Disneyland's Short-Lived Monorail Precursor: The Viewliner (1957)
Вставка
- Опубліковано 12 вер 2024
- Back in the days before Disneyland's monorail opened, the space used to be home to another train... The Viewliner! Mostly obscure nowadays, we'll be taking a look at the attraction with this video, and also seeing just how it relates back to the original monorail.
Music Used:
• Ch. 1-6 Music to Ride Monorails By (Disneyland Magical Audio Tour): • Ch. 1-6 Music to Ride ...
Videos Used:
• 1956 Oldsmobile Car Commercial: • 1956 Oldsmobile Car Co...
• 1959 Monorail Dedication: • 1959 Monorail Dedication
• An Adventure in the Magic Kingdom (1958): • An Adventure in the Ma...
• KETC | Living St. Louis | Aerotrain: • Aerotrain | Living St....
Thanks for watching.
I do like the idea of just rejigging two Oldsmobiles into a new contraption just to fill in a temporary space. That's just such make-do inventive spirit.
Back in September 1957, our neighbor was an engineer on the orange Viewliner! When we went to the park, our neighbor invited us to ride in the engine with him! (I'm sure nowadays that would not be allowed!) As a young child, all that I remember was him saying that the dashboard was from an Oldsmobile. My other memory was how HOT it was in the cab! A unforgettable memory that not many could "brag" about! Thanks for the memory!
In the mid '70s my family went to Disney world staying in the campground. First night there my older brothers invited the monorail engineer to smoke some. We got to ride in the engine, and smoke some with the engineer. The engineer explained the speeds of the various sections of track. Top speed 70 mph over the golf course. Said it could go 90. The speedometer went to 120.
Rode, up front in 58. Kids dream!
@@dpsamu2000I’m sure it’s so routine after a point that it doesn’t matter but oooh love my train engineer riding a massive steel tube of children at 70 mph blazing up in the engine
@@bbgncntrl Oh no. It was late at night, and It was off season too. There were no other people on the train. It still amuses me too thinking about blazing with the engineer. It was a long enough ride to do a whole doobie.
@@dpsamu2000 aight then that sounds chill as fuck lol happy for y’all
The only two Aerotrains were eventually sold to Rock Island, which used them as commuter trains until 1966. Both trains survive in museums, one in Green Bay, WI and the other in Kirkwood, MO.
The Viewliner honestly looks really cool.
It’s basis, the GM Aerotrain is actually still around
FUN FACT: On it’s pre-inaugural run, it caught fire. They put it out and wanted to delay the opening of it but Walt said it would be fine. Both trains ran without a single issue after that.
I think we've found the intra-park transit system for Defunctland Park. ^_^
as soon as i saw the viewliner i instantly knew that this was based on GM's Aerotrain
Another wonderful video my friend! As both a railfan and a Disney Fan, this was quite an enjoyable look into one of Disney's lesser known trains! (Fun Fact: 2 original GM Aerotrains still survive today, located at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and the National Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri. Alongside this, a 5/8th Scale Viewliner Replica, named the Zooliner, can be found operating at the Washington Park and Zoo Railway in Portland, Oregon.)
It's interesting to see that the Oregon Zoo version is still running after over 60 years in operation.
While the cab unit has similarities to both the AeroTrain and the Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton locomotives used for Pullman Standard's Train X, overall the Viewliner appears to be more akin to the AlcoLiner concept that American Locomotive Company was pitching to several railroads in the early 1950s. However, unlike those other two trains, the AlcoLiner was never built.
Of note, 2:28. That’s Harley Earle himself boarding the train. The larger than life head of GM styling for years. One of the most influential designers of the 20th century. He was the man behind the iconic GM look of the late 40s thru the 50s and into the early 60s. Those trains, automobiles with fins, the ‘55 to ‘57 Chevy and everything else at that time.
Yes, the tail end of the Aerotrain act
He was also responsible for the Corvette.
Not "old" highway bus, built for the Aero Train.(referring to the full scale GM Aero Train)
Also, that's not a "figure 8" track configuration, that's a "dog bone" layout.
Trains and Walt, they go hand in hand. I don’t blame him, trains are pretty cool
I recall reading somewhere that he actually worked for the Santa Fe railroad as a teen. His hometown of Marcilene was a rest stop on the railroad line in the old days.
@EMD-E8 My mistake. I did some searching of my own, according to Walt his dad worked the 'accommodation train' between Marcilene and Ft Madison, but Walt himself appears to have not worked on the ATSF. He DID work as a 'news butcher on a handful of other Kansas City area railroads:
www.waltdisney.org/blog/i-have-always-loved-trains
The monorail has proven timeless because I can easily see it being very, very useful in cities, whilst the original train definitely hasn't faired anywhere near so well. Even the design of the monorail is still futuristic and attractive, whilst the train is definitely a product of the 50s.
Monorails are a unique invention. I'm not aware of any other technology which has been, still is, and probably always will be the future of transportation.
Monorails are largely useless. Very unique gauges, expensive to build and difficult to use with multiple tracks. They're also slow.
Here in Detroit, we have a mono-rail that's been running over the downtown area for decades, and it's computer controlled (no conductor), and has only been shut down for short periods a few times (normal maintenance). Cheap to ride and very quiet, unlike the busses in the area, it seems to sustain itself just fine.
At age 14, Walt Disney started working on the Missouri Pacific Railroad working as a “News butcher”. He was the person who sold newspapers and snacks to the passengers. That helps to explain his lifelong love of trains
The Portland Zoo in Oregon also has a scale replica Aerotrain, ours was introduced around the same, but is still in operation. Ours also looks more like the original train then the Viewliners
ua-cam.com/video/NTCGq08Jq04/v-deo.html
A link to a video of the train from 1958.
Being from Portland, I thought that the aero train looked pretty familiar.
Alternative title:
Disney's temporary retro style narrow Guage railroad
At the time it wasn't retro, it was futuristic.
The footage is amazing. The park has changed so much. Amazing!
THE VIEWLINER LOOKED COOL!
Growing up 10 miles away from Disneyland in the 60’s meant we spent a lot of time there. We’re talking E-ticket era. The coolest monorail rides ever were when we could get into the pilot’s cab and sit in the 2 seats behind & above the engineer. I wish I had some photos from those days. Great video. Thanks.
YES I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!!! So glad you’re back!! I’m about to watch this while I’m getting ready for my day!!!
/;u
I can't help but notice that this isn't The Evolution of Spaceship Earth part 2.
Both view lines were sold to a railroad engineer that was retired and went to Georgia's he bought them from the scrapyard. Both are still in the building right where he put them after the purchase. , I don't know if the cars are there. But both engines are alone with numerous other old steam engines, they are about the size of a smaller than normal school bus
Repeat in Walter Cronkite voice." In the year two thousand,monorails will whisk the weary worker home in record time!"
If you work in a very large city. Most of the country makes cost impractical.
4:58 its an actuell mars light before ditch lights in trains you know the wagging lights they had mars lights
I'm addicted too your vids
Oh so when Disney chops and welds a bunch of cars together people can’t wait to ride but when I do it it’s “dangerous and unsafe” lmao
Always a good day when I see a video from you on my home feed😺👍🌟👏
The Ollie Johnston train shown is NOT the one which used Viewliner ties. His Marie E train in Julian, CA was a 36-inch gauge plantation location that is close to the 30-inch gauge of the Viewliner.
Yes, thank you. Couldn't find any real pictures of the train because nobody else mentioned it's actual name where I was researching. Here's an article about it for anybody interested. frankandollie.com/OlliesTrain.html
@@ThemeParksShouldntExist it's funny just how many of the Disney people were into miniature trains. Ward Kimball and Ollie Johnston, among others. Even Walt Disney had a miniature train at his California estate.
@@morg777 Not so surprising really. Such railfans and hobby constructors are usually members of clubs that often have communal tracks for running their trains. Once you meet one of these guys, it's a gateway into a whole community and potential source of engineering expertise.
They didn’t scrap the train. It was sold to a private collector in the northwest
Got any more info on that? Have always heard they were scrapped, though that seems odd considering Disney's fascination with railroads.
How do you "scrap" something like this?
The cars were scrapped but the engine was sold to a man named John Lasseter.
There is a rumor that Oregon zoo has the engine. It’s unknown if this is true. Possible I guess.
Deer Park and Julian Narrow Guage railroad is where the track ended up.
Always wanted to know more about this train.
Amazing what a short life it had.
Reminds me of the Zooliner at the Oregon Zoo which opened in 1959 and still operates today.
The Zooliner more closely resembles the Aerotrain especially the design of the locomotive.
Like how they actually added a functional Mars type oscillating headlight. Aerotrain actually managed to survived to have a couple sets become museum pieces because the Rock Island converted their old intercity Aero Rocket to commuter service and picked up the remaining sets on the cheap for the same purpose.
Fortunately the Rock Island's financial state that lead to it's bankruptcy in 1980 had the silver lining of it's commuter service being a literal working museum from the mid 60s to late 70s a lot of otherwise long scrapped locomotives had at least a few examples saved.
funny how the newsreel clip that calls the Viewliner a futuristic commuter train. Well, they got that right, at least.
In 1972 we drove from New York to Florida to see the newly opened Disneyworld. We had a great time and I still remember the Haunted House ride with my mother and sister. I rode the monorails then and again in 2008 with my wife and 2 sons. We even have some 8mm film from the trip in 1972. I was 7. 🇺🇸😎👍
I learn something new everyday!!
As soon as I saw this I thought "looks like a scaled-down Aerotrain". As far as the Aerotrain, basing your train on a bus design never works out, look up British Rail's "Pacer". Invariably they go with a single axle based suspension vice the traditional 2- or even 3-axle bogies (which are traditional for a reason) and then the thing rides like crap.
Great to have you back. Awesome video. Thanks!!!
I grew up near the park, though long after the Viewliner was shut down. That particular corner of the part was near where I-5 was eventually built, with Ball Road running north to south. On the Disneyland side there used to a couple abandoned farm houses, my brother and I liked to visit them because they were spooky, and the walls were full of honeycombs. There was a large farm nearby, which provide the bees with lots of flowers, and though the area was pretty much fully developed, many of the orange trees which had existed prior to Disneyland were still to be found in people's yards. I have read a lot of silly stories in the news recently about "murder hornets," (Japanese hornets), but these were common in the area way back in the 1970's, one or two would raid these bee hives when my brother and I were stealing pieces of honeycombs. In those days California was prosperous, there were none of the literally hundreds of homeless which you now find scattered around the outside of the park. General admission (without ride tickets) cost $3.50 in those days, admission with a basic book of tickets (including two E tickets) cost $6. I could afford to go to Disneyland with the tiny amount of money I made cutting grass on weekends ($5 per lawn). No kid from a working class family today can afford to pay his or her own way into Disneyland.
One Aerotrain is in the Green Bay, WI train museum. They also have a former British Rail A-4 Pacific named after Dwight Eisenhower.
I had heard that they weren't scrapped. . . It's that they just disappeared out of the storage warehouse where they were being kept, and no knows for certain what actually happened to the them!
In the Viewliner, you see the inspiration for the Talgo trainsets of Amtrak's Cascades, as well as many of the Romancecar trains of the Odakyu Electric Railway in Tokyo.
I really love the Viewliners design. Along with the first design of Disney's monorail. Thank you for showing us this slice of Disney history.
Carrowinds in NC/SC had a monorail ride, for years, that went around the whole park. We always rode on it first, to see what the new attractions, and Park layout, were each year. Sadly, they took it out.
I really hate that North America does not have more high speed rail. Leaving us so car centric has only added to our costs (gas, insurance, accidents, deaths, pollution) Big Oil aims to keep us that way it seems. Sadly.
I had a phase where I looked into every ride that was at Disneyland as possible. How did I miss this masterpiece of a really short lived ride😭❤️
Designed by GM. That explains why the cabin looks like the windshield of a 58 impala.
I was about to ask if Harley Earl was a participant or just an influence on the design. As it turns out, yes on both counts.
Fun Fact: Air bag suspension is used on the Amtrak Superliner cars. They are supposedly suited for 125 MPH, if the track is available.
Would have loved to acquired one of the two trains for my home railroad, but instead I'll keep my 7.5 train. Would have been neat to have a piece of Disney history, but these trains were a little before my time
Wow, awesome story! Had no idea this ever existed. Thanks!
Vintage trains are beautiful and fascinating. A journey to the past.
There used to be train service between LA and Vegas??! Wow, news to me! I’ve lived in Southern California for fifty years and we’ve never had rail service to Vegas...
edvaira6891 - Yeah I believe it closed in the sixties. Tracks are still used for freight and the station site is still there (though demolished).
Union Pacific operated the City of Los Angeles to LV and Chicago until Amtrak was created in 1971, and Amtrak operated its Desert Wind between LA and Salt Lake City from 1979 until budget cuts killed it in 1997.
The Aerotrain was used between Los Angeles and Las Vegas. The train was called the City of Las Vegas per the Union Pacific's train naming sceme. The Aerotrain equipment was retired from the Las Vegas train due to the inability to add cars as the train was very popular on weekends. Union Pacific replaced it with a conventional diesel powered train. The train was nicknamed "The Crapshooter".
Stalking Horse - Thanks for the extra info. Appreciated.
Wow !
Seems like it would still be a good idea to have a rail service between the 2 citys
I was surprised to hear GM apparently tried to get into the train game, but then when said it was built out of repurposed car bodies and was flimsy. Suddenly it all made sense. They wanted to make cars look better.
General Motors built locomotives from 1930 to 2005. For the majority of that time, their locomotive section was known as Electro-Motive Division. EMD dominated the diesel locomotive field for many years. The bulldog-nose E and F-unit diesels became the iconic look for modern, streamlined motive-power, from the late 1930s, through the 1950s and beyond.
Really cool watching this, really enjoyed seeing this history thank you for sharing 👍😎
Fascinating video! To me, it’s rather surprising how short lived this train was. That’s a heck of a lot of work, design, and construction for something intended to be THAT temporary. It’s designed and a built like a much more permanent attraction. And it looks COOL! I wonder what really happened for it to be retired THAT quickly. Fascinating!
interestingly the current parking trams were supposedly inspired by the aerotrain as well. if one looks at it, there is some similarity as it were. it would seem like Disney, and maybe the ghost of Walt refuse to let go.
@@bigman10239 - Cool stuff. I love it!
My Dad had TWO ‘56 Oldsmobiles. One a 4 door Holiday “hardtop convertible, meaning no B pillar, frameless door windows. Salmon pink and white. The other a 4 door 98 in black & white. Both had the most powerful air conditioning of any car he or I have had.
7:59 Maybe it's an Alweg train?
Wikipedia: Alweg was founded by Swedish industrial magnate Dr. Axel Lennart Wenner-Gren in January 1953.
Wikipedia: The Disneyland Monorail System (originally named the Disneyland ALWEG Monorail System)
is an attraction and transportation system at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, United States.
Alweg is best remembered for their role in building the original Disneyland Monorail System at Disneyland, which opened in 1959.
Axel Lennart Wenner-Gren (5 June 1881 - 24 November 1961) was a Swedish entrepreneur and one of the wealthiest men in the world during the 1930s.
Welcome back being missing your videos
Well done! Good narration read. And the stills and footage worked nicely. Good edit. The last still, the closer, was an image of a conductor who had a uniform on with no logo meaning it was a VERY early pict. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
I was a very young child when I rode this ride...... and I was at Disneyland soon after it opened .
I learned about this through the Imagineering video on Disney+, or a video about the concept of making the Monorail. How Walt Disney Wanted replace the train, with a monorail and one of the imagineers whom designed the train and just thought it was an elevated version of this train. Thus the creation of the 60’s monorail.
So very interesting. Never knew that this existed
Excellent work. Thanks for this.
I should build a full size Disney Viewliner train, but only mount regular road wheels to it so I can drive it to and from work on the highway to get looks, and around my 1950's neighborhood!
THAT IS A HELL OF A SURPRISE!!
I HAD A 56 OLDSMOBILE MYSELF!
AND THE 324 ci OLDS ENGINE WAS A GREAT ENGINE!
HOWEVER THE 1956 HYDRAMATIC
AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION SUCKED, BIG TIME!!
LUCKILY MY 56 HAD THE EARLIER HYDRAMATIC OUT OF THE FACTORY!
THE LATER OLDS /GM HYDRAMATICS ALSO SUCKED,
UNTIL THE HYDRAMATIC 400
SERIES CAME OUT!
HOWEVER I PLAYED IT SAFE WITH
THE 1967 AND 1971 OLDSMOBILES I BOUGHT NEW!!
I GOT THEM WITH STICK SHIFT!!
IRONICALLY THE FULL SIZE OLDSMOBILES CAME OUT OF THE FACTORY WITH FORD FULL SYNCHRO 3 SPEED TRANSMISSIONS!
I like how it was inspired by the Aerotrain. Always a nice googie design.
This is awesome! I have never heard of this ride. Nice to know there are secrets about Disneyland I haven’t discovered yet. Thank you for talking about this!
Thanks for the memories!
The View liner(arrow trains) looks like it was a train from the movie Cars without the actual facial features
Those trains would have been terrific additions at Travel Town Museum. The museum instead got some of the trains from Gene Autry's Melody Ranch in the 1970s, right around the time the Viewliners were scrapped.
very interesting
how have i never heard of this???
Very entertaining and fun to watch. Thanks for posting this.
If my memory is correct, there was a similar train at Knowland Park in Oakland, CA back in the 70's. I don't know when it stopped running but I remember it as a kid.
I’m pretty flabbergasted that you do not have a higher following 😢 I think it’s probably just UA-cam doing it thing, but if I had found you three years ago, I would be a much happier person 😂
I think that the larger open windows in the passenger cars was a nice touch.
childhood memories for me
I was born and raised and live in Los Angeles California I am 45 me a my family go to Disneyland once a year since I was born. I hate to confess that I never been on the Monorail. As soon as Disneyland reopens that is the first ride I am getting on.
I don't remember the Viewliner, but I'm sure I must have ridden on it as I went to Disneyland at least once a year from when it opened until 1973, when I left California. I do remember seeing the Matterhorn take shape ☺
Wow, you really saw an evolution there!
This train bears a strong resemblance to the “Zooliner” at the Washington Park Zoo in Portland Or.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Washington_Park_and_Zoo_Railway#/media/File:Zooliner_train_-_Washington_Park_&_Zoo_Railway,_cropped.jpg
I wonder if the Zoo bought the scrapped Disney train. The times seem to line up.
They are both replicas of the Aerotrain trainset!
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aerotrain_(GM)#The_Viewliner
Nope, the Portland Zooliner is a somewhat larger scale train built by a local company, the Northwest Marine and Iron Works (went bust over 30 years ago). It utilizes a diesel hydraulic system which is unlike the Oldsmobile powertrain the Disney trains used. They both were modeled after the same Futureliner by GM, and run on 30" gauge track, but that's the only commonality between the two.
Is it wrong to think that this train looks a little bit cooler than the monorail?
Yes.
The View Liner is WAY cooler than the Monorail. The Monorail just... I don't know... the appearance does nothing for me. The View Liner, on the other hand, is just a sexy beast of a machine. It's just sinful that it was scrapped. It would probably be a popular train, had they held onto it, and could put it back into service.
@@truckertriesfarming9792 Agreed! It's such a shame that these were scrapped.
And to be honest, I think that they should build new Viewliners that are the same gauge as the Disneyland Railroad so they can run on the same track!
@@jimbodeek That would be cool. Though, in truth, I'd never see it. I derive no pleasure from theme parks. The cost is absurd, and you spend most of your time, standing in a line. Walt Disney and August Busch both created theme parks, as place to come visit, and enjoy a day of leisure, relaxation, and fun. It was less about making money, and more about hosting the folks that pay the bills.
The original vision for Disney, in general, died with Walt. None of his heirs shared his vision, and if any did, they lacked his passion. Auggie Busch (grandson of August, I believe) sold Busch Gardens, 10-15 years ago, shortly after selling the brewery operations to InBev. Auggie, of course, had zero interest in the beer, and detested the park. Long ago, both Disney World/Land, and Busch Gardens, became nothing more than a printing press for money.
Back on topic... new Viewliners would still be sweet. If they did a section on "Yesterdays Future, Today", where they recreated the mid-century futurism attractions that they used to have (ViewLiner, Plastic House, Hall of Chemistry, etc), I imagine that would be a smash hit. Baby Boomer Grandparents would flock to that (though, ten years ago, they'd have flocked more rapidly).
I love mid-century design, in general, but there's something particularly fun about the futurism of the era.
TruckerTriesFarming this is an inconvenient truth for many Disney zombies
I’ve found a WDW Mark IV monorail in the Nevada desert!
Walt had another train! There are plenty of other "opening day" stories about this "stop gap" ride of "Todayland" LOL!!! Walt's words (not mine) They did build it on the "cheap"(Booby went to salvage yards to get the autos+ he also did wiring diagram 4 the rest of the train) . Original plans 4 DL had a swinging monorail. It made Mrs. Disney queasy* She'd ridden the original in Germany* The straddle beam monorail that we know today ended up there. But, that's another story.
I believe the German firm was Alweg.
An operator either pulled forward a bit or it malfunctioned while some people were still disembarking. Several people took a spill and got hurt. My grandmother was one of them and she broke her hip. She sued the park and got an out of court settlement for about $20k which was a lot of money back then. That probably contributed to the ride's demise.
Nothing like a good Park Ride History video👌
Fascinating. I never knew this existed.
I remember it, and rode on it too!
I didn't know that ever existed! What a fun idea. Too bad they were scrapped.
Wow!! Thanks for talking about this I’m learning so much.
I'll let you slide without a funny clip at the end of this one, cause we all know goofy dad humor was not yet discovered back then
you obviously didn't have a cool dad like mine. it's always been around.
Back then it was just called “humor.”
I remember riding the monorail from Disneyland Hotel to the Main Street Station. I left Orange County to go into the Navy in 1956. I thought that the monorail was a fixture.
And Amtrak named a 1990s series of passenger cars after it.
That was a nice little video. An interesting type of locomotive, Aerotrain. Sorry that the train & it's miniature gauge counterpart was not doing well though.
Dang that's cool
The viewliner is a class of Amtrak sleeper cars now
Pretty cool that you could maintain your Viewliner with parts from AutoZone.
"...somewhat flimsy build..."
-
Typical GM.
400,000 miles on my Chevy and the engine has never been apart. Stick to your foreign car which requires a timing belt every 100,000 miles as part of its "normal maintenance". This is American history right here.
@@TrakSpock1 Spending trillions on wars so people like you can drive your gas guzzling monsters around is also part of American history, and it has ensured that America IS history. That's winning, I guess, huh?
The Disney version was built by Disney.
@@scootergeorge9576 He was talking about the GM Aerotrain when he said that.
@@PistonAvatarGuy -No he wasn't. Cheap build was part of the reason the Disney version was short lived. Also liked the air suspension ride of the original hence the poor ride. It was a temporary attraction from the get go.
great video! thank you
One of the few I missed... As my Mom took me there during opening week (unknown to Dad) and I didn't go again till she started dating after they broke up in late '58.
looks like straight out of Fallout :D
Thanks for the research
Its a shame as the Viewliner died out so quickly. It looked and sounded like the American version of the Japanies Bullet Train. It is a shame they could not keep going with improvments. I think America could of been a great place for a high speed rail line.
I'm a park train enthusiast. This is a really cool video!
Wish i could go back there
Another fun fact: the real trains that they were modeled after; two of them are in the transportation museum in st. Louis
Noble ideas do sometimes get noticed, but the bottom line always gets noticed, and noble ideas remain just that - noble.