Walt Disney World & Railroad Part 3 - EPCOT

Over the past two weeks we have discussed railroading at Walt Disney World and focused specifically on Walt Disney's passion of being a modeler himself which led to inspiration and creation of the Disneyland Railroad and ultimately the Walt Disney World Railroad. Now lets move on to Part 3 - EPCOT and what railroading it hosts.

View from the entrance turnstiles to EPCOT.... ready for that walk

EPCOT - Experimental Prototype City of Tomorrow
For this post we are going to hop over to another theme park on property which will require admission but is a great place to visit in my experience. Quick note; where we are going is a bit of a hike from the EPCOT entrance so you will get a good workout in the process. Well worth it I promise.

Upon entering the park one cannot but notice the giant geodesic sphere that is known as Spaceship Earth. This ride is a ton of fun learning about human communication but we cant stop there right now we have 1.5 mile hike ahead of us to the back of the World Showcase...... We are heading to the Germany.

Germany? Yep I said Germany
Is there a railroad to ride on..... No.
Is there a museum or room to meander through..... No.
Is there a very large and professionally built / maintained LGB garden railway to view..... Yes.
Our part 3 series in this case is model railroading and specifically garden railroading.

Panoramic of the back 1/2 taken from the walkway that goes through the middle of the layout. 

So this journey we embarked on leads us to one of the nicest garden railroad displays that I have seen in person ever since the Home & Garden Show of 1996 at Cobo Hall in Detroit that inspired my father and I to go outside with LGB.

The layout consists of three independent operating loops with a walkway through the center and ability to view from three of four sides.

Credit to the Walt Disney Company for recognizing the impact LGB from Germany has made on the large scale market we enjoy today. No better way to see this setup than to enjoy it in person while sipping on a cold brew and having famous apple strudel from one of the German quick service restaurants located at the pavilion.

So lets get to what everyone wants.... the pictures.

Awesome bridge / creek scene!

One of the operating loops. The trains only operate with engines versus having cars. I assume this is due to operating without any operators watching for railcar derailments.... I Love LGB but sometimes those cars derail pretty easy.

The bridge / creek scene is nicely done.

Looking east 

Neat scene showing a few cars at the shed.. This use to be a rack railway but now looks to be a dormant deadend line.

Center of town - it does light up in the evenings.

View of front section of layout - the walk though path is to the left.

I hope everyone has enjoyed the three part series on Walt Disney World & Railroading. On my next journey we will visit Animal Kingdom and have the opportunity to report back on the African themed train operation along with providing a ride-a-long experience of the WDW Monorail System.

Thanks for stopping through and taking the time to view! This was a little different than more normal layout related posts but variety is the key. My goal was to provide a chance for those who have not been to Walt Disney World or who have been but not experienced a small preview of the fun that is in store in relation to railroading. 

GM