Casey Junior, the ride

From early on, Casey Jones Junior was put on the design table during the development of Disneyland.  Although these pencil sketches by Bruce Bushman show a ride vehicle slightly different from what eventually was built, the essence of that original ride is still present.  I am, of course, speaking purely of the Casey Jr. Circus Train ride rather than the Storybook Land elements that were later added.

The train shown here has children sitting in open-topped cage cars rather than enclosed cages as well as passengers riding in the locomotive cab and tender.  The tender depicted here is still shown as a separate car rather than attached to the rear of the locomotive as one unit.  Now if only they could have found a way to make those perfect smoke rings.

Even though the volcano never made it through to construction, the hills and tunnels did.  That station also looks suspiciously similar to the Fantasyland Skyway station.

By the time Bruce got to creating this drawing of the station the ride is looking very close to what we all know.  The "TO THE TRAINS" sign you may recognize from the top of this blog, the indication of the two hills in the background, and the locomotive design very close to the final design with the attached tender.  This version still shows children riding in the tender, but with what looks like a ride operator actually in the cab itself.

You can find these images and more in the highly recommended book The Art of Disneyland