The Disney & Six Flags Railroad Connection
Bob Harpur was building model railroad equipment for Seymour Johnson, founder of Johnson Controls, in the late 40s when he met Walt Disney. That was the period when Walt was interested in trains and looking to build his own small-scale steam layout at his new home in Holmby Hills.
Eventually Harpur established his own company, Harpur Locomotive Works, in the Wilmington/San Pedro area of Los Angeles. His elaborate shop built a variety of models, but the one we’re interested in here was a 4-4-0 “American” design that replicated the famous Civil War General. These were absolutely beautiful beasts, and he built four of them—two for Six Flags Over Georgia, then another two for Astroworld in Houston.
#3 General and #49 Texas circled the Georgia park between Marthasville Depot and Rabun’s Gap. Astroworld’s #1 Cannonball and #2 Spitfire also circled that park, stopping off at Western Junction and Oriental Corner. These were true steamers, the real deal, and they required actual railroad personnel to operate the lines. Some of their stories don’t end all that well, but that’s for another day.
And now the Disney connection. Bob’s company folded just before Astroworld opened in 1968. He was hired by Roger Broggie as project engineer to rebuild the four locomotives the company had dragged out of the rust in Mexico for use on the upcoming Walt Disney World Railroad. They were in pretty sad shape. “I just about passed out,” recalls Bob. The shop had started tearing them down and discovered that the frame for what would become #4 Roy O. Disney, a 4-4-0 American type, was broken in half! “We had an old journeyman welder by the name of Willard Overstreet” who said “I can fix that.” And he did, masterfully. #4 steams proudly to this day. The tenders you see behind all four of WDW’s locomotives are not originals…the rust buckets hauled up from Mexico were too far gone except for the trucks (wheels), which were the only parts kept.
Later Bob helped oversee building the railroad operation at EuroDisneyland (Disneyland Paris). When Disney’s Animal Kingdom was built, one of the locomotives on the Wildlife Express Train was named R. Baba Harpoor in honor of him.
For the complete story of Disney’s trains, start with All Aboard: The Wonderful World of Disney Trains, then go rob a bank or two and see if you can grab a copy of Michael Broggie’s Walt Disney’s Railroad Story. Steve DeGaetano has a couple really good ones on the Disney trains, and David Leaphart has books on the WDW trains and Fort Wilderness Railroad.
Bob Harpur at Disney. Photo from Walt Disney's Railroad Story.
