June 18, 2005 was a Disneyland milestone. It was the 50th anniversary of the “steam-up” of the first Disneyland train. To commemorate the occasion, Disneyland invited miniaturist Robert Olszewski for a signing of his newest sculpture, “The Main Street Train Station.” The event packed the Main Street Disneyana shop and the line wrapped around the building for much of the morning.
While the sculpture event was going on, a much less publicized event was happening at the actual Main Street Train Station. Members of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society were traveling back in time.
It’s June of 1955 and 12 year old Michael Broggie is about to have the kind of three day weekend that most kids only dream of. On Friday, Broggie had graduated from the sixth grade. If that wasn’t enough to make it a good weekend, he was also going to turn 13 on Sunday. Graduation and a birthday party is a great way to kick off your summer. But Saturday was going to be the day he would always remember. Saturday Broggie got a birthday present that changed his life.
Saturday June 18, 1955. Roger Broggie woke his two sons early. Roger Jr. and his younger brother Michael were going to take a trip to Disneyland with Dad, a sort of pre-birthday treat. Years later, a birthday trip to Disneyland would be a ritual for millions of kids. But today wasn’t an ordinary trip because Disneyland hadn’t opened its gates to the public.
Roger Broggie was head of the machine shop at Walt Disney Studios and he was in charge of building the first two trains for Disneyland. He had been at the studio since 1939 and not only helped Walt build the trains at Disneyland, he helped build Walt’s backyard train, the Carolwood Pacific as well. He was taking his sons to Disneyland for the day while he talked over construction details for the trains and various other new park vehicles. At least, that was his cover story. The three Broggies jumped into the family Ford and drove down to Anaheim.
Now try to imagine yourself inside a half built Disneyland at age 12. Any construction site is a blast. But when the site is some sixty acres of amusement park, that thrill has got to be magnified. Climbing through the timbers and rubble would be considered a birthday present for most of us at that age (or any age for that matter). But Michael was going to get a little more.
Roger Broggie pulled into Disneyland next to the roundhouse, one of the few completed back lot buildings and the site where Disneyland’s new steam engines were being built. A small crowd of Disneyland’s builders and designers were milling around in clumps waiting for some informal meeting. Not too long after everyone else arrived, Walt showed up.
For a trip to the construction site, Walt Disney was surprisingly dressed up. He was wearing grey slacks and an “Eisenhower” jacket with a red checked shirt. His normal attire for visiting Disneyland at this phase was dungarees and a floppy hat. It could have been a hint to young Michael that something was different today, but he still hadn’t completely caught on.
Walt walked past the waiting crowd and into the roundhouse. A few chugs of steam and pulls on the whistle later and old No. 2 — the E.P Ripley — pulled out of the roundhouse for the first time. Ready to take its inaugural trip around the Magic Kingdom.
Now there’s a lot of history being made here. But all of that is lost on the Broggie boys. It’s not every day that a replica steam engine is made. And not every kid gets to see his father’s handiwork come to life in such a setting. It’s even less frequent that the engineer of that handiwork is the inimitable Walt Disney. Looking back, all that becomes clear. But when you’re a kid, your thought’s are “I want to ride the train, I want to take a ride; when do I get to ride the train?”
Disney stops the train in front of the crowd and announces that he’s the engineer. But he needs a fireman in the cab. Walt volunteers 12-year-old Michael for the job. So Michael hops up and takes the train’s inaugural trip around the Magic Kingdom in the cab of the engine with Walt Disney. Happy Birthday.
The rest of the group piles into the passenger cars on the train and they all share in the first trip for any ride in the park. To record the event, the Studio has sent over their photographer armed with a camera and a plush Mickey Mouse that stands about 3 feet high. Walt and Mickey are photographed inside the cab of the train many times. Roger Broggie has brought his camera as well. And he takes pictures of Walt and Michael in the train. Both pro and semi-pro photos are a treasured part of the early history of Disneyland.
The only place in the park without train tracks was an access road just about where the Grand Canyon Tunnel stands today. The road provided access for the heavy construction vehicles needed for the day to day work. When the E.P. Ripley reached that section of the track, Walt just put the train in reverse and ran it all the way around to the other side as far as it would go. And that’s the way the rest of the day went for Walt and Michael. Forward, chug, whistle. Chug, whistle, stop and reverse. Whistle, chug, whistle, and stop.
The two rode the steam train until Roger Broggie finally says “Okay, c’mon boys it’s time to go home.” Of course the “boys” Roger was referring to was not Roger Jr. and Michael. But Walt and Michael. Who had spent most of the day together in the cab of the train.
It’s exactly fifty years later and a taller and older Michael Broggie is once again in the cab of the E.P. Ripley. This time he’s going to ride with his wife Sharon and close to two hundred members of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society, a group started by the Broggies to keep the steam train tradition of Walt Disney alive. The group gathers for social and Disney train related events like this throughout the year.
I admit, I was an imposter for this event. I have let my Carolwood Membership lapse. But when I heard they were going to commerate the steam-up, I just had to go. Not for myself mind you, but as a member of the new blog press. It was my duty to Jim and this site that I attend and report. Uh-huh, and if you believe that, I’ve got a bridge to sell you in San Francisco.
Saturday’s event started with a group picture at the entrance to Disneyland in front of the train station. With Michael and his wife Sharon as honorary firemen in the jumpseats behind the E.P. Ripley’s cab, Carolwood members boarded for a historic ride around the park.
I was sitting in the first passenger car just a coal car away from the Broggies. As we rode around the park, I saw Michael and his wife chatting and I tried to imagine what it was like to see nothing but flat land and construction. What was it like to rail past a Frontierland with no trees and buildings just barely in the framing stages? How far could you see into the park when the Jungle Cruise has no vegetation?
I also heard the conversations of those folks around me. A woman who collects animation cels had heard about the Historical Society through a train show. She talked to a man whose family sold track to Walt for his backyard train. The connections to the Historical Society were varied but the reason to be here was the same for everyone, a connection to Walt & steam.
After the ride, attendees received a commemorative pin, a really cool certificate and were then treated to a private performance of the new “Disneyland-The First 50 Years” film at the Main Street Opera House.
The event concluded at Compass Bookstores in Downtown Disney where Broggie told stories of his memories of the steam-up, the opening days of Disneyland, his days as a test dummy for the Autopia cars and a lot more you wish you had been there for. The event was capped by a special appearance by Robert Olszewski who worked his way over to Compass to sign autographs and chat with fans after his Disneyland event.
While my conscience wouldn’t allow me a pin or certificate, I still managed to score a few freebies. I got a picture of Broggie taken on June 18, 1955, I had him sign the back of E-Ticket magazine #39 and I was given a free sunburn, courtesy of the strong Californian sun. I also got to take the E.P. Ripley back in time to an early Disneyland with a lucky kid fortunate enough to have been there at the beginning and a man generous enough to share those memories with others. A sunburn was a small price to pay.