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{{Infobox attraction
| name = Main Street Vehicles
| park = [[Disneyland Park]]
| land = Main Street, U.S.A.
| type = Transportation
| opened = July 17, 1955
| designer = Bob Gurr
| status = Operating
}}

'''Main Street Vehicles''' is the collective name for the working fleet of turn-of-the-century vehicles that carry guests one way along [[Main Street, U.S.A.]] at [[Disneyland Park]] in California, between Town Square and the Central Plaza in front of [[Sleeping Beauty Castle]]. The fleet in service today comprises horse-drawn streetcars, horseless carriages (jitneys), a double-decker omnibus and a vintage fire engine. The vehicles are both an attraction and genuine transport, and they set the period tone of the street: Main Street is set in roughly 1910, and its traffic is meant to show the moment when horse power and motor power shared the road. All of the original vehicles were designed by Imagineer Bob Gurr.<ref name="wikipedia-vehicles">"Main Street Vehicles," Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Street_Vehicles</ref>

== History ==
The attraction dates to opening day, July 17, 1955, but the opening-day fleet was entirely horse-drawn. Guests in 1955 could ride a horse-drawn streetcar running on the tracks embedded in the street, a horse-drawn surrey, or a horse-drawn fire wagon.<ref name="wdfm">"A History of Disneyland Transportation," The Walt Disney Family Museum. https://www.waltdisney.org/blog/history-disneyland-transportation</ref> The streetcar, weighing a little under two tons and carrying about thirty passengers at walking pace, proved the durable member of that trio. The fire wagon made its last guest trip in 1960 and was retired into the Town Square fire station, where it remains on display, and the surreys were discontinued in 1971.<ref name="wikipedia-vehicles" />

Motor vehicles arrived the following year. In 1956 Disneyland added the small horseless carriages, modelled on automobiles of 1903 with two-cylinder engines, seating about six passengers each, and the green double-decker omnibus, which carried many times that number and gave riders an elevated view down the street.<ref name="wdfm" /> The final addition came on August 16, 1958, when the fire engine entered service. Designed by Gurr as a romanticised 1916-style engine, it was built at the Disney Studio in Burbank, and Gurr famously delivered it by driving it to Anaheim himself rather than shipping it.<ref name="daps">"Disneyland's Main Street Fire Engine Celebrates 65 Years on Main Street," DAPS Magic, August 16, 2023. https://dapsmagic.com/2023/08/disneylands-main-street-fire-engine-celebrates-65-years-on-main-street/?query-35-page=7</ref>

== The vehicles ==
The '''horse-drawn streetcars''' run on a 3-foot narrow-gauge track down the centre of Main Street and are pulled by large draft horses, including Percherons, Belgians and Clydesdales, stabled at the resort's ranch. They are the direct survivors of the 1955 operation and also serve park entertainment, carrying performers such as the Dapper Dans.

The '''horseless carriages''', or jitneys, are open touring cars in the style of 1903, with manual steering and small two-cylinder engines. The '''omnibus''' is a double-decker motor bus modelled on early New York City omnibuses; its upper deck is the best vantage point on the street for watching the park wake up in the morning.

The '''fire engine''' holds a special place in Disneyland lore. It was Walt Disney's favourite of the fleet: he regularly drove it himself around the park in the mornings before opening, using the circuit to inspect the operation, and he used it to give visiting VIP guests tours.<ref name="history101">"L.A. County Fire Museum's Historic 'Disney' Artifacts," Disney History 101. https://www.disneyhistory101.com/new-blog-2/2018/9/8/lafd-museum</ref> One of the last photographs of Walt taken in his park, in the autumn of 1966, shows him at the wheel of the fire engine with Mickey Mouse beside him in front of the castle.<ref name="daps" /> The engine's station, the Main Street Fire Station in Town Square, sits directly below Walt's private apartment, which is why the vehicle is so closely associated with his personal presence in the park. It remains in daily service, carrying guests at about five miles per hour, though its top speed is considerably higher.

The vehicles generally operate in the morning and early afternoon and are withdrawn when crowds, parades and entertainment make the street impassable, so for many guests they are a first-hour ritual rather than an all-day service.

== See also ==
* [[Main Street, U.S.A. (Disneyland)]]
* [[Disneyland Park]]
* [[Disneyland Railroad]]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Attractions]]
[[Category:Disneyland Park]]
[[Category:Main Street, U.S.A.]]
[[Category:Transportation]]
[[Category:1955 establishments in California]]

Main Street Vehicles - Revision history

Admin: ParksWiki backfill Wave 5 (SUPAPARK-937)