Wildlife Express Train, Lake Buena Vista FL | Nearby Businesses

The Wildlife Express Train to Rafiki's Planet Watch is a short railroad that takes guests at Disney's Animal Kingdom from Harambe, Africa to Rafiki's Planet Watch (known as Conservation Station at the park). On the ride, guests get the chance to see a little of the Animal Kingdom backlot, including animal holding buildings for rhinos and elephants, among other animals. It takes about seven minutes to go from Harambe railway station, Africa to Rafiki's Planet Watch and an additional five to return. The full journey is a 1.2mi round-trip.The railway is part of the fictional Eastern Star Railway, running from Lusaka to Nairobi and Kisangani.LocomotivesThere are three diesel-hydraulic, steam outline locomotives, built by Severn Lamb of Stratford-upon-Avon, United Kingdom in 1997 before the park's opening the following year. Two are colored a reddish brown, while the third is colored green. The two red-brown locomotives have a G-pitched whistle, while the green locomotive has a very high B-to-F#-pitched whistle. They have a wheel configuration of 2-4-2 and are based on John Aspinall's 2-4-2T engines built for the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway of England in 1898 at Horwich locomotive works, Lancashire. However, the builder's plates of the locomotives tell a different story, saying that the engines were built in 1926 by Beyer Peacock of Gorton Foundry, Manchester. Their numbers are 02594, 04982 and 00174, the former also being named, R. Baba Harpoor, in honour of Imagineer Bob Harpur.