Sunday, June 28, 2009

Disneyland in Black and White, June 1956

Here is a group of four small black and white snapshots from Disneyland, dating from June 1956.

The first two feature the Disneyland and Santa Fe Railroad. Beloved by many, the train used to be the first attraction that you could see as you approached the park. Now you might catch the Monorail, and I suppose you can count the peak of the Matterhorn as vying for that honor. Anyway, my family often wanted to ride the trains first, although it was less about the train than it was about "seeing the dinosaurs". Here's the E.P. Ripley (believe it or not!), pulling the old yellow passenger cars...


... and here is the C.K. Holliday (with its distinctive "balloon stack") hauling the freight cars (the notorious "cattle cars"). If I had the choice, I think I'd choose standing in a cattle car, mostly for the novelty of the experience.


The next two feature the Horse Drawn Streetcar (ol' number 2!), with the dapper looking horse out front.


Hey, that horse doesn't look like it's 5/8 scale! But it will definitely get the job done, even with a full streetcar. Quick, everybody on board!

3 comments:

  1. I want to hop on the streetcar! :D

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  2. i love these old-time pictures with the white border. they make DL seem much like its been around longer than it actually has....

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  3. That 4th photo is so fun, I wonder if they staged that? The last few times I the streetcar, they were trying to get more people on it!

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