My last three articles have been about a Steam Train Tour that my dad and I were fortunate enough to attend at the Magic Kingdom. In part 2, I shared the hands-on portion of the Steam Train Tour, and showed you around the Main Street Station to see the photos that illustrate the story of the Carolwood Pacific Railroad. In part 3, I continued the series by talking about the Walt Disney World Railroad itself. [Part 1 (link) was published August 26, part 2 (link) was published on September 23, and part 3 (link) was published on September 23,]
I didn’t mention previously that I later made contact with some folks that work on the Walt Disney World Railroad. I tried, unsuccessfully, to work out an arrangement that would allow me to come back to the roundhouse and take photos of the building, the trains, the shops, and so on. Several weeks later, through the help of some other contacts, however, I was able to talk directly with George Britton, the roundhouse foreman at the Magic Kingdom. George agreed to meet me in the park and to take me back to the roundhouse for a more detailed tour. Even more exciting, he said that I would be allowed to bring along my camera and take pictures of the railroad facilities for publication here on MousePlanet!
I met George at the Toontown Station of the Walt Disney World Railroad at about 9:00 a.m. He had driven up to the mainline on a vehicle that had been made by the WDW railroad crew. If you can picture the “surrey bikes” that can be rented as many of the WDW resort hotels, imagine one with an electric motor and flanged wheels and you’ll have a rough idea of the vehicle. I climbed aboard with George and we zipped back to the roundhouse area.
The roundhouse was much as I remember it from my earlier visit just a few weeks before. The Lilly Belle is a beautifully restored 2-6-0 Mogul engine, originally built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works and restored by a crew of Disney Imagineers and machinists from the Tampa Ship Repair and Dry Dock Company between 1969 and 1971.
A view across all four roundhouse maintenance bays. Photo by Brian Bennett.
Each of the WDW Railroad engines and their trains are brought into the roundhouse when they are not being used on the main line.
Walter E. Disney’s roundhouse maintance bay lies empty as the locomotive and train plys the rails of the Magic Kingdom. Photo by Brian Bennett.
The bay is the one set aside for the Walter E. Disney, a 4-6-0 Ten Wheeler, one of the Baldwin “twins.” (The Walter is the “sister” engine of the Roger E. Broggie, the two having been built back-to-back at Baldwin in 1925.) You can see that each bay of the roundhouse includes a long length of track so the entire train, engine, tender, and passenger cars, fits inside the building. The front portion of each bay has a pit that provides necessary access to the underside of the engine and tender. These engines are absolutely beautiful, but they are, after all, approximately 80-year-old machines that require frequent maintenance to keep them in good, safe operating condition.
The Roy O. Disney‘s roundhouse maintance bay lies empty this morning as the locomotive rides the Magic Kingdom’s rails. You can see the Lilly Belle to the right and a hint of the Roger E. Broggie‘s rolling stock on the left. Photo by Brian Bennett.
Two bays over is the one where the Roy O. Disney is kept.
The Roger E. Broggie and the Lilly Belle in the roundhouse. Photo by Brian Bennett.
In addition to ensuring that the engines, tenders, and rolling stock are all in good working condition, the roundhouse crew is also responsible for making sure that the restored appearance of the equipment is well maintained, also. The detailed painting details and ornamental brass work of the Roger E. Broggie‘s headlamp box is just one example.
The Roger E. Broggie‘s headlamp is a great example of gorgeous paint and brasswork. Photo by Brian Bennett.
Most of the routine maintenance work for the engines is done right in the roundhouse. Below is the machine shop where the machinists fabricate and repair parts in order to keep the trains on the rails.
The roundhouse metalworking shop is small, but functional. Photo by Brian Bennett.
The crew uses a whiteboard to keep track of repair work that must be undertaken. Many repairs, if delay does not negatively affect the safe operation of the equipment, can be scheduled in advance. That ensures that the necessary parts, equipment, and skilled workers are on hand to make the repair in the most efficient manner. Pre-planned maintenance, often called “preventive maintenance,” is a sign of a well-run shop.
On the day that I was in the roundhouse, a note was on the board that the Walter E. Disney steam cylinder needed some repair work. Other notes show that new pop-off-valves had been delivered and installed and that the Walter E. Disney had recently had a main breaker replaced.
A view of the maintenance team’s scheduled maintenance whiteboard. Photo by Brian Bennett.
Another whiteboard is used to track the status of the equipment. Not only is it necessary to be sure that all scheduled maintanence is done in a timely fashion, the roundhouse team is also careful to ensure that the equipment meets all safety requirements before it is allowed on the tracks and to carry guests around the park. To the right of the status whiteboard you can see individual work orders that are used to keep a solid paper record of all of the work done on the trains.
A view of the maintenance team’s equipment status whiteboard. Photo by Brian Bennett.
As we strolled around the roundhouse, George and I talked about his time with the Walt Disney Company. Like many old-timers, he noted that many changes had taken place over the years. Whereas WDW in times past had been run like a small company, with very strong area managers, the resort has since grown so much that lower level managers have less authority and tend to take less responsibility.
Roger E. Broggie’s passenger cars sport a new paint job. Photo by Brian Bennett.
George’s comments paralleled my own personal experience at General Motors. Even though it is often far better for operational decisions to be made at the lowest possible level (afterall, the hands-on workers are usually the most knowledgeable about the equipment that they are responsible for), all-too-often decisions about that equipment are pushed up to managers that are far removed from day-to-day operations. Sometimes this happens due to in-house politics and sometimes the organization just evolves into less efficient habits as it grows. Most often, such inefficiencies are a combination of the two, which is pretty much George’s opinion about the WDW maintenance organization.
Roger E. Broggie’s new WDWRR logo is mounted on the last passenger car. Photo by Brian Bennett.
One positive story that George shared was about a locomotive drive wheel that had cracked. The wheel had been shipped up to a specialty welding company in Canada at a cost of over $10,000! During the meeting in which the welding company made their recommendations, they reported that the wheel required a very costly welding job requiring the application of a proprietary process that they’d developed. Even so, they would not guarantee the work because they’d never worked on locomotive wheels before.
When asked his opinion, George spoke up. In his experience, the crack in the wheel could not be successfully welded. Instead, a brazing process (in which additional metal is added to the crack as it is mended) was required. Besides, he pointed out, the Canadians wouldn’t guarantee their work, so why should Disney put the project in their hands? George ultimately convinced the engineering managers to have the wheel shipped back to Florida and braze the wheel in-house instead. The repair was made as George recommended, and the wheel has been operating well ever since.
George Britton, WDW Railroad roundhouse foremen, and Michael Broggie, son of the late Imagineer Roger Broggie, discuss the railroad in front of the roundhouse. Photo by Steve Burns.
I spent a total of about four hours with George Britton. He’s an interesting man with a wealth of knowledge about the Walt Disney World Railroad, its engines, and rolling stock. However, he has never leveraged that knowledge into a high-level position in the company. Instead, he prefers to do what he loves to do—maintain the four gems of the railroad with the best skill he can muster.
George Britton is not likely to ever become a “Disney Legend.” He never worked directly with Walt Disney. He never worked as an artist, art director, or Imagineer. He never worked at Disneyland, joining the company just in time to be involved with Walt Disney World’s opening. He hasn’t scaled the company’s executive ladder. His interest is in doing his job well, in making sure that the Walt Disney World Railroad operates safely and well. George told me that he has been to Epcot only a handful of times. He’s been over to Disney’s Animal Kingdom only a handful of times to consult on some problems that arose on the railroad at that park (the turning radius is too severe according to George, and they will have ongoing problems on the Animal Kingdom Railroad until they modify those turns). George has never been to the Disney-MGM Studios theme park at all! Still, George is like many, many other Walt Disney World cast members. He is good at what he does. He is proud of the results of his work. He is pleased that guests take so much pleasure in what he has done.
After 34 years of “workin’ on the railroad,” George Britton is, if not a “Disney Legend,” at least a legendary Disney cast member. He has performed his role well over the years and millions upon Millions of Magic Kingdom guests have much to thank this man for, even if they don’t even know who George Britton is.
