Playing with the contrast, gamma, etc., the first part of the signature looks like "abbe". I can't make out the rest. It's on the base of the right hand tree, in the lower right hand corner.

Did the FWRR engineers have to deal with unattended small kids on the ROW?

I just don't see it. Can you post what you're seeing? It was rare for concept art to be signed in an obvious way, so this would make the painting even more interesting.


Yes. There were many areas on the line that had no fencing to stop kids from playing on the tracks. The only known injury, though, was when a girl rode her bike into the engine. She wasn't seriously hurt, but it provided yet another reason to shut down the line.

Now that you mention it, I think the flowers tend to hide the signature. Here's the best I could do in a fixed photo. Hopefully, it shows where to look:





Yeah. As idyllic as the painting is, in reality, kids would be squishing pennies, playing chicken w/ the train, etc.

I just picked up "The Art of Walt Disney World" by Jeff Kurtti and Bruce Gordon and they have this image included. Done by Collin Campbell in 1972. Original is acrylic, measuring 32"x45".

Book caption reads:
Historian Michael Broggie aptly calls the Fort Wilderness Campground Railroad the "Fort Wilderness Folly." Its life span was brief: 1973-1977. It turned out to be an operational and maintenance nightmare.

*sigh* That 1977 myth just won't die. The railroad operated into 1982. We have verbal testimony of that from the crews and ticket stubs from 1980.

I'll attest to that. We lived near Sarasota until 1983 and we would sometimes drive to Orlando just to ride around on the FWRR. We didn't camp then but we sure did like the Hoop D Doo revue and that train. Seems to me that I recall going with a bunch of friends one night before we moved to New York for the revue and was sorely disappointed to have to take some silly bus instead of riding the train. Actually I remember it fairly well because one of the "men" in our party was selected to participate in the show and ended up wearing a tutu for the skit. His performance even made the local paper in Sarasota.

Pop, are you still camping? would love to see your ftwrr STEAMER again. Paul

We live in Houston now and no longer get winters off so no more long term camping at the Fort. The poor old motorhome has been in storage for 16 months and not moved much at all. Letting it sit so long is not one of my smarter things to do. We do miss those winters! We are planning on being there in late January for about 10 days and depending on circumstances, may or may not take "Rusty" the motorhome.

As far as the FW steamer, I sold it on ebay a while ago. Very difficult thing to do but had to let it go. I'm stuck with electric stuff for good now. But, as we live in a year round climate, I can run the trains every day and do enjoy the lack of snow we have here. Supposed to 58º here tonight and I'll be freezing!