Friday, November 12, 2010

Viewmaster and the Mine Train

Welcome back to another edition of "Viewmaster Theater". I hope you have your smoking jacket on and a nice glass of sherry in your hand. Today I am featuring a few photos of the Mine Train.


Let's start with this great pre-1960 view of the little train as it enters the saguaro forest. In the background, you can see the magnificent rock formations, caused by eons of water and wind erosion. Some of those formations are unstable, and cause boulders to tumble precariously as we pass. If you make mom sit on the left side of the train car, chances are good that a boulder will land on her and spare your life. A word to the wise.


There's some of those unstable rock formations! The prospector who also happens to pilot our train is telling the boy that everybody else in the train is doomed, DOOMED! That lucky kid, how many folks got to get out of the train during the ride?


Now it's post-1960 (the mine train is now a bright yellow). If you look closely you can see some rattlesnakes on a rock, as well as the bleached bones of a dinosaur. I wonder what brand of bleach is the best for whitening dinosaur bones? In the upper right you can see the hilltop that the photographer stood upon to take the first photo in this series.


10 comments:

Prof. von Drake said...

What you see in the second Viewmaster view is clearly an execution about to take place. That boy violated one of the numerous rules of the Nature's Wonderland ride, and now he must be dealt with. The usual manner for such a thing was to stop the train, walk the offender to the tracks, and then, as the train accelerates and the people all scream, push the offender in front of the train to be flattened. It is exceedingly rare to find the event recorded on film.

Connie Moreno said...

Executions! See? I knew there was a reason I didn't like this ride as a kid!!!

Brian Fies said...

But seriously . . .

The Mine Train occupies the same space in my mind as Adventure Thru Inner Space: I remember riding both when I was young, and passing both by when I was a teen. Unlike some nostalgics, I completely understand why both were replaced. A lot of people thought they were slow and boring, and I remember their lines sitting empty. The Mine Train in particular took up a huge amount of space. But man, I wish today I could go anywhere to experience half the charm and gentle Disney fun that those two attractions had. I miss them a lot. Teen me was an idiot.

Nice pics. Thanks.

Major Pepperidge said...

Prof. Drake, if I ran Disneyland all of that stuff would really happen.

Connie, you didn't like this ride when you were a kid???

Brian, I think you are like a lot of people... at a certain age you want to leave the "boring" rides behind, and just want thrills. It's only later that we realize how special the boring rides actually were - now that they're gone.

Nancy said...

i love the yellow train :D

SundayNight said...

The "boring" rides were always my favorite, even as a teen. I miss rainbow caverns big time.
What is interesting in that second shot was that we can plainly see the cut out in the "sliding" balancing rock.

JG said...

I love the mine train, Major. Thank you so much.

JG

Major Pepperidge said...

Nancy and JG, I'm glad you liked these! SundayNight, yes I forgot to point out the slot where that rolling rock moved along. I remember its movement very clearly!

Chiana_Chat said...

Brian, that's why I'd like to see them try the upgraded Nature's Wonderland "experience" I'm sure they can do if the will was there. A deliberate contrast to Big Thunder but sharing that section of the park. The old ride had its charms and also its evident limits... even Big Thunder is aging a bit. However the underlying idea is still valid. It would not be "hip" but actually "environmentally conscious" and nature-aware is a timely idea now only likely to become moreso... done right I think working that theme for a modern Nature's Wonderland can provide a welcome dimension in tandem with the thrill-ride-oriented Big Thunder. Together they could make the whole very popular to most audiences for the foreseeable future.

Chiana_Chat said...

How about all those snakes on the nearer boulders in that last pic! Yet Edna is smiling at them. She is trying to be a snake-charmer, with a rather passive technique.

Dem bones. "Bones." "Dammit Jim, I'm an Apatosaurus not a Brontosaurus."

The curves of the track there are real neat to me. Just a delight to me "inner train modelist"

Thanks Maj. :)