Hi all,

My aunt (one of Harley's granddaughters) sent over these photos today. Could be you've already seen these?

Thanks!
Heather

I haven't seen any of those before. They're fantastic!

I don't believe these photos have ever been seen outside your family. They are simply amazing!

Heather, can you give us a little background on Harley's "real" railroad career before he came to Disney?

Those are some great photos!

thank you! those are great photos!

Thanks, Heather. I had a railroading great-grandfather too. He was the senior conductor on the Rock Island. Whenever dignitaries rode, my GGF captained the train. We have thank-you notes from President Hoover and others for his service. I still have his uniform hat (I think.)

I'm struck by two DRR newbie observations not related to your great-grandfather: 1) the conductors are wearing ordinary cast badgesᅳnot the railroad badges; and 2) there are windows on the front of the combine. In fact, you can see right through the car. That allowance makes sense, to allow passengers to see forward. That's very different from the combine at Knott's, which serves as the train robber's hideout.

The conductors have oval cast member name badges, just like every other cast member. They still have their hat badges to denote their job title.

You don't see the conductors in long-sleeve coats much. Pretty neat.

I believe the gentleman in the cab is actually Ernest S. Marsh--you don't see too many photos of him.

Thank you all for the great feedback! I'm learning a lot just from reading your comments.

We have a LOT of badges from Harley's life prior to Disneyland. Most of them don't mean anything to us. I'll take some photos and see if they make sense to all of you.

It's very interesting how many badges he saved from his work. We have a good fifty badges pinned to a piece of velvet. (That's where we found the Disney badges). We don't know if that's where he put them or my grandparents put them there after he died.

My Aunt also has another 15 or so photos that she is going to scan and send over. I haven't seen them so I don't know what they look like but I'll post them as soon as she sends them.

Heather