The photographer who took these two images is my hero/heroine; they wrote the actual date on the back of the slides AND the camera setting! These April 26, 1958 shots are of the short lived attraction that transported Disneyland guests between Tomorrowland and Fantasyland, The Viewliner. Walt Disney’s predecessor to The Monorail only lasted from June 26, 1957 to September 15, 1958. It became a victim of progress and a large renovation in this section of the Park that included the Monorail, The Submarine Voyage, and The Matterhorn. See that pine-topped hill with guests hiking up the dirt path? Alternately known as Snow/Holiday Hill, Lookout Mountain, and unofficially “Lover’s Lane,” it was the future location of the Matterhorn, which would serve to hide the large Skyway support shown in the photo. At far right is the Tomorrowland Viewliner Station:
The camera settings for both of these were F8 1/50, in case any of you were wondering. Image #2 shows the Fantasyland Viewliner train which was blue; the Tomorrowland version was salmon/red in color.
A closeup of the train zipping over the bridge where the Motor Boat Cruise sailed.
There were a few bridges where the two attractions overlapped:
This image shows the Fantasyland Viewliner Station:
While the Monorail is a classic, the Viewliner sure is cute. It’s too bad it couldn’t have been recycled elsewhere in the Park.
See more Disneyland Viewliner photos at my main website.
5 comments:
Amazing shots. The view liners loading platform has the same Googie style architecture as the one for the monorail in Tomorrowland.-Adam from LA
Congrats on marked pics! The scans give a lot more detail than I'd expect. It's still hard for me to imagine there was ever a time you'd just walk up the dirt road on Holiday Hill. Your post got me curious about what happened to the Viewliners so I had to look it up. I was disappointed to find they remained on DL property until the 70s at which time they were scrapped. The weird part was that the tracks were kept and reused at Ollie Johnstons house in Julian. ( Deer Lake Park & Julian Railroad ) I don't think I've ever heard of a ride car scrapped but the track was kept.
In my youth, I used to love sneaking around backstage at Disneyland. It was in the seventies that I discovered a butler building - back behind the Haunted Mansion - that held an amazing collection of Disney detritus... cast-off props and decorations, easily identified as living bits of DL history. And among the old and dusty abandoned ride vehicles... I was thrilled to find a complete Viewliner!
Truly great images. I'm glad they ended up in trusted hands. Thanks for sharing them.
Dang. Now there's something we all wished we could have seen inside. Well done!
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