I've never seen anything like this before...

Wow, great find! I've never seen anything like that either.

Is there a date on it or can anyone make out if marsh says santa fe on it.

It's definitely from SF&D days.

I am thinking it could be Marsh's test run. Marsh is wearing white walls on the wheels and the sand and steam domes have the brass covered in red paint. Reminds me of the odd test they did with Kimball pulling varing load to simulate the weight of passengers.

That thought had crossed my mind as well.

Isn't the Matterhorn something that should be in the view??

Matterhorn would be behind the tree line. Space Mountain should be in the frame for sure. So should the TWA rocket and the rocket ride tower. It looks like the pic was taken from the monorail. The access road in the frame below the tracks is guest services and will call. Look at Marsh's roof. It is soot free!

It all makes sense if this is a pre-Skyway, Pre-Space Mountain, pre-TWA Rocket shot - which would put it pre 1965-ish? You can just make out the service road tunnel that goes behind City Hall and Main Street and the Jungle Cruise Neverland.

It's the original gate souvenir stand at the lower right, and then a chain link fence behind it, so it's a very early picture before they redid all the fences.

It would have to be a "testing for load" shot, because the train appears to be full of passengers. Lots of suspicious looking shadows in the cattle cars, and a few sun-lit arms towards the rear.

The only thing that bugs me is a Cognitive Dissonance item that almost has me calling "Shopped!!", but it might be legit... It looks like they used the light green-blue gasketed slip-fitting PVC water pipe for a drain line - lower left in the picture, at the service road curb directly under the locomotive. Were they using that stuff in the late 1950's or very early 1960's? I thought it came into common usage a whole lot later.

--<< Bruce >>--

Well, if the information here is correct http://www.sewerhistory.org/articles/co ... stones.pdf

I'd say that it's very likely that the pic is unaltered.