Walt Disney World Railroad No. 2, named Lilly Belle, is a 2-6-0 "Mogul" type steam locomotive built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in September 1928 for the United Railways of Yucatan as No. 260.
The locomotive used for freight and passenger service on the United Railways of Yucatan in the jungles of Mexico. In 1969, it was retired from service and sold to Walt Disney World. It was overhauled in a shipyard in Tampa, Florida, and was renumbered to 2. The engine was put into service with the park's opening on October 1, 1971. Today, it is named the Lilly Belle after Walt Disney's wife: Lillian Disney.
In August 2010, the Lilly Belle was taken out-of-service for a new boiler and rebuild at the Strasburg Rail Road workshop in Strasburg, Pennsylvania. This is only the steam locomotive that was not operating on the Walt Disney World Railroad for more than five years. Finally, on July 21, 2016, the Lilly Belle arrived back on property at Walt Disney World and returned to service on November 23 of that year.
Trivia[]
- This locomotive shares its name with the 1/8th scale locomotive that operated on Walt Disney's Carolwood Pacific Railroad, and a parlor car on the Disneyland Railroad in California.
- The original Lilly Belle miniature locomotive is now on display at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, California. Additionally, two replicas of the miniature locomotive are on display inside the Main Street USA stations in Disneyland and Hong Kong Disneyland.
- Since late 2003, the Lilly Belle did not run in regular operating service due to pony truck and frame issues. Instead, the locomotive was put on Welcome Show train service daily until its 2010 overhaul. After its issues were fixed up, the locomotive was allowed to return to regular operating service.
- Following its return from Strasburg, No. 2 would be the first locomotive on the WDWRR fleet to be fitted with the new computerized system, which allows for easier firing on the locomotive and also monitoring for any mechanical issues while running the locomotive in motion. Additionally, the dynamo steam generator that was used to provide electricity to the locomotive and passenger cars was replaced with batteries. The other three locomotives received these upgrades during their overhauls.
- From July 2017 onwards, the locomotive gained a brass eagle on top of its sand dome given by Michael Broggie, the founder of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society. Locomotives Nos. 1 and 3 also received this eagle following their overhauls.
- The locomotive's whistle is a Buckeye 3 inch 3-chime. As of December 2023, this is the only locomotive that still wears this whistle.
- In 1979, its usual whistle was clogged up, so the No. 4 locomotive's deep-sounding American 5 inch 3-chime whistle was put on the No. 2 temporarily until 1980. The swap happened again in late 1992 until mid 1993 when No. 2's Buckeye whistle sounded normal again.
- Around early 2024, No. 2's Buckeye whistle wore out and replaced with another similar whistle, which came from the WDWRR's No. 1 Walter E. Disney locomotive.[1]
- Both No. 2 and No. 3 have the exact same smokestacks, albeit with the No. 3 locomotive's smokestack being slightly taller; however, the latter has since had its smokestack shortened in height in order for it to fit under the Tron tunnel.