3 would be out of service for months. Naturally I believed him but now that I have read the conclusion of this article I am a little disapointed. Not because I wanted there to be problems but because a conductor didn't seem to know what he was talking about. I had assumed that those who held that position had a passion for trains and that they would be knowledgable about all things related to the Disneyland Rail Road. Now I am thinking that the conductor is just some kid with minimal training on how to use the PA system.

[Steve DeGaetano]

Originally Posted by toemblem

Great article.
I sat near the conductor one night last January and I asked him about the return of the number 3 engine. He told me that there were several problems and that No. 3 would be out of service for months. Naturally I believed him but now that I have read the conclusion of this article I am a little disapointed. Not because I wanted there to be problems but because a conductor didn't seem to know what he was talking about. I had assumed that those who held that position had a passion for trains and that they would be knowledgable about all things related to the Disneyland Rail Road. Now I am thinking that the conductor is just some kid with minimal training on how to use the PA system.

Hold the phone, Mabel! The conductor was right! It did take a couple months for all the bugs to be worked out. The engine re-entered service on March 5, 2008. It was actually scheduled to come back in late 2007 (which is why this series began so long ago!)

Now...The reason folks may have not seen the engine recently requires a post-script:

A few weeks ago, a piece of the engine's valve, called a "valve yoke" broke. The valve is an automatically-moving device that allows steam to be admitted to each end of the cylinder. The yoke is a cast-metal piece that slips over the valve, and is connected through various linkages to the drive wheels. So, the faster the engine goes, the faster the valve moves.

The valve yoke made by Baldwin in 1894 was a pretty well-made and designed piece. However, Disney mechanical engineers couldn't quite see how it worked, and decided to re-design it. They attached a rod to the valve yoke by threading the rod, drilling and threading a hole in the valve yoke, and screwing the two pieces together.

Baldwin had welded the pieces together.

Needless to say, the original, welded design was superior. Attaching the two pieces by threading them together proved disastrous--the joint, subjected to quite a bit of stress, broke easily.

Ironically, this same design flaw sidelined the Ward Kimball shortly after she came back from her overhaul in 2005.

Which all begs the question: Why would Disney decide to redesign a piece that had worked flawlessly for over 100 years?

[fo'c's'le swab]

Great conclusion to the series, Steve. It could use a little more me in there, however. Otherwise, spectacular. The pics really made the series--thanks for a great read!!

[aashee]

Very good finish to the series Steve. I do agree with you, the photos were spectacular.

[Steve DeGaetano]

There were a lot of people involved who took some really great photos. Without their efforts, I'm afraid folks like us, on the "outside," would never have had a glimpse of the rebuilding of the Fred Gurley.