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Designer Times
Page 1 of 2

Designer Times is a continuing column by legendary Imagineer Bob Gurr on his experiences in the early days of Disneyland to benefit the Ryman-Carroll Foundation. If you missed any previous columns, click here for the list.

7. Steam Freaks - Lingenfelter & Bagley, Ward Kimball Disneyland Locomotive First Steam Up.

When Roger Broggie set me to work on the Autopia Mk I, he gave me a drafting board in a room with some interesting “olde tyme” characters from America’s railroad past......steam freaks, I called them. We seemed worlds apart; they were mostly in their 50’s to 70’s while I was a green kid of 22. Steam railroads were their passion, sports cars and airplanes were my big thrill.

The whole bunch had a leader, Earl Vilmer, a railroad superintendent with over 20 years experience. Real quiet guy, hired by Roger Broggie to head up the whole Disneyland Railroad effort. Another quiet but very funny guy, a model railroader named Eddie Sargeant, was drafting up all the railroad cars. Everyone’s favorite animator-steam guru-band leader Ward Kimball was always there to kibbutz. Another combination model railroad guy and story writer was Dick Bagley. Roger had him drafting up the steam engines for the Mark Twain stern wheeler riverboat.

But the fellow who took me under his wing and mentored me into the “world of steam” was the pixie-like Ed Lingenfelter. Ed was born back in the 19th century and loved the great monster steam engines as a kid. He learned his engineering trade very early and spent an entire career designing steam locomotives in Pennsylvania. Years after retirement, Ed was hired by Walt to engineer the 5/8 scale Lilly Belle Locomotive.

Ed entertained me daily with incredible steam stories, while guiding me in understanding many engineering principles. Remember, since I was designing the Autopia car body, Walt figgered I drew mechanical stuff too. I was too scared to say I didn’t do mechanicals. Ed Lingenfelter was there to help me every day with the things I didn’t know. Roger surely would have glared at me if I’d have asked him all the little engineering questions. Thankfully, Ed was there almost as my engineering professor. We came from entirely different design worlds, but the principles were similar.

To get the hang of proper drafting format, Ed had a big chart on his wall explaining the essence of good design communication. He showed me how many ways there were to explain something to a machinist with a blueprint. All the other guys were cranking out tons of locomotive and railroad car drawings. Eddie Sargeant did most of the rolling stock. Earl Vilmer would stop and draw anything needed as well as act as the lead superintendent. Old records show that Earl made drawings starting on December 31, 1954, Sargeant got stared August 14, 1954. Ed started the locomotive erecting diagram on July 30, 1954, but Bagley got going on July 2, 1954. Ed even gave me the headlight reflector to draw up for the Lilly Belle on May 27, 1955.

Ed was amazing; he would draw all the locomotive parts first, get them to the shop, then calculate the design afterwards. Seemed backwards, but he just knew everything about steam by heart. And steam is real tricky when you change scale from full size down to Walt’s own Lilly Belle, than back up to 5/8 size. And what a story teller!