The Hidden Mickey Book Fan Club BLOG! - v018

The OFFICIAL HIDDEN MICKEY FAN CLUB!

part 3 of the Special Feature Article...

The Santa Fe and Disney Connection... What's In a Name? (part 3)
By Steve DeGaetano

In BLOG v017 we left off with the question...

What should the engine's name be?  

	For Walt Disney, the answer was easy. Fred Gurley, who shared Disney's Missouri upbringing, was named President of the Santa Fe in 1944. He and Disney were friends. It was Fred Gurley who arranged for Walt and Ward Kimball to take the Super Chief to the Chicago railroad fair in 1948'an event that proved pivotal in Walt's ideas for Disneyland.

And it was Fred Gurley who had approved Santa Fe sponsorship of the trains when every other railroad Disney approached scoffed. Walt Disney felt honored to return these favors, and on March 31, 1958, Walt Disney himself proudly pulled the cord that revealed the engine's name.
Even with a third train, crowds continued to grow, and soon, the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad needed a fourth engine. Again, a search was conducted to find a suitable, existing locomotive. In the pages of Railroad magazine, Imagineer Roger Broggie saw an ad placed by a New Jersey scrap metal dealer, offering a small locomotive for sale. At the conclusion of the transaction, arrangements had been made to ship the engine inside an automobile boxcar to protect it from vandalism. From New Jersey, the car would make its way south on the Baltimore & Ohio and Southern Railway, connecting with the Southern Pacific in New Orleans, where it would travel for the remainder of the trip west. However, a goof was made, and the car was hooked to a Pennsylvania Railroad train, heading for Pennsylvania. An angry Walt Disney went straight to the top. He called the then-President of the Santa Fe, Ernest S. Marsh, and had the locomotive tracked down. The car was found in a rail yard in Pittsburgh, and soon, everything was straightened out. The locomotive arrived safely in Los Angeles.
Eventually, the locomotive was completely rebuilt, and Walt'in keeping with his traditions'named the engine Ernest S. Marsh, after his friend who had found the missing locomotive. The fact that Marsh had just signed a five-year extension on the Santa Fe sponsorship probably didn't hurt, either.

The Santa Fe continued to sponsor the trains of Disneyland for nearly two decades. Their familiar cross-in-a-circle herald was ubiquitous at the Park, seen on everything from stations to the water tower; from tickets to the conductor hat badges. Official Santa Fe company photographers documented the trains as if they belonged to the Santa Fe. In turn, the Santa Fe advertised its association to Disneyland, and even gave away free admission passes to Disneyland to children riding aboard its famed 'Super Chief' train.

Walt Disney passed away in 1966, but the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad soldiered on. Times were more difficult for the Santa Fe Railway, however. In 1971, Amtrak took over all U.S. Passenger service, leaving the Santa Fe a freight-only line. As the Santa Fe sponsorship fee increased, so did the Santa Fe's demands. They wished that a more-modern diesel engine be used, instead of Disneyland's quaint steam engines, to accurately portray their modern fleet. There were also questions about why a freight-only railroad was sponsoring passenger trains. Without the close personal relationship between Walt Disney, Fred Gurley and Ernest Marsh, negotiations quickly broke down, and in October 1974, the trains of the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad officially became the trains of the Disneyland Railroad.
Disney removed all vestiges of the Santa Fe sponsorship. Down came the heralds that once graced the stations and water tower (and even the monorails!). The conductor hat badges were changed. The engines received new paint jobs reflecting the line's new identity. At Disneyland, an era had come to an end. Before the turn of the Millennium, even the Santa Fe Railway itself ceased to be, merged out of existence by the Burlington Northern Railroad.

Many thanks go to Steve DeGaetano for this wonderful article...
Steve is the author of "From Plantation to Theme Park: The Story of Disneyland Railroad Locomotive #5, The Ward Kimball"

Well... that's it for this issue...
Enjoy, and have a Magical Hidden Mickey Day!
 

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