Disneyland Railroad Running 4 Trains for First Time in 6 Years, Water Tower Finally Fixed

For the first time since 2019, Disneyland Railroad is running four trains at once. This was once the standard but was suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 and then delayed by the New Orleans Square station fire in 2022.

New Orleans Square Station Water Tower

The water tower has finally been repaired and can be used to fill the steam engines again, allowing more trains to run at once. — Photo from 2022

For years only two trains ran at the same time. In late 2023, three trains began running simultaneously during busy times. The 2022 fire was centered on the telegraph office, which was ultimately demolished, but the water tower was also affected. The water tower has finally been repaired and can be used to fill the steam engines again, allowing more trains to run at once.

Four Disneyland Railroad Trains

There are five total Disneyland Railroad engines and five train sets. The Ward Kimball engine was not running on Tuesday, December 23.

We first saw Engine #2, the E.P. Ripley., named after Edward Payson Ripley, one of the founders of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway, which inspired and originally sponsored the Disneyland Railroad.

In 2023, the E.P. Ripley returned to service after a years-long refurbishment. The engine has been in service since the opening of Disneyland.

The E.P. Ripley is accompanied by the Holiday Blue a.k.a. Holiday 5 train set and the Lilly Belle parlor car. These side-facing trains have blue stripes and a capacity of 215 people.

The Lilly Belle is the train’s caboose.

Next up is Engine #1, the C.K. Holliday, accompanied by the Excursion train set a.k.a. Excursion 3.

The C.K. Holliday is named after Cyrus K. Holliday, the first president of Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway. It was designed to resemble Walt Disney’s own miniature Lilly Belle locomotive, which itself was modeled after the Central Pacific #173.

The Excursion cars are forward-facing with red and green elements.

Engine #4 is the Ernest S. Marsh, which marked its 100th anniversary earlier this year. Unlike the E.P. Ripley and C.K. Holliday, the Marsh was not built for Disneyland but constructed back in 1925.

The Ernest S. Marsh is named after the president of Santa Fe Railway at the time it entered service at Disneyland in 1959.

This train set is Holiday Green a.k.a. Holiday 4 featuring green stripes.

The last engine running this Tuesday was #3, the Fred Gurley, with the Holiday Red (formerly Retlaw 2) train set. Named after the Santa Fe Railway president when Disneyland opened in 1955, this is actually the oldest of the Disneyland Railroad engines, having been constructed in 1894. It entered service at Disneyland in 1958.

The Holiday Red trains have red stripes, of course, and are side-facing like the other Holiday sets.

The Ward Kimball is Engine #5 and the park’s second-oldest. It was constructed in 1902 but didn’t enter service at Disneyland until 2005. It’s currently under refurbishment. The fifth train set is Retlaw 1.

The Disneyland Railroad went through phased refurbishments earlier this year.

Are you happy to see the water tower fixed and four trains running? Let us know in the comments and on social media.

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