It’s the first feature of Disneyland you see, even before you pass through the turnstile. Walt’s lifelong romance with trains is reflected in the prominent placement of the Railroad Station - a red brick Queen Anne-style structure with mansard roofs, railed roof walks, dormer windows, and a tall clock tower topped by an American flag. When Disneyland opened in 1955, Walt’s Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad was a signature attraction. He named the locomotive Lily Belle after his wife Lillian. The Carolwood Pacific debuted in 1950, running on a half-mile of track and trestle in his backyard. His Carolwood Pacific Railroad was a one-eighth scale steam-powered train, inspired by the full-sized trains his animators Ward Kimball and Ollie Johnston operated on their own properties. Walt built his first railroad in the backyard of his Carolwood Drive home in the Holmby Hills district of Los Angeles. Walt often said of Disneyland, “It all started with a Mouse.” But in a way, Disneyland also started with a train ride. Walt returned to California with pages of hand-written notes about a project he called Mickey Mouse Park. A double-decker sternwheeler, the Suwanee, made a circuit around a loop in the Rouge River, just as Walt’s Mark Twain plies the Rivers of America today. Greenfield Village also featured a nostalgic transportation system that included a horse-drawn omnibus, working Ford Model T’s, and The Edison, an 1870s-style steam-powered train. Ford had purchased entire buildings from across the country to put on display - the Illinois courthouse where Lincoln practiced law the Wright Brothers’ Dayton, Ohio, bicycle shop Noah Webster’s Connecticut home and Henry Ford’s birthplace and the garage where he built his first car. Lincoln, which Walt unveiled at the Main Street Opera House, July 18, 1965.įrom the Railroad Fair in Chicago, Walt and Ward took the Wabash Railway to Dearborn, Michigan, to visit the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village. The experience may have partially inspired Great Moments with Mr. Photos courtesy of Joe and Jeanette Archie, used under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.Ī replica of President Lincoln’s funeral train rolled slowly down the tracks while a brass band played “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Walt, who had always felt a spiritual bond with Lincoln, was moved to tears. These trains and others like them inspired Walt Disney as he was planning to build Disneyland. Steam locomotive and the bullet-like Zephyr at Chicago’s Railroad Fair, 1948 to 1949. At night, they watched the fireworks reflecting off Lake Michigan. They walked through vintage railroad cars and climbed into the cabs of antique steam locomotives. The two men talked to scores of railroad engineers, firemen, and brakemen. There were hundreds of trains on display, from nineteenth-century steam locomotives to the sleek stainless steel Zephyr. The Railroad Fair opened on Tuesday, July 20, and the two men stayed for four days. Kimball later said, “Much of what he told me, I’d never heard before.” But on the long train ride, Walt told Kimball stories from his childhood, his time as an ambulance driver in France, and his early years in animation. In the past, Walt had rarely opened up about his life to others. 5 Ward Kimball at New Orleans Square Station. But during the forty-hour train ride, the two men talked endlessly. Though Kimball had worked for Walt since 1934, he had never known much about Walt’s early years. On Sunday, July 18, 1948, Walt Disney and animator Ward Kimball boarded the Super Chief at Pasadena station. Image used by permission of Disneyland Resort.) (Above: Walt at the throttle of Locomotive No. “I just want to look like nothing else in the world. By Jim Denney, author of Walt’s Disneyland
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