Original Opening Day Steam Engine C.K Holliday Returns to Service on Disneyland Railroad

JessH

Original Opening Day Steam Engine C.K Holliday Returns to Service on Disneyland Railroad

One of the original opening day steam engines, C.K Holliday, has returned to service on the Disneyland Railroad.

C.K Holliday Returns to Disneyland Railroad

1 Disneyland train stop

We stopped into Disneyland Park today, and we were surprised to see the return of the C.K Holliday Steam Engine chugging along right outside of “it’s a small world.”

c.k holliday steam engine
Disneyland

With the return of C.K Holliday, this means that the two original trains from Disneyland’s opening day in 1955 are both running together. Back in March, we reported that the other opening day train, E.P Ripley, had also returned to service.

ck holliday train dl 2023 2

The train appeared late afternoon on May 10 to relieve engine 4, Ernest S. Marsh, which left service at approximately 5:30 p.m.

The C.K Holliday is named after Cyrus Kurtz Holliday, who is the founder of many railways, including the Santa Fe Railway — the official sponsor of the Disneyland Railroad from 1955 to 1974.

The C.K Holliday is steam locomotive #1 on the Disneyland Railroad at Disneyland. It also is an old 4-4-0 engine, which was an American-type steam locomotive. On July 15, 1955 — Disneyland’s opening day — the C.K Holliday officially went into service.

The locomotive was built by WED Enterprises, which is now known as Walt Disney Imagineering, in Burbank, California, from a design inspired by Walt Disney’s model train engine, the Lilly Belle. The Lily Belle was the centerpiece of his very own backyard railroad, the Carolwood Pacific. 

What do you think about the return of one of Disneyland’s opening day trains? Let us know in the comments.

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