Greetings Disney buddies, attached is this months "Disney" submission (text and photo) to the Garden Railway newsletter. Please keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times, and no smoking please! Bill
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WALT’S TRAINS
Musings of a Disney Railroad Fan
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SKYWAY RIDE
For a smoother ride and an unobstructed view of DISNEYLAND, the
spectacular Skyway Ride will transport you between FANTASYLAND
and TOMORROWLAND. You’ll board these sky-carts from a sky-
station in TOMORROWLAND or from a Swiss chalet in
FANTASYLAND for a one-way or round-trips between the lands.
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One of Walt Disney’s “missions” for Tomorrow was to have it serve as
a demonstration ground for practical forms of transportation. In late
1955, after the opening of the park, Walt learned of a “Skyway
System” that was undergoing final testing by the Von Roll Iron Works
in Bern, Switzerland. Walt purchased a Von Roll Type 101 Aerial
Ropeway even before he knew where it would go. Designer John
Hench was assigned to work with Von Roll’s ride engineers to finalize
the attraction. The Skyway Ride was installed in Disneyland
stretching from the powered drive station in Tomorrowland, climbing
60 ft. to a tower on top of a big pile of accumulated construction dirt
known as “Holiday Hill”, and then down to the Fantasyland Station
where 35,000 lbs. of ballast kept the cable system tight. The popular
Skyway Ride opened in June of 1956 with 42 metal gondolas holding
two passengers seated in fiberglass patio chairs that were bolted to
the floor. Thousands of park visitors enjoyed the views from the
Skyway Ride until it was closed temporarily in 1957 for the
construction of Matterhorn Bobsleds to be put in it’s place. The
upgraded Skyway Ride reopened in 1959 as part of the expanded
Tomorrowland Complex with redesigned fiberglass gondolas passing
directly through Matterhorn Mountain! The Skyway ride was closed
permanently in 1994 due to “metal fatigue” and the increased difficulty
of servicing the Skyway and making repairs inside the Matterhorn.
The holes in the Matterhorn were partially filled in and the cables and
supports were dismantled, however the Fantasyland Swiss Chalet
Station survived hidden in the brush and trees near the Casey Jr.
attraction for nearly 60 years and was removed in 2016 making way
for construction on Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge. Disneyland was the
first of over 100 type 101 Sky Rides installed by Von Roll in
amusement parks and tourist destinations throughout the world,
several of which are still in operation. Google: Von Roll Model
Ropeways for information on modeling the Disneyland Sky Ride.
From the postcard collection of Bill Ralph
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