From Betsy Sanchez on the Disney Parks Blog:

I’m excited to share with you a very special donation that we recently made to Western Pacific Railroad Museum in Portola, California.

As part of the expansion of Disney California Adventure park, the main entrance is changing and the cab of the California Zephyr train that most recently served as the location for Bur-r-Bank Ice Cream and Baker’s Field Bakery has been donated to the museum.

The train and related artifacts arrived at their new home August 6 and will become part of the museum’s Zephyr Project collection. Plans for a gallery dedicated to sharing the legacy of the California Zephyr are underway.

Visitors to the museum will learn about the history of the famous 1950s passenger train through the donated artifacts, while the recreated locomotive will offer the chance to experience what it was like for engineers to guide the stainless steel Zephyr trains through California’s Feather River canyon.

Fun Facts:

• The cab once operated as a real locomotive.
• It is an authentic rendition of the Western Pacific Railroad – one of the three railroads that operated the California Zephyr between Chicago and San Francisco from 1949 to 1970.
• It wears the same number as the last locomotive to lead a westbound California Zephyr into Oakland, Calif. on March 20, 1970.
• The California Zephyr is one of the most celebrated “name trains” of the 1950s and 60s.

Check out the video below to watch as the Zephyr begins to make its way to its new home.

 

John Lastrapes Jr.