FD Trainbucket

Thesketchydude13

Posted: February 12th, 2023, 3:47 am

Posts: 68
Joined: August 19th, 2017, 11:51 pm
Location: Canada
Contact: Website

I bring yet another Disney Ride that TECHNICALLY qualifies as a Train, the Wedway/GOODYEAR Peoplemover from 1967!

this little scenic route on rails was essentially a glorified walkthrough of the park which all you had to do was sit and listen to the pre-recorded Announcer drone on about each little attraction below, of course with MUZAK esc songs playing in between (which were the same songs from 1967 all the way till its closure in 1995)

but it wasn't always that way, when first envisioned by Walt Disney it was seen as one of his "Transportations of the Future" alongside the Monorail, he imagined that it would essentially replace the Car for City/Town travel, and the Monorail would act as a longer distance Inter-city option

in fact this was technically one of the last Rides Disney had a personal hand in, as he died of lung cancer sadly just before it opened

but perhaps that was for the best as I will soon explain

[ img ]

in July 1967 it opened alongside the newly revamped Tommorowland section of the park and initially was entirely open-top aside from the "lifting" roof which would move open along with the doors to allow passengers to disembark or embark on the rather large Round rotating platform station

but sadly in August of 1967, less than a month after the ride opened tragedy struck when 19 year old Ricky Lee Yama (like many others) had learned of a way to "spice up" the ride experience, the "game" was to jump between the 4 train cars while it entered sheltered or "tunnel" areas of the track, where staff could not see you, sadly while he was attempting this very illegal game he slipped and fell onto the track below, which at the time was a "gaping trench" essentially between the rails, with a mess of wires and the large electric motors powering the Goodyear tires that moved the unpowered cars, either he fell between two cars on his train and was sucked under and into the wheels of the vehicle or (as most accounts read) he fell from the rear of his train and was struck by an oncoming train, either way he was killed and horrifically dragged a few hundred feet before screaming and shouting of other riders caused the operator at the station to halt it, but by then it was too late

as a result several major changes were made, the "trench" was covered up with metal panels, the trains were fitted with Railings to discourage the Jumping game, and the articulated sections of the trains were covered by fiberglass shielding like the front and back.

several more near fatal accidents would occur in the ensuing years (notable being 1972 when a girl lost her hat on the ride and climbed out to get it, but while running to get back to her train she fell over the side of the track and was severely injured in the fall, though thankfully she survivied)

in 1980 Another Tragic incident would occur when 18 year old Gerardo Gonzales tried the Jumping game for himself while the train entered the "super speed tunnel" section of the ride (Projectors and sounds made it seem like you were flying alongside race cars, when in reality the ride was going only 2mph), as a result it seems he got disoriented and fell, despite the design changes in 1968 he was killed by an oncoming train, newspapers from the time stated that medical personal found him dead at the scene with the cause being "Extensive Internal Injuries"

as a result in 1981 they ENTIRELY enclosed the cabin, with the railings now being extended to wrap around the doors as well (this time seemingly stopping the Jumping game entirely thankfully)

later in 1988 the trains were repainted entirely white aside for a wrap-around stripe of their respective colors to match the newly installed Mk.V Monorails which had the same color scheme (taken from the older Mk.IV Monorail of DisneyWorld Florida origin)

sadly in 1995 the ride was completely scrapped aside from a small handful of cars and the track itself, then replaced with the Abysmal failure that was the "Rocket Rods" which were shut down in 2000 only two years after entering service due to extreme fatigue cracking occurring to the old track AND a horribly unreliable design of the vehicles themselves, in 1995 Train Yellow 10 was turned into a "display piece" and painted a dark blue with Reflective orange-red stripes, alongside several other old scrapped Park attractions such as the 1968 built Mk.III Monorail Red

some time after 2000 the remaining two trains were sold to Kevin Doherty and Beautifully Restored in 2010, where they reside in a private collection today as far as I can find (specifically Train cars 10a and 10c)

Several other trains "survive" in various states, and at least one scrapped example was rebuilt as a cashiers counter in one of the parks gift shops (painted purple and green)

_________________
Current Projects:

MV Sewol (1994-2014)
MV Sea Venture (1985-2004)
KMP Windu Karsa (1980-2011)
KMP Jatra I and II (1980-2021, 1980-)
MV Cassiopea (1972)

Future Projects:
Ferry Nankai No.1 (1972-)
Hayabusa No.1 and No.2 (1972)
MV Regent Sky (1989-2011)
MV Pride of al-Salam 95 (1996-2005)
MS Willem Ruys (1947-1965)
MS Royal Pacific (1992)
MV Sunflower 11 (1974-1998)
Awaji Ferry Classes (1968, 1970, 1974, and 1989 series)
MV Chrissi Avgi (1970-1983)

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