Thursday, October 30, 2008

Disneyland Railroad & The Grand Canyon Passenger Car



This undated 1950’s shot shows the interior of the Grand Canyon Passenger Car, better known today as the VIP Lilly Belle Car. Compare with this present day view:



And just for good measure, here’s a cool vintage 50’s caboose shot somewhere in Frontierland:



See more vintage & current Disneyland Railroad photos at my regular website.

5 comments:

Major Pepperidge said...

Wow, what a neat "befofre and after"! The original seat arrangement was strange... let's all stare at each other, or torque our necks so that we can see what's out the windows.

Notice the Astro Jets poster out that window to the left!

Katella Gate said...

Yep Major, the seating looks authentic to the period (for all I know) but I know I wouldn't want to sit and stare at they guy across from me. Worse than a city bus.

The last picture is interesting, with the barbed wire fence. I guess Disney had to mean business to keep kids from going down the tunnel and getting run over in the dark. People were stupid then too.

Chris said...

I can't believe what the Lilly Belle used to look like. It looks like in addition to staring at the person across the aisle you would be rubbing knees with them too.

outsidetheberm said...

Great comparison! What's interesting, too, is that even some of the original seating was apparently retained for the Lilly Belle. Examine the arm rests and chair legs on the left.

It seems the car may be pulling into the Tomorrowland Station in the shot.

Thank you, Dave.

the Sushi Bandit said...

The tunnel in your caboose shot is still there. It is the 1st part of the Splash Mountain tunnel. It originally exited into the indian village. It was extended in 1987 to include the finale scene for Splash. The was the year the trains stopped running for construction.