Disneyland Monorail

At opening, the monorail was merely an attraction, taking people on a scenic trip around Disneyland before returning to its only station. In 1961 it became a true transportation system when the track was extended 21⁄2 miles outside the park to a second station near the Disneyland Hotel. As part of this project, the Tomorrowland station was lengthened to accommodate four-car Mark II trains and a third Yellow train was added.

From Hotel Station there were two trips above Disneyland available aboard the monorail—a quick tour and general admission. Guests wishing to embark upon a vista-dome view of the park, including a leisurely layover in Tomorrowland within the tail-cone could purchase an exclusive round-trip tour ticket at Hotel Station and save the expense of general admission to Disneyland. Nose and tail-cone door latches were independent of the main door release button. A simple dial indicator above the tail-cone compartment door could be turned to one of three positions—General admission guests, round-trip only guests, and mixed. Hostess attendants at Tomorrowland Station would check the dial position and open the door for general admission guests. If general admission guests boarded the tail-cone in Tomorrowland, the dial would be set to mixed, then all mixed tail-cone guests disembarked at the hotel.

Both platforms were lengthened in 1968 for the new five-car Mark III trains, which added a fourth Green train.

By the early 1980s, the Mark III trains were showing their age and the wear of years. In 1985, Disneyland began phasing out the Mark III trains one by one. The older trains were stripped to the chassis and rebuilt as Mark V trains. The Mark III Green went first, to become the Mark V Purple followed by the Mark III Yellow becoming the Mark V Orange. The Mark III Blue remained blue (albeit a lighter shade) and the last was Red, remaining Red. The notable difference was the loss of the bubble-top driver's area in favor of a streamlined "Learjet" look similar to the Mark IV trains at the Walt Disney World Resort. The new trains also sported closed passenger compartments (with windows that could be opened) and pneumatic doors. Following the 1985 Disney World monorail fire, a safety handrail was added along the top of the train, as well as emergency fire exit hatches leading to the roof. The attraction's name remained the "Disneyland Monorail System", as it had been painted on the Mark III trains' skirts. The Mark V trains were built by Ride & Show Engineering, Inc., incorporating bodies that were produced by Messerschmitt-Bolkow-Blohm of Germany (now Airbus). Purple first made its appearance for testing in Autumn of 1986 and began regular operations a few months later. Orange was delivered in late Summer of 1987, followed by Blue in early 1988. The oldest train, Red, was also the last to be removed from the line for refurbishment in the Spring of 1988.

Mark V Monorail Blue travels over the former Submarine Voyage in 2002.

The beamway path was re-aligned into the Eeyore section of the parking lot in 1994 to accommodate the construction of the Indiana Jones Adventure show building. The trains were fitted with new electrical pick-up shoes and tail view cameras, enabling two-train point-to-point shuttle service where the first arriving train was disembarked, moved along empty to just beyond the station, the second train arrived, disembarked, embarked and dispatched so the first train could be loaded and dispatched for the return. In 1999, the monorail began lengthy periods of closures due to construction of the Disney California Adventure theme park where the monorail beamway passed through what had formerly been the parking lot. Although the beamway's route was not altered, a significant amount of construction was done around the existing beamway, and much of the terrain under the beamway's support columns were regraded, necessitating the closures. Additionally, the Disneyland Hotel Station and all of its nearby hotel structures were completely demolished and a new station built in the same location.[5] Downtown Disney Station is treated as a second gate into Disneyland Park, so a general admission passport or valid annual pass must be presented to ride the monorail and the tail-cone tour is no longer offered.

The system resumed limited shuttle operations in 2000 when the Downtown Disney Station became operational, but a significant portion of the beamway was still unusable due to construction. In 2001 the monorail resumed full capacity forward direction circuit operations, passing through Disney's Grand Californian Hotel & Spa, as well as showcasing the new park.

In 2004, Monorail Orange was removed from the line and taken to Walt Disney Imagineering in Glendale to be reverse engineered. Monorail Blue was removed in September 2006 for rebuilding. The Finding Nemo Submarine Voyage show building was extended into the lagoon beneath the monorail, which closed from August 21 through late December 2006 to prepare for the 2007 opening of Nemo.

Like the Mark III to Mark V conversion, the refurbishment from Mark V to Mark VII was done one train at a time. The entire Mark VII Monorail fleet consists of three trains—Red, Blue, and Orange. The first Mark VII train, Monorail Red, arrived at Disneyland on December 20, 2007. It was originally expected to be in service by the end of February 2008, but due to design change issues, it did not begin serving park guests until July 3, 2008. Mark VII Blue arrived on-site on April 10, 2008, began daytime riderless testing on August 1, 2008, and began guest service on September 16, 2008. Monorail Mark VII Orange arrived on-site on August 14, 2008, began riderless testing in March 2009 and began guest service on April 7, 2009.

Maintenance-of-way Tractor

The diesel/hydraulic powered "work tractors" are primarily used each morning for beam inspection and maintenance-of-way which includes trimming vegetation beyond the reach of guests, cleaning and repairing the electrical commutator rails as well as periodically scheduled servicing and painting of the concrete beam guideway. They are powerful enough to return a fully loaded train fitted with tow-bars to a station platform, then to the Monorail Shop, independent of 600 V track power.

In order to remove old monorail trains and replace them with new ones, they are shunted to maintenance shop beam "D" where each car segment is prepared individually for removal by supporting the remaining segment and disconnecting the bellows, cables, and articulated motor truck. The car is then rolled outside along the beam to a position where a custom crane-hoist harness is fitted to it and the car is hoisted off the beam and transferred to a truck trailer on which a transport beam is bolted. The Diesel/hydraulic tractor (pictured) is used as a switcher to carefully tow each car into and out of the maintenance shop. The procedure is reversed for fitting new segments of monorail train cars to the beam while testing each system and connection. Each fully assembled train is then slowly and methodically tested thoroughly over many months before it can be placed into revenue service for guests. It was determined after delivery of Mark VII Monorail Red that platform clearance was too tight for the new, elongated end-compartments, so Monorail Blue was modified at the manufacturer and entered service before Red .

Emergencies requiring train evacuation will be handled differently depending upon the location of the train and the nature of the emergency.

If a train is stopped at a station platform or the work platform, guests can exit the train onto the platform. Exiting a train is possible even when the doors of the train cars are closed. A cast member outside the car can also forcibly open the rightmost door panel of the car by releasing the air pressure holding that panel closed. The air pressure release is a handle beneath the rectangular center window that is similar in appearance to a car door handle.

If a train is stopped on an open beam, then guests evacuate through emergency exits located in the roof of the train. Guests open roof hatches by first removing decorative plastic from the ceiling above a bulkhead footstool and then by lifting open a hinged hatch that will flip across the bulkhead dividing two train cars. Guests evacuate to the roof by climbing through the open hatch onto the top of the train. The bulkheads separating cars are designed as firewalls that will contain a fire within a car to just that car. The open hatch allows guests in the affected car to transfer to an adjacent car where they can safely wait for evacuation by fire response crews.

If the emergency affects the entire train, then guests are evacuated to the surface of the beam. Guests again open the emergency roof hatches but do not simply move to the adjacent car. Instead, they use a small handrail present along the top of each train car to move to the front of the train. The Disneyland Fire Department assists in the safe evacuation of the disabled train.

Platform gates are operated manually and remain closed until the next train arrives and cast members determine that it is safe to board.

The trains are powered by 600 V DC electric current, drawn from a small rail (bus bar) running along the right side of the beam. This bus bar is similar to the electrified or "third" rail of a subway train.