I do like the idea of just rejigging two Oldsmobiles into a new contraption just to fill in a temporary space. That's just such make-do inventive spirit.

Back in September 1957, our neighbor was an engineer on the orange Viewliner! When we went to the park, our neighbor invited us to ride in the engine with him! (I'm sure nowadays that would not be allowed!) As a young child, all that I remember was him saying that the dashboard was from an Oldsmobile. My other memory was how HOT it was in the cab! A unforgettable memory that not many could "brag" about! Thanks for the memory!

The Viewliner honestly looks really cool.

FUN FACT: On it’s pre-inaugural run, it caught fire. They put it out and wanted to delay the opening of it but Walt said it would be fine. Both trains ran without a single issue after that.

as soon as i saw the viewliner i instantly knew that this was based on GM's Aerotrain

I think we've found the intra-park transit system for Defunctland Park. ^_^

The only two Aerotrains were eventually sold to Rock Island, which used them as commuter trains until 1966. Both trains survive in museums, one in Green Bay, WI and the other in Kirkwood, MO.

Of note, 2:28. That’s Harley Earle himself boarding the train. The larger than life head of GM styling for years. One of the most influential designers of the 20th century. He was the man behind the iconic GM look of the late 40s thru the 50s and into the early 60s. Those trains, automobiles with fins, the ‘55 to ‘57 Chevy and everything else at that time.

At age 14, Walt Disney started working on the Missouri Pacific Railroad working as a “News butcher”. He was the person who sold newspapers and snacks to the passengers. That helps to explain his lifelong love of trains

Another wonderful video my friend! As both a railfan and a Disney Fan, this was quite an enjoyable look into one of Disney's lesser known trains! (Fun Fact: 2 original GM Aerotrains still survive today, located at the National Railroad Museum in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and the National Museum of Transportation in Kirkwood, Missouri. Alongside this, a 5/8th Scale Viewliner Replica, named the Zooliner, can be found operating at the Washington Park and Zoo Railway in Portland, Oregon.)

Alternative title: Disney's temporary retro style narrow Guage railroad

Not "old" highway bus, built for the Aero Train.(referring to the full scale GM Aero Train) Also, that's not a "figure 8" track configuration, that's a "dog bone" layout.

The monorail has proven timeless because I can easily see it being very, very useful in cities, whilst the original train definitely hasn't faired anywhere near so well. Even the design of the monorail is still futuristic and attractive, whilst the train is definitely a product of the 50s.

The footage is amazing. The park has changed so much. Amazing!

THE VIEWLINER LOOKED COOL!

I'm addicted too your vids

The Portland Zoo in Oregon also has a scale replica Aerotrain, ours was introduced around the same, but is still in operation. Ours also looks more like the original train then the Viewliners

Trains and Walt, they go hand in hand. I don’t blame him, trains are pretty cool

YES I MISSED YOU SO MUCH!!!! So glad you’re back!! I’m about to watch this while I’m getting ready for my day!!!

Oh so when Disney chops and welds a bunch of cars together people can’t wait to ride but when I do it it’s “dangerous and unsafe” lmao

I can't help but notice that this isn't The Evolution of Spaceship Earth part 2.

Always a good day when I see a video from you on my home feed😺👍🌟👏

Repeat in Walter Cronkite voice." In the year two thousand,monorails will whisk the weary worker home in record time!"

I had a phase where I looked into every ride that was at Disneyland as possible. How did I miss this masterpiece of a really short lived ride😭❤️

Like how they actually added a functional Mars type oscillating headlight. Aerotrain actually managed to survived to have a couple sets become museum pieces because the Rock Island converted their old intercity Aero Rocket to commuter service and picked up the remaining sets on the cheap for the same purpose. Fortunately the Rock Island's financial state that lead to it's bankruptcy in 1980 had the silver lining of it's commuter service being a literal working museum from the mid 60s to late 70s a lot of otherwise long scrapped locomotives had at least a few examples saved.

very interesting

Great to have you back. Awesome video. Thanks!!!

Both view lines were sold to a railroad engineer that was retired and went to Georgia's he bought them from the scrapyard. Both are still in the building right where he put them after the purchase. , I don't know if the cars are there. But both engines are alone with numerous other old steam engines, they are about the size of a smaller than normal school bus

I learn something new everyday!!

Growing up 10 miles away from Disneyland in the 60’s meant we spent a lot of time there. We’re talking E-ticket era. The coolest monorail rides ever were when we could get into the pilot’s cab and sit in the 2 seats behind & above the engineer. I wish I had some photos from those days. Great video. Thanks.

In 1972 we drove from New York to Florida to see the newly opened Disneyworld. We had a great time and I still remember the Haunted House ride with my mother and sister. I rode the monorails then and again in 2008 with my wife and 2 sons. We even have some 8mm film from the trip in 1972. I was 7. 🇺🇸😎👍

Noble ideas do sometimes get noticed, but the bottom line always gets noticed, and noble ideas remain just that - noble.

I was surprised to hear GM apparently tried to get into the train game, but then when said it was built out of repurposed car bodies and was flimsy. Suddenly it all made sense. They wanted to make cars look better.

Always wanted to know more about this train. Amazing what a short life it had. Reminds me of the Zooliner at the Oregon Zoo which opened in 1959 and still operates today. The Zooliner more closely resembles the Aerotrain especially the design of the locomotive.

Excellent work. Thanks for this.

4:58 its an actuell mars light before ditch lights in trains you know the wagging lights they had mars lights

Thanks for the memories!

I was a very young child when I rode this ride...... and I was at Disneyland soon after it opened .

One Aerotrain is in the Green Bay, WI train museum. They also have a former British Rail A-4 Pacific named after Dwight Eisenhower.

Welcome back being missing your videos

Wow, awesome story! Had no idea this ever existed. Thanks!

Really cool watching this, really enjoyed seeing this history thank you for sharing 👍😎

Wow!! Thanks for talking about this I’m learning so much.

Very entertaining and fun to watch. Thanks for posting this.

So very interesting. Never knew that this existed

This is awesome! I have never heard of this ride. Nice to know there are secrets about Disneyland I haven’t discovered yet. Thank you for talking about this!

I really love the Viewliners design. Along with the first design of Disney's monorail. Thank you for showing us this slice of Disney history. Carrowinds in NC/SC had a monorail ride, for years, that went around the whole park. We always rode on it first, to see what the new attractions, and Park layout, were each year. Sadly, they took it out. I really hate that North America does not have more high speed rail. Leaving us so car centric has only added to our costs (gas, insurance, accidents, deaths, pollution) Big Oil aims to keep us that way it seems. Sadly.

Fun Fact: Air bag suspension is used on the Amtrak Superliner cars. They are supposedly suited for 125 MPH, if the track is available.

childhood memories for me

great video! thank you

Vintage trains are beautiful and fascinating. A journey to the past.

Fantastic! Thanks! 💖💕

Dang that's cool

As soon as I saw this I thought "looks like a scaled-down Aerotrain". As far as the Aerotrain, basing your train on a bus design never works out, look up British Rail's "Pacer". Invariably they go with a single axle based suspension vice the traditional 2- or even 3-axle bogies (which are traditional for a reason) and then the thing rides like crap.

I grew up near the park, though long after the Viewliner was shut down. That particular corner of the part was near where I-5 was eventually built, with Ball Road running north to south. On the Disneyland side there used to a couple abandoned farm houses, my brother and I liked to visit them because they were spooky, and the walls were full of honeycombs. There was a large farm nearby, which provide the bees with lots of flowers, and though the area was pretty much fully developed, many of the orange trees which had existed prior to Disneyland were still to be found in people's yards. I have read a lot of silly stories in the news recently about "murder hornets," (Japanese hornets), but these were common in the area way back in the 1970's, one or two would raid these bee hives when my brother and I were stealing pieces of honeycombs. In those days California was prosperous, there were none of the literally hundreds of homeless which you now find scattered around the outside of the park. General admission (without ride tickets) cost $3.50 in those days, admission with a basic book of tickets (including two E tickets) cost $6. I could afford to go to Disneyland with the tiny amount of money I made cutting grass on weekends ($5 per lawn). No kid from a working class family today can afford to pay his or her own way into Disneyland.

Designed by GM. That explains why the cabin looks like the windshield of a 58 impala.

Great report!

They didn’t scrap the train. It was sold to a private collector in the northwest

Very interesting and informative video 😃👍 Thank you!

I should build a full size Disney Viewliner train, but only mount regular road wheels to it so I can drive it to and from work on the highway to get looks, and around my 1950's neighborhood!

Would have loved to acquired one of the two trains for my home railroad, but instead I'll keep my 7.5 train. Would have been neat to have a piece of Disney history, but these trains were a little before my time

Thanks for the research

7:59 Maybe it's an Alweg train? Wikipedia: Alweg was founded by Swedish industrial magnate Dr. Axel Lennart Wenner-Gren in January 1953. Wikipedia: The Disneyland Monorail System (originally named the Disneyland ALWEG Monorail System) is an attraction and transportation system at the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, United States. Alweg is best remembered for their role in building the original Disneyland Monorail System at Disneyland, which opened in 1959. Axel Lennart Wenner-Gren (5 June 1881 - 24 November 1961) was a Swedish entrepreneur and one of the wealthiest men in the world during the 1930s.

My Dad had TWO ‘56 Oldsmobiles. One a 4 door Holiday “hardtop convertible, meaning no B pillar, frameless door windows. Salmon pink and white. The other a 4 door 98 in black & white. Both had the most powerful air conditioning of any car he or I have had.

Well done! Good narration read. And the stills and footage worked nicely. Good edit. The last still, the closer, was an image of a conductor who had a uniform on with no logo meaning it was a VERY early pict. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

Wish i could go back there

Nothing like a good Park Ride History video👌

I remember it, and rode on it too!

I like how it was inspired by the Aerotrain. Always a nice googie design.

I learned about this through the Imagineering video on Disney+, or a video about the concept of making the Monorail. How Walt Disney Wanted replace the train, with a monorail and one of the imagineers whom designed the train and just thought it was an elevated version of this train. Thus the creation of the 60’s monorail.

Fun info, thanks

Fascinating. I never knew this existed.

Fascinating video! To me, it’s rather surprising how short lived this train was. That’s a heck of a lot of work, design, and construction for something intended to be THAT temporary. It’s designed and a built like a much more permanent attraction. And it looks COOL! I wonder what really happened for it to be retired THAT quickly. Fascinating!

I think that the larger open windows in the passenger cars was a nice touch.

Cool stuff! Never knew this was a thing.

The Ollie Johnston train shown is NOT the one which used Viewliner ties. His Marie E train in Julian, CA was a 36-inch gauge plantation location that is close to the 30-inch gauge of the Viewliner.

how have i never heard of this???

In the Viewliner, you see the inspiration for the Talgo trainsets of Amtrak's Cascades, as well as many of the Romancecar trains of the Odakyu Electric Railway in Tokyo.

I was born and raised and live in Los Angeles California I am 45 me a my family go to Disneyland once a year since I was born. I hate to confess that I never been on the Monorail. As soon as Disneyland reopens that is the first ride I am getting on.

The View liner(arrow trains) looks like it was a train from the movie Cars without the actual facial features

I had heard that they weren't scrapped. . . It's that they just disappeared out of the storage warehouse where they were being kept, and no knows for certain what actually happened to the them!

I'm a park train enthusiast. This is a really cool video!

There used to be train service between LA and Vegas??! Wow, news to me! I’ve lived in Southern California for fifty years and we’ve never had rail service to Vegas...

Those trains would have been terrific additions at Travel Town Museum. The museum instead got some of the trains from Gene Autry's Melody Ranch in the 1970s, right around the time the Viewliners were scrapped.

I’ve found a WDW Mark IV monorail in the Nevada desert!

THAT IS A HELL OF A SURPRISE!! I HAD A 56 OLDSMOBILE MYSELF! AND THE 324 ci OLDS ENGINE WAS A GREAT ENGINE! HOWEVER THE 1956 HYDRAMATIC AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION SUCKED, BIG TIME!! LUCKILY MY 56 HAD THE EARLIER HYDRAMATIC OUT OF THE FACTORY! THE LATER OLDS /GM HYDRAMATICS ALSO SUCKED, UNTIL THE HYDRAMATIC 400 SERIES CAME OUT! HOWEVER I PLAYED IT SAFE WITH THE 1967 AND 1971 OLDSMOBILES I BOUGHT NEW!! I GOT THEM WITH STICK SHIFT!! IRONICALLY THE FULL SIZE OLDSMOBILES CAME OUT OF THE FACTORY WITH FORD FULL SYNCHRO 3 SPEED TRANSMISSIONS!

The viewliner is a class of Amtrak sleeper cars now

And Amtrak named a 1990s series of passenger cars after it.

Cool :)

If my memory is correct, there was a similar train at Knowland Park in Oakland, CA back in the 70's. I don't know when it stopped running but I remember it as a kid.

I don't remember the Viewliner, but I'm sure I must have ridden on it as I went to Disneyland at least once a year from when it opened until 1973, when I left California. I do remember seeing the Matterhorn take shape ☺

Another fun fact: the real trains that they were modeled after; two of them are in the transportation museum in st. Louis

I remember riding the monorail from Disneyland Hotel to the Main Street Station. I left Orange County to go into the Navy in 1956. I thought that the monorail was a fixture.

That was a nice little video. An interesting type of locomotive, Aerotrain. Sorry that the train & it's miniature gauge counterpart was not doing well though.

I didn't know that ever existed! What a fun idea. Too bad they were scrapped.

They need to bring back a mini-attraction version of this.

One of the few I missed... As my Mom took me there during opening week (unknown to Dad) and I didn't go again till she started dating after they broke up in late '58.

An operator either pulled forward a bit or it malfunctioned while some people were still disembarking. Several people took a spill and got hurt. My grandmother was one of them and she broke her hip. She sued the park and got an out of court settlement for about $20k which was a lot of money back then. That probably contributed to the ride's demise.

Pretty cool that you could maintain your Viewliner with parts from AutoZone.

It looks a lot like the Aerotrain!