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ParksWiki backfill Wave 7 (SUPAPARK-937)

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{{Infobox attraction
| name = Western River Railroad
| park = [[Tokyo Disneyland]]
| land = Adventureland
| type = Heritage railway
| opened = April 15, 1983
| status = Operating
| theme = American frontier rivers
| designer = Walt Disney Imagineering
| height = 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) narrow gauge
}}

'''Western River Railroad''' is a steam-powered heritage railway at [[Tokyo Disneyland]] in Urayasu, Chiba, Japan. Unlike the railroads that circle most Disney castle parks, it does not loop the whole park. Its single station sits in Adventureland, above the [[Jungle Cruise]] dock, and its trains make a one-way circuit through Adventureland, Westernland and [[Critter Country]] before returning to where they started. The railroad opened with the park on April 15, 1983, and it remains one of Tokyo Disneyland's opening-day attractions.<ref name="wikipedia-wrr">{{cite web |title=Western River Railroad |website=Wikipedia |url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_River_Railroad |access-date=2026-11-14}}</ref><ref name="allears-trains">{{cite web |title=The Trains of All the Disney Parks Around the World |website=AllEars |url=https://allears.net/2021/02/13/the-trains-of-all-the-disney-parks-around-the-world/ |access-date=2026-11-14}}</ref>

The Western River Railroad is one of two rail attractions at [[Tokyo Disney Resort]]. The other, the DisneySea Electric Railway at [[Tokyo DisneySea]], is an elevated electric trolley, which makes the Western River Railroad the resort's only steam railway.<ref name="wikipedia-wrr" />

== History ==

The railroad's unusual shape is the result of Japanese law, not just design. When Tokyo Disneyland was planned, Japanese railway regulations treated any line with more than one stop as a conventional railway, subject to timetables and fare collection. Building the line with a single station avoided that classification, so guests could ride it as a park attraction, boarding and leaving at the same Adventureland station.<ref name="wikipedia-wrr" /><ref name="allears-trains" /> That rule was abolished on April 1, 1987, but by then the rest of the park had been built around the short route, and expanding the line into a full circuit was no longer practical.<ref name="wikipedia-wrr" />

The line opened with three locomotives, built in 1982 by Kyosan Kogyo. A fourth locomotive joined the fleet in October 1991 to add capacity.<ref name="wikipedia-wrr" /><ref name="allears-trains" />

== Experience ==

The route is 5,283 feet (1,610 m) long, laid to a narrow gauge of 2 ft 6 in (762 mm).<ref name="wikipedia-wrr" /> Trains are hauled by four 2-4-0 steam locomotives, each named after a great river of the American West: Colorado, Missouri, Rio Grande and Mississippi.<ref name="wikipedia-wrr" /><ref name="allears-trains" /> Their numbers carry Disney dates: Colorado is No. 53, for 1953, Missouri is No. 28, for 1928, and Rio Grande is No. 25, for 1925.<ref name="wikipedia-wrr" />

From the Adventureland station the train passes the Jungle Cruise, then runs alongside the Rivers of America through Westernland, passing [[Big Thunder Mountain Railroad]] and the [[Mark Twain Riverboat]] route, and on through Critter Country, past [[Splash Mountain]].<ref name="wikipedia-wrr" /> Along the way guests pass a Native American encampment, the mining settlement of Stillwater Junction, and wildlife scenes set along the riverbank.

The circuit ends with a Disney railroad tradition borrowed from California: a Primeval World diorama, where dinosaurs move in a prehistoric landscape before the train emerges back into Adventureland.<ref name="wikipedia-wrr" /> Because the train only ever leaves and returns to the same station, it works less as transport around the park than as a scenic ride in its own right — a slow, elevated tour of Tokyo Disneyland's western half, and a moving vantage point over three lands at once.

== See also ==
* [[Tokyo Disneyland]]
* [[Jungle Cruise]]
* [[Mark Twain Riverboat]]
* [[List of Tokyo Disneyland attractions]]

== References ==
<references />

[[Category:Attractions]]
[[Category:Tokyo Disneyland]]
[[Category:Railway attractions]]
[[Category:1983 establishments in Japan]]

Western River Railroad (Adventureland) - Revision history

Admin: ParksWiki backfill Wave 7 (SUPAPARK-937)