I am going to order the blue book, do you think the pictures are credited ? I would like to purchase a couple for this project. My concern is finding who they are credited/owned by so that I can buy them. This is going to be a shadow box type project including some other memorabilia I have along with family pics.
bigdisneydaddy,
First, let me share what the map on page 55 of the aforementioned resource looks like and then take it from there:
One one of the first few pages of the blue book, the author attributes the "scroll paper poster" listed on page 55 to a named person. I guess that's the background shape/form that the map is on. There is also a listing for the "Animal Clipart" that is on the maps. (I tried to put my thumb and finger next to both listings in this picture.)
Finally there is this paragraph on the page before the prior one about attribution that the author used:
Since the "poster" and "animal clipart" are referenced separately, I'm left to assume that David Leaphart/author of the above resources created this map on page 55. And there are several more similar maps in the blue book to chronicle both the Fort growth and the FWRR growth. If you wanted to use those maps from his book, David would be the one to ask permission from as a starting point.
The map on page 55 does show the original loops in place when the Fort opened (100-600) but construction of the FWRR didn't start till 1972 and trial operations started Spring 1973. And for those reading, Fort Wilderness was under construction and it was intended to open along with the Magic Kingdom, Contemporary Resort, and Polynesian Resort on October 1. But when construction ran behind and Opening Day had been already announced, workers and materials were pulled away from the Fort to contribute to the completion of the other three (the Original Redheaded Stepchild Syndrome). The Fort did finally open in November 1971 about a month and a half after the Magic Kingdom opened.
The Outpost Bus Stop and Fort Wilderness Check-in Building and Lanes were later additions. The original check-in building was a construction trailer (single wide) in the littler sliver of a grass island that is basically between the two hitch/unhitch turnouts. That's almost all the way down to the intersection of Fort Wilderness Trail (the main drag that goes down by the Meadow TP now) and Big Pine Road (that runs down by 1400 now).
Good luck on your project.
Bama Ed
PS - I highly recommend David Leaphart's "blue book" referenced in the link above. It has what I consider to be the definitive answer as to why the FWRR eventually shut down and when it ended operation. It is a tremendous resource. David's books along with Michael Broggie's library volume "Walt Disney's Railroad Story"
https://www.amazon.com/Walt-Disneys-Railroad-Story-Small-Scale/dp/1563420090 convey much information about Walt Disney, his parks, and the trains. I have this one too. And if you think I'm weird, I also have the definitive book on Alabama Railroads
http://www.uapress.ua.edu/product/Alabama-Railroads,784.aspx. "I yam what I yam" said Popeye the Sailor Man .....