There are probably a handful of you Disneyland geeks who wish you could have experienced one of its shortest lived attractions, The Viewliner. Good news: you can! Or, at least a reasonable facsimile of it. This 1960’s/70’s image shows the Washington and Park Zoo Railway in Portland, Oregon, aka “The Zooliner.”
This 5/8 scale narrow gauge train opened on June 7, 1958 and it appears to still be in operation (take that, Disney Corporation!). Like the Disneyland Viewliner, The Zooliner was inspired by the Aerotrain, shown in this 1957 image:
This post wouldn’t be complete without a shot of the Disneyland version:
…and the required closeup:
Anybody booking a trip to Portland now?
See more Disneyland Viewliner photos at my main website.
Very cool. I had to look up the history of that train myself because it seemed to be built and installed around the same time as Disneyland's was leaving. ( give or take a year ) I had to wonder if it wasn't a repurposed one from Walt's collection... and it was not. It's almost ironic that the junior version was the only successful train, the larger and original version was too lightweight for practical use, meaning it couldn't get up some grades. Wow, Portland eh? I'm packing my bags right now. No wait, you said Portland right? I think I'll stay here.
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