Wednesday, May 20, 2015

A Random Pair

It's time to use up some "leftuggies"! 

We'll start with this nice photo of the "Fred Gurley" above the left tunnel into Town Square (circa 1966). Although it looks like it was not a hot day, the green ventilation door on the cab of the Gurley is open (and the hatch on the roof is as well) - I'm sure it got toasty inside on most days. 

The old new stand is to our left. You can see a tiny blue mouse-ear balloon floating away - how many times a day did that happen? The view of Town Square is tantalizing, I really want to walk in! 


Zooming way WAY in, I spied the top of a postcard rack, containing a bunch of scarce "squeaker" cards!


I put together this jpeg so that you can match the cards below to the very blurry picture above.


This next picture is from 1962, and we're looking down on the Casey Jr. (that's Casey JONES Jr. to you!) RR sign. The rock work to the left is interesting, and I guess I never realized just how "wooded" the back area was. It's dark and scary; Hansel and Gretel are probably lost in there.


14 comments:

Alonzo P Hawk said...

Nice shots for leftuggies. The overcast skies make me homesick.

The old forward facing seats on the excusion car really date the first photo.

Thanks for posting.

Melissa said...

Wow, that Casey, Jr. shot is so clear and crisp! (Well, except for Blurry Grandma, but she can't help it. She probably makes the best milkshakes in Tujunga.)

K. Martinez said...

Nice squeaker cards. I have a lot of Disneyland postcards, but I still have yet to add a squeaker to my collection. Nice leftuggies! Thanks, Major.

Major Pepperidge said...

Alonzo, it has been overcast here for the last week or so (though I see blue sky today)! Aren’t there still some forward-facing seats on at least one of the trains at Disneyland?

Melissa, I am impressed that you know “Tujunga”, since I am sure there are people who live in Los Angeles who don’t know where it is!

K. Martinez, I was pretty focused on collecting postcards for years, and I have a friend who just had a knack for finding rare ones… he helped me a LOT. Now I mostly need super rare cards, and haven’t added a new one for a long time.

Unknown said...

Love that first shot, Major. It may be an artifact of the lighting but I love how dark and "railroady" the colors on the Fred Gurley are. The colors on the locomotives have gone through various changes (can anyone say "orange tender?") but I like the near flat black smokebox and stack, as well as the very dark Prussian Blue boiler jacket. They look more business-like and less fanciful that way.

Melissa said...

I know someone who retired to Tujunga, and I fell in love with the name.

And OK, OK, OK, I just couldn't stop myself from turning Shaky Grandma into Steady Grandma. I replaced the blurry poles with cocktail-olive streetlight poles from a New Tomorrowland picture, and replaced the blurry lady with a clear lady from a 1963 picture of the parking tram. There really is no why.

Melissa said...

Somehow borked the link to Steady Grandma.

http://s931.photobucket.com/user/misskitty286/media/steady-gran.jpg.html

Anonymous said...

Love both of these, I'm ready to go in and ride Casey, in the Monkey Cage car.

JG

Chuck said...

Alonzo - the 300-series excursion car set was introduced with the Fred Gurley in 1958 and is still operating today. As it's the only set that faces forward, passengers are more likely to ride in either of the 1965/66 400/500-series Holiday sets or the retrofitted 200-series freight set, all of which have seats that face the right side of the train.

Chuck said...

Oh, and JG - I wouldn't ride in any other Casey, Jr car. It's both for my own amusement and for the protection of others.

Major Pepperidge said...

Patrick Devlin, we need a DLRR expert to say for sure, but I think that (in general) the colors on the locomotives used to be more subdued. I never liked it when the boiler jackets were a very light gray, and sometimes the greens that are used on the cabs border on “neon” colors.

Melissa, now Grandma looks eerily in focus. Like TOO in focus! She wants my soul, I can tell!

JG, I have never been in one of those enclosed Casey Jr. cars; they look cramped.

Chuck, it does surprise me that they have retrofitted the remaining forward-facing seats; they really do make viewing the park more difficult.

Chuck again, I think Casey has some open-air cars toward the back, now that is my new goal to experience the next time I am on that attraction. Something tells me they are popular.

Chuck said...

Major - I've always preferred the excursion cars for the western half of the Park and the inwards-facing cars for the eastern half.

I love being able to look to the left of the train up into Bear/Critter Country when crossing the trestle, and I guess I'm weird in that I prefer staring up the slope into the gloom of the "virgin" forest on the west and north sides of the track instead of across the river to TSI. I love being out in the woods, and there's something in me that wants to explore places I've never been or will never be able to go.

On the flip side, there's no better way to enjoy the Grand Canyon Diorama & Primeval World than in a side-facing car. Craning to the right in the excursion cars is a literal pain in the neck, and I'm sure it was a nightmare trying to catch a glimpse through the old 100-series passenger cars.

Of course, I'd prefer either to sitting in front of my computer.

Anonymous said...

Major and Chuck, the Casey cage cars are awful unless you're a kid. I can barely get into them now, in my "advanced age", and getting out is even harder. The conductor came over to help "grandpa" out last time.

When I rode the second time (straight from exit back into the line), he led me around and gave me the back seat of the caboose. Much better.

He cracked up when I told him it was my favorite ride with my Dad over 50+ years ago. A man my age riding alone needs to have an excuse these days.

JG

Nancy said...

tasty leftovers for sure!!

i love the sound of the train as it squeals along on the track so slowly...and there is NO mistake that you know it is engine number 3!!

cool collection of postcards there as well. Jiminy Cricket is my fave, love the little space ships! :-)

In the third view, I also always noted that it really is a forest there next to the old Skyway station (at least it was still there 10 years ago on our last visit). for some reason I really love those scrawny tall pines; i think I might feel sorry for them like a wet puppy.

great views today....thanks! :-)