Mine Train, 1960s
Oh boy, it's the Nature's Wonderland Mine Train! One of my "Top 3,000" mine trains. And looking at this first scan, you can see why. Who wouldn't love this bright yellow locomotive? We don't have time to explore the wonders of Rainbow Ridge, we have a wilderness to experience. On a side note, the little girl was turning into a werewolf just as this picture was taken.
Next is this neat "you are there" photo as a Mine Train is about to pass beneath a natural arch; is this the same arch that Pack Mules would cross? I assume so. We can see the red-shirted prospector who piloted the train, it doesn't look like he put anybody in the cab in front of him. He needed some "me time".
19 comments:
Dad looks like Rick Steves, the guy who is constantly touring Europe on PBS. Or maybe he looks like "Pete" from the TV series "Ghosts". She may be a werewolf but she's a cute little werewolf! Waaay over on the right, I can't tell what that dark-brown (or black) and white thing is between the two men.
This IS a neat shot! The photographer managed to get enough of the arch and the train, along with some passengers and all the greenery to show exactly what the 'story' is. I just noticed how thin the track rails are. Never noticed that before. Looking through the archway, there is a white rock formation that looks like an albino pig's head, facing right.
Like you said, a nice 'you are there' photo. Thanks, Major.
"On a side note, the little girl was turning into a werewolf just as this picture was taken."
The little girl in the first pic does look like she's convulsing a little.
Yes, that is the "natural arch" that the Pack Mules" would travel over. Funny, even though I rode the Mine Train through Nature's Wonderland before the Pack Mules closed, I never saw them while I was riding the Mine Train.
Thanks, Major!
Major-
"...the little girl was turning into a werewolf just as this picture was taken".
That's not possible - as her knee-high red socks prevent such transformations.
"... a Mine Train is about to pass beneath a natural arch; is this the same arch that Pack Mules would cross?"
Indeed - and if I have my bearings right, the train should've just left Bear Country and entering the Living Desert - or I'm all turned around...
Thanks, Major.
@ JB-
Clearly that guy picked up some 'supplies' at Miner's Hardware.
"Or maybe he looks like "Pete" from the TV series "Ghosts"."
JB, you are right! He does look like Pete from "Ghosts", whose ghost just died but then was revived. Or something like that.
The first photo shows the rather large scale of the locomotives--they seem smaller in other photos. The altogether unnecessary detailing is striking as well--the chamfered window edges, for instance. Look at the decorations on the sand dome--all painted by hand. Or the steam dome *inside* the cab, nearly invisible, with its Lunkenheimer whistle poking through the cab roof. Or the brass eagle perched atop the sand dome--where have we seen him before? Oh, right--on the sand domes of the E.P. Ripley and the C.K. Holliday! The attention to detail that went in to just the locomotives is really over the top--but what we all came to expect from Disney.
Ditto on Rick Steeves....however, the red socks child is clearly a young Ruth Buzzi! So, the dating on the photo may be a bit "off". Unbeknownst to her at this time, she would be the STAR of her own Disneyland special with super star (and cracker consumer): Sandy Duncan. For some reason I thought Ms. Buzzi was part of the Paul Lynde Halloween Special...because, well: it totally makes sense...but was disappointed that she wasn't. Back to the Mine Train! I very recently had to send something to an assay office to be authenticated ... I honestly had only seen the word on the building in Disneyland. Who is Jeremiah Colt? Well...I looked him up, and there's a lot of them believe it or not. The swirly curly Natures Wonderland Railroad seems a bit fanciful for such a stoic and serious ride....that's my .02....the typeface is perfect, just don't know about the swirls...I wonder if that was a big debate? At first I saw it as "Alice in Wonderland Railroad." But in my advancing years, my eyes trick me a lot. I thought a mouse was in the house..it turned out to be a fall leaf....yes, I did scream. I know rides like this to modern audiences feel "boring" but I would be enthralled. Slow enough to see everything...not whizzing by with laser beams shooting at you and lots of screaming and yelling...somehow, I don't see that as fun anymore. Natures Wonderland vs Wookie World? Well...WE know who wins that one. What's the future doing on the West Side?! (grumble grumble) thanks Major!
Wow, no DNA test needed - both of those kids look like they were cloned from Dad! And they both have great shoes. I have a huge soft spot for pictures of squirmy kids.
JB, Rick Steves came to our town, and I went to a presentation that he gave. I enjoyed it, but some people grumbled afterwards. I was going to explain why, but it would take too long. Let’s just say that those people were stupid. I’ve never heard of the series “Ghosts”, did everybody wear white sheets with eye holes? Was William Holden in it? I can’t figure out what that thing is either. I think that one guy brought his wet suit. I really love that second photo, it’s pretty unusual. Those tracks *are* pretty thin, maybe Steve DeGaetano knows what gauge they were.
Nanook, it’s funny, there is an Ace hardware store near where my sister lives, called “Miner’s Ace”, I always think of Rainbow Ridge. “I need to run over to Miner’s for some potting soil!”.
TokyoMagic!, this photo was taken just before the girl’s claws started to extend. I don’t remember the Pack Mules personally either, if I didn’t have photos to prove that they existed, I’d never know!
Nanook, …as her knee-high red socks prevent such transformations - wow, werewolf lore I’ve never heard before. Lon Chaney Jr. could have just worn knee-high red socks and he would have been fine! I’ll have to look at a map or aerial photo, but I’m sure you are right about where the Mine Train was.
TokyoMagic!, I prefer the old Nickelodeon show, “The Adventures of Pete and Pete”. Iggy Pop as the bus driver!
Steve DeGaetano, those mine trains really are beauties, I honestly was thinking about how good they looked before I saw your comment. It almost feels like the people who made them got pleasure out of including all of those details, since they could have gotten away with doing a lot less. I’m sure you saw photos of a scaled-down version that some guy built a few years back, he did an incredible job! “Lunkenheimer whistle”, love it. That will be the name of my 1970s-style rock band.
Bu, I didn’t know that Ruth Buzzi was ever young! I kid, she seems like she was a lovely person. Ha, that TV special has come up before, and you can see clips of it on YouTube. Like all of the Disneyland specials from that era, it is pretty horrible. But I still love Sandy and Ruth. I always assumed that Jeremiah Colt had something to do with Colt firearms, but I never really looked into it. I’m sure that the designers went through several versions of that Nature’s Wonderland typography, after all, Walt famously wanted a selection so that he could choose the best. Like you, I would be so happy to have a ride like the Mine Train Through Nature’s Wonderland today. Would guests appreciate it, sort of like they appreciate the Jungle Cruise? Though I wouldn’t want it to be as jokey as the Jungle Cruise (I know the old MTTNW did have some humor). Wookie World looks good for what it is, but somehow it is lacking in FUN.
Melissa, it is funny how, sometimes, kids look SO much like their parents. People always said that my brother and I looked just like my dad!
I sure miss the Mine Train.
Thanks for these pics, Major. I'm in a hurry today.
JG
Yes, that Miner apparently did need some "me time" as the cab is exclusively is his to enjoy. I found the time to be very enjoyable myself. Imagine riding the rails surrounded by all that beauty away from the crush of humanity elsewhere in the park with a load of guests riding behind. And if you were lucky, the mules would be walking over the arch. This is the incline past the Bear Country trestle which then leads into the Painted Desert around Old Unfaithful. Ah, such good times. Major, I sent you an email before I saw this post. It includes a picture of some of the old Miners taken just a few days ago. What a coincidence! KS
Again: Was I the only kid convinced that the Rainbow Ridge buildings were sometimes open to the public, but just happened to be closed whenever we visited? I similarly refused to believe the TWA rocket in Tomorrowland was purely decorative.
Something that comes and goes at Disney: Interlocking attractions. The original mine train shared the desert with pack mules, stagecoaches, and covered wagons, just as the Rivers of America carried the Mark Twain, the Columbia, keelboats, canoes, and rafts at its peak -- and, incidentally, shared views with the mine train.
Holy crow, DBenson, through absolutely no fault of your own, you just made me spray Diet Coke out my nose.
My brain was doing that thing where it tries to fill in the middle of words the blind spot on my retina is blocking out before I can pan and scan over them. So, when you wrote, "Was I the only kid convinced that the Rainbow Ridge buildings..." my brain tried to fill in "Was I the only kid conceived in the Rainbow Ridge buildings," and I thought you were about to drop some DEEP LORE about your parents.
@ Melissa-
Evidently, Rainbow Ridge was quite the place... hubba, hubba-!
Those mining trains are very authentic in paint livery . Like fullsize licomotive works the products came standsrd in elaborate paint paint schemes . Companies like porter and Norris who made real licomotives and mining and industrial locos. However Color schemes as STANDARD options became more muted after the civil war and again after the big financial panics of the 1870’s. The elaborate painted machines were still available as custom orders but over time mining companies saw little use to pay extra for such flourishes. The wealtiest mining companies of nevada of virginia city and the other comstock mines suffered more blows during the bottoming out of the silver markets in the 1890’s … during another financial panics. By the 1900’s mines were switching to battery operated mining trains that used giant delco batteries. And by then they were available in drab greens , dark greys and blacks … with maybe red or yellow center wheels . But at one time you got an elaborately painted locomotive whether you liked it or not.
JG, I miss the Mine Train too!
KS, I’m sure I would prefer to not have people up in the cab, though maybe it would be nice to let kids sit there occasionally. The whole MTTNW ride was about beauty - it sounds silly saying this about an amusement park attraction, but the Imagineers did a fairly astonishing job paying tribute to the old True Life Adventure films! Did you send that email today? I did not get it - I’ll check to see if it went to my Spam folder for some reason.
DBenson, that’s OK, I was SURE that Fowler’s Harbor had actual restaurants that the public could eat at. Nope! Frontierland and Tomorrowland were especially good at weaving different attractions together - a result of necessity, and yet they did it so well!
Melissa, some of those CMs were naughty, I don’t discount the possibility that some hanky panky went on in places we’d never imagine. Whether any kids were conceived, who can say?!
Nanook, that’s why the call it the WILD WEST.
Mike Cozasrt, for machines that were so utilitarian, it is surprising that they would have been painted such happy colors, you’d think they would get pretty beat up in a short span of operation. If only we had color photos from the time! Of course I have the TV/Movie idea of such equipment as being black, with maybe some dark green or some small hints of other colors. Maybe a red roof or cowcatcher.
My folks were respectable Minnesotan stock. And I was born some months before opening day. But with all those stories about people trying to propose, take vows, or scatter ashes, it's not that implausible other significant events were illicitly observed within the berm. There are likely people out there making up lies about why their parents named them Leota, or Abraham Lincoln, or Sky Bucket.
Melissa, too funny!
DBenson, I was told a story from a reliable source, about a certain parade float driver in the 1990s. The story would definitely be for "Gorillas Don't Blog: After Dark", as Bu puts it, or maybe even a "Gorillas Don't Blog: XXX". But let's just say if a child did appear later, they could have named him "Pete" or "Elliott."
Major...I checked my email and see it was sent out to you so check your spam. The folder size is around 5MG and maybe that made a difference. KS
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