The Frontierland Depot

Out at the edge of Frontierland (in what is now New Orleans Square) is the depot for the Disneyland Railroad. The original Frontierland Station was actually this small building (above), built using the plans for a railroad station set used in the 1948 Disney film So Dear to My Heart. After production wrapped, the set found its way to animator Ward Kimball's backyard railroad, Grizzly Flats. When it came time to build Disneyland, Walt Disney asked for it back, but Ward respectfully declined. Instead, Walt had a copy built for the park. (Another interesting note: The Disneyland version was later used as a set for the "Two Brothers" sequence in The American Adventure for Epcot.)

In 1962, as construction started for what would become New Orleans Square, the original depot was moved across the tracks to where it is today, and guests instead met arriving trains on a simple covered platform (below). While waiting for the next engine to pull in, though, you can take the time to admire that first station, sitting across the way. Be sure to listen, too, to the Morse Code tapping away in the telegraph office. It's actually excerpts from Walt Disney's opening day dedication speech.

Also across the tracks from where guests await the trains are a couple of other facades, shrouding the show building for Pirates of the Caribbean and telling part of the story of this section of Disneyland. Look for The Creole Hotel, where visitors arriving by train might spend a night or two, and New Orleans Trading Company, handling imports and exports delivered by train or ship.

Among the most interesting details on these facades are the iron anchor plates. Often found on masonry structures built in the 18th and 19th centuries, the plates on the exterior walls connected to tie rods running through the building to provide added structural support. Since the anchor plates were usually visible, they were often decorative, cast in the shape of stars or in this case fanciful X's.

There's one other detail in this area that I love. The importing of goods by train makes obvious sense, but what about the shipping? Sure, the Rivers of America runs along one side of New Orleans Square, but if that's the Mississippi to Disneyland's New Orleans, the Gulf would be on the other side of the city.

Well, stand at the railroad station and look to your left. Peeking above the buildings are the masts of sailing ships in port, implying a larger world beyond that which we can actually visit in the park. It's a detail which was likely more visible when New Orleans Square was young and its trees were smaller, but it's just as much fun to discover today!