General Information:

Media Type: Book
Type: Other
Release Date: 2010-07-18

Geek's Thoughts: Many of us disneygeeks know there used to be a railroad at Fort Wilderness in Walt Disney World. But very few of us had the opportunity to ride it and even less know the history of it. This book takes an in depth look at what the railroad was, how it operated, and some of the history. It explores the raise and fall of this short lived railroad. It traces the routes it took through the campground as well as the different operating roles the railroad took over its brief run.

 

Scattered throughout this paperback are maps, drawings, and pictures of the route, trains, cars, stations, etc. I really enjoyed reading through this book and learning a bit more about this long gone part of Walt Disney World that I never had the opportunity to experience first hand. Also included are some excerpts from interviews with CMs involved with the railroad.

The book is a fairly easy read and the authors style fluctuates in places between folksy and documentary. I felt it wandered a couple times but overall stayed on track. It conveys a lot of information and does a pretty good job of identifying the source (researched, first hand, hearsay, etc..). The book has four sections. Two shorter ones, the author calls featurettes one about Walt and his love of trains, a second looking at the railroads of Walt Disney World. Then a large feature on the origins of the railroad, its lives, and its people. The book closes with a second long feature exploring the engineering and operations of the railroad.

I would recommend this book to a disneygeek who really wants to learn about the Fort Wilderness Railroad or Walt Disney World history. It is not a general information type book and most of it is devoted to an in depth look at the railroad. It is not a guide or traditional Disney information book by any means. Also note while there are plenty of images, diagrams, maps within the book do not expect full page images that are coffee table type. The images are fairly low resolution and small in size.

This book is currently available only on Lulu which is a print on demand self publishing site. I had never used them and a bit unsure. Also because it is print on demand the pricing is slightly higher than a regular book. The quality was on par with regular paperbacks.