The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway sponsored multiple Disneyland attractions over the course of 20 years. How did this iconic company get involved with the park, and why did this relationship eventually fall apart?
Chapters:
0:00 – Intro
1:29 – A Cultural Icon
4:09 – Walt’s New Enterprise
5:48 – The Partnership Begins
9:06 – Rolling Toward the Future
12:03 – Highway in the Sky
15:05 – End of the Line
18:24 – Epilogue
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Weren't the viewliners also made from car parts as well?
Oh yeah, another railroad video!
You've done it again, Mr. Dibble, many thanks indeed from a rail buff and enjoyer of your content.
That story about how Walt's father was a man of the railroad, telling legends and folktale along this classic and romantic way of transportation, really made me understand Walt Disney's ideals a lot more, and why he saw his people's history the way he did.
And BNSF was acquired by Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway…who has investments in Disney.
Love your videos keep em coming!!
The little Indian boy in front of the sign for the Grand Canyon opening ceremony was a character that Santa Fe used on its printed public timetables at the time. On the timetables, the boy was drawing the Santa Fe logo in the sand in the same stance as shown here at 11:33.
Very impressive work again Peter, thank you so much for sharing your one of your talents with us.
The AeroTrain also inspired the Zooliner at the Oregon Zoo.
Would love to see a video on the history of the zoo railway.
Peter, you of course are the only one who can make it happen.
Ill be honest Idont think i ever heard about the Viewliners
2:07 Johnny Mercer Originally wrote the song.
Nicely done, Peter! Very informative!
What’s the music at the end?
thank you so much, this was such a wonderful video and I really do enjoy the history of disney's railroad ^ ^!
This should be a video that defunctland should do On
Interesting, good info.
Very well done as usual, Peter!
Another great video as always!
Is there any chance you could do a documentary of the Steam operations of BC Rail?
The irony is the southwest chief is still running from LA to Chicago, but its biggest enemy is freight trains causing it delays. also, Disneyland is so expensive that now that I have discovered how much I love the Chief, i'm not sure when I will be back to properly appreciate Walt's homage to a line I have come to love as much as i did trips to Disneyland as a kid.
Great video as usual. :]
Once Walt died, it was the end of the line for the sponsorship and he wouldn't have cared about the changes unless his spirit would sabotage the diesel.
Any day is a good day when Peter drops a new video!!
5:12 Actually… The Santa Fe wasn't the first to be dieselized. That in of itself is a whole debate. Shortlines (smaller local railroads) are known to dieselize very early on with some going far back as the 1920s with examples like the Strasburg Railroad (Chartered in 1832 and is still running to this day) with its single Plymouth Switcher (that ironically they still operate) displacing some hand me down PRR steamers.
For Class Ones major roads like the ATSF (acronym for the Santa Fe), it gets confusing.
The true first class one to dieselize was the New York Susquehanna and Western in 1945.
Next up in my opinion goes to The Chicago, Indianapolis, and Louisville Railway (better known as the MONON). John W Barringer III (who took over presidency of the MONON in 1945) took one look at the railroad and dieselized the whole system in 1946! Closeby, The Gulf Mobile and Ohio went the same route in 1947-1949.
Several other railroads followed suit including: The Erie (1951), New Haven (1952), Delaware and Hudson (1953), Southern Railway of Crescent Limited fame (1953), Western Maryland (1954), and even the Western Pacific (1953-4) all dieselized BEFORE The Santa Fe.
Steam actually held on longer until 1957 for two things. Excursions, and more importantly, Helper service in New Mexico. The second to last steam locomotive to run was Santa Fe 5021 (a 2-10-4 Texas type that ironically is still around). The last ATSF steamer to run by LA and along the famous Cajon Pass goes to 3759, which it too is on display.
After that, no more steam on ATSF mainline rails until 3751(the railroads first and oldest 4-8-4 Northern and older sibling to 3759) was restored to full operation. The only other engine to run on active mainline rails of ATSF’s successor would be 3751’s younger and bulkier cousin, 2926 based out of New Mexico that took FOREVER to restore.
Moral of the story, finding out who dieselized first is a losing battle.
I would love to see this sponsorship/partnership reinstated. It is never too late. This would provide needed positivity/goodwill to both companies in this ever-corporate dominated culture. Disney, are you listening?
Another amazing and underrated video by Peter
Back when Disneyland WAS Disneyland before Star Wars and Marvel garbage took over and raped the park and Walts dream…..
This is so weird.. I was just looking only yesterday to make sure I hadn't missed anything, and here it is!