Almost one year after the 1955 opening day the first of several railroad attractions began chugging through Frontierland's wilderness . Ultimately this land would one day be traversed by the high speed Big Thunder Mountain Railroad but back in the 1950's it was explored at a more sedate speeds of the mine train a common nickname for the Rainbow Caverns Mine Train. Built for under half a million dollars guests sat in open cargo cars behind a small old fashioned engine ran by an electric motor. Board the Mine Train for a trip into the Living Desert and through beautiful Rainbow Caverns. As your train enters the hot, arid desert, take a look at those cacti. Why, they almost look human! Watch out for those balancing rocks. Uh, oh. They are rolling around. Let us hope they stay up there.
When Walt first rode the train he was unhappy with the spiel and had Van Arsdale France rewrite it. To keep the train from going too fast, conductors braked the train by releasing sand onto the wheels. The Rainbow Caverns waterfall circulated over 270,000 gallons of water every hour to create the multicolored waterfalls. Cars were painted black, green and blue
As you wait for the train, admire the little mining town of Rainbow Ridge climbing up the side of Rainbow Mountain. There’s a saloon on the other side of the railroad track. You can’t get yourself a beer there but you can listen to the raucous sounds coming from it and other Rainbow Ridge businesses.
A dark green locomotive emblazoned with R.M.R.R. pulls five dark green ore cars up to the loading platform. This is the Rainbow Mountain Railroad. A bench goes around the inside of each ore car. There’s one more seat at each ore car door when it’s closed. You’ll be facing other guests. Let’s hope your head turns well.
