page_title: Walt Disney World Railroad
section_title: Discovery in Mexico
hierarchical_section_title: Walt Disney World Railroad / History / Discovery in Mexico
caption_attribution_description: English: Title: F.C. Unidos de Yucatan Alternative Title: [Ferrocarril Unidos de Yucatan, Engine 72] Creator: Unknown Date: ca. 1925 Part of: http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/search/collection/mex/searchterm/Railroads of Mexico/mode/exact Place: Mexico Physical Description: 1 photographic print: gelatin silver; 13 x 18 cm File: ag1985_0366_05_unidos_r_opt.jpg Rights: Please cite DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University when using this file. A high-resolution version of this file may be obtained for a fee. For details see the https://sites.smu.edu/cul/degolyer/research/permissions/ web page. For other information, contact degolyer@smu.edu. For more information and to view the image in high resolution, see: http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/cdm/ref/collection/mex/id/3405 View the http://digitalcollections.smu.edu/all/cul/mex/“ rel=
context_page_description: The Walt Disney World Railroad is a 3-foot narrow-gauge heritage railroad and attraction located within the Magic Kingdom theme park of Walt Disney World in Bay Lake, Florida, in the United States. Its route is 1.5 miles in length and encircles most of the park, with train stations in three different park areas. The rail line, constructed by WED Enterprises, operates with four historic steam locomotives originally built by Baldwin Locomotive Works. It takes about 20 minutes for each train to complete a round trip on the WDWRR's main line loop. On a typical day, the railroad has two trains in operation; on busy days, it has three trains.
  The WDWRR's development was led by Roger E. Broggie, who also oversaw the construction of the Disneyland Railroad in Disneyland in Anaheim, California. The attraction's locomotives were acquired from the Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatán, a narrow-gauge railroad system in Mexico. After being shipped to the United States, they were altered to resemble locomotives built in the 1880s and restored to operating condition. Each locomotive was also given a set of passenger cars, which were built from scratch.
context_section_description: The development of the Walt Disney World Railroad (WDWRR) from the late 1960s to its opening in 1971 was overseen by Roger E. Broggie, vice president and general manager of Mapo, Inc., WED Enterprises' research and manufacturing branch. Broggie previously supervised the building of the Disneyland Railroad in Disneyland in Anaheim, California. From his experience with the railroad at Disneyland, Broggie determined that it was better to use existing steam locomotives, rather than building them entirely from scratch like the Disneyland Railroad's first two locomotives. To this end, he contacted rail historian Gerald M. Best who informed him that locomotives could be obtained at a railroad boneyard in Mérida, Yucatán, Mexico, owned by the Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatán. This was a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge system, the same gauge as the Disneyland Railroad. Broggie, along with fellow Disney employee and railroad-building expert Earl Vilmer, went to Mérida in 1969 to investigate. They determined that four locomotives built by Baldwin Locomotive Works could potentially be salvaged, along with a fifth locomotive built by Pittsburgh Locomotive and Car Works, which was in front of the railroad company's headquarters.
  Broggie paid a total of US$32,750 for all five locomotives ($8,000 for each of the four locomotives in the boneyard plus an additional $750 for the fifth locomotive). The locomotives, along with an assortment of brass fittings and other spare parts given away for free, were immediately shipped by rail back to the United States.
caption: A typical locomotive on the Ferrocarriles Unidos de Yucatán in Mexico, where the locomotives for the WDWRR were found
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