Kalamazoo Disneyland Handcar In 1958 Walt Disney acquired a Kalamazoo handcar for Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California. There had been conflicting stories as to the source of the handcar. Some say it was a gift from the president of the Illinois Central Railroad, others say Walt bought the car. My feeling is that Walt accepted the car for free in exchange for featuring a Kalamazoo railroad product on the property as an advertising prop. The reason I suggest this idea is this handcar has some unique properties that did not adore other cars manufactured by the company. So what is different? First, we are aware of no other Kalamazoo handcars, or other railroad products they manufactured that came with a large brass plate with the Kalamazoo name. The second point is the fancy script painting with the Kalamazoo name and logo was not painted onto equipment. If Disney had paid for the car he most likely would have lettered it with the Disneyland Railroad name and painted the logo to the car. Kalamazoo was still offering the narrow gauge car as part of their catalog in the 1950's, but handcars were entirely retired from real railroad service by this time. There were a few peculiar items with the handcar. First, was the cast steel pump arm does not appear to have been made by Kalamazoo. The only company I am aware of that used a cast steel handle was Buda who manufactured a popular line of handcars into the 1930's. I was able to match the handle design to that of a Buda brand narrow gauge car. Buda stopped making railroad products in the 1940's. Perhaps Kalamazoo purchased their remaining stock of pump arms when they got out of the business, or simply copied the cast. The next odd ball item is the braking system. It was not a typical Kalamazoo brake system and appears to be a hastily fabricated replacement. Early systems were a bit more elaborate. One odd feature I had never seen before is the pedal is cut from diamond plate. Earlier pedals were from a cast design. The wood on the current Disneyland handcar is of different design from that found on the car when it was delivered in the 1950's. We know it was rebuilt in the mid 2000's. However, photos from the 1990's show that the wood pattern was different then than from the 1950's. Therefore, I am going to assume the car had been rebuilt twice. It appears the handcar at Disneyland is onto its third version of the car. I am going to build a replica of this handcar that is pretty close to the original. I cannot duplicate the pump handle so I am fabricating a copy of the handle that would have been made from wrought iron in the early 1900's. I will match the brake system, but I will spend more time making mine than the one the car was delivered with. As for lumber there is some intricate cut wood work that is needed. Since the shape will be difficult to duplicate with hand tools I am going to instead send the beams out to a water jet cutting shop for exact cutting. I will be using ash as that is what Kalamazoo advertised their cars were built from. Disneyland rebuilt their car using mahogany. While a better quality wood, it is not authentic for American handcars. The paint job should prove interesting and I will need to find a painter for the detail work. The original handcar has a different detail paint pattern over the recent rebuild. I am still deciding which paint job to replicate. I have been able to acquire a sizeable collection of twenty inch wheels that match the wheel pattern. It appears that the Kalamazoo wheels were manufactured by Fairmont, another motor car company. While my wheels are stamped "Fairmont," they are the exact model of wheel otherwise. Walt Disney standing on his Kalamazoo hand car shortly after delivery from the manufacturer. Disneyland hand car as it is today. Can you find all the changes? Return to projects menu

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Copyright 2011, Mason Clark