Originally Posted By Schmitty Good Vibes Good work with post 76 smd4. You beat me to it. (I still say 'Rocker Man' wasn't there in '67, but I'm not sure it was all the way into the '70s before he appeared.)
Originally Posted By smd4 Consider this, DismayingObservation: (get it?) According to The Nickel Tour, the engines were Chevy Corvette V-8s. The dashboard however, according to designer Bob Gurr, was a 1954 Oldsmobile 88.
Originally Posted By wonderingalice My favorite part of the Viewliner... The rear view mirror! What the heck?? *LOL*
Originally Posted By smd4 >>>My favorite part of the Viewliner... The rear view mirror! What the heck?? *LOL* <<< Safety first! Didn't you ever notice the same device on the Casey Jr. Circus Train?
Originally Posted By Doom Buggy Driver It is funny how your mind remembers things, but speaking as a person who was stuck right there in front of the shack for over 30 minutes a few years ago, the music does come from inside the shack. We went to bed at the hotel that night with that music playing non stop in our heads. LOL
Originally Posted By wonderingalice ^^*LOL* smd4... NO! *LMAO* I've never noticed that one! I mean, I imagine on Casey Jr. they use it to make sure the kiddles remain seated. But the Viewliner? Maybe the doors were easily opened from the inside back in the good ol' days...? Wheeeeeeeeeeeee! ;-)
Originally Posted By DismayingObservation Re. #82: Yup. Got it. I admit to having splintered off the Wikipedia article on the Viewliner from the article on the DRR, so a lot of what you'll read is mine. The link is here: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disneyland_Viewliner" target="_blank">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D...iewliner</a> My research turned up the fact that Oldsmobile, not Chevrolet, provided the engines. Can you post a link to that article which claims that Chevy engines were used on the attraction? I'm genuinely curious.
Originally Posted By monorailblue Mark V Monorail trains have rear view mirrors. In addition to being used by the driver to observe Guests hands, etc. outside the windows, they were once used as part of dispatching procedures. When hand signals were used for dispatch, the driver was required to watch the mirror until the station console was out of sight; this gave the station time to signal the train to stop--if something went wrong in the station, for example. The new Monorails have no such mirrors; indeed, the nosecone windows through which the driver would look at the mirrors were also removed completely!
Originally Posted By wonderingalice Wow... I really had no idea. Learn somethin' new every day around here!
Originally Posted By smd4 >>>My research turned up the fact that Oldsmobile, not Chevrolet, provided the engines. Can you post a link to that article which claims that Chevy engines were used on the attraction? I'm genuinely curious.<<< I did cite my initial source--The Nickel Tour, arguably one of the best books ever written about Disneyland. However, since you don't have a copy, I direct your attention to this quote: "The power train was a Chevrolet 327 with Powerglide connected to a Jeep drop case splitting into all wheel drive front and rear trucks." So says Bob Gurr, designer of the trains. His article on the Viewliner can be found in another section of Laughingplace, or here for your conveneince: <a href="http://www.laughingplace.com/News-ID108055.asp" target="_blank">http://www.laughingplace.com/N...8055.asp</a> His column, "Designer Times," should be required reading for any Disneyland fan.
Originally Posted By DismayingObservation Ah, 'twas a book and not a website. My bad. I had a feeling that the trucks were direct drive and not electrically powered. Clever, those engineers. However, he might have been slightly off in his reference to the engine size. The small-block Chevy at the time only went up to 283ci. The 327 came out in 1962. I think it was Kendra Trahan's book that claimed the engines were Oldsmobiles, but a Chevy with a Powerglide makes more sense from a cost standpoint. Gonna definitely check Amazon.com for that book. Thanks for the update!
