Unlocking The Disney Railroad

On this episode, we are Unlocking a very special attraction, one that we think holds one of the keys to how the Magic at Disneyland first began, The Disneyland Railroad.

The significance of the Railroad and the connection to Walt Disney is unlike any other attraction we have unlocked.Our goal with these unlocking episodes is not only to share some of the great history and stories of these attractions but we hope that it inspires you to slow down and appreciate them a little bit more.

It is well known that Walt Disney had a great love for trains.  His passion began very early in his life and in fact, back in the day, was one of his careers. He sold a news butcher and snacks on the Missouri Pacific, Kansas City Southern and the Missouri Kansas Texas railroads.

The story is that Walt would take his breaks in the baggage half of the car. He’d sometimes go out the front door and climb over the tender to get to the cab. Walt would offer the engineer and fireman apples from his family’s farm in exchange for getting to ride with them. That’s bribing at its finest!

He said, “My railroad career was brief, exciting and unprofitable”.

Fast forward to the early days of the Studio, Walt continued to have a strong fascination with trains. He even had a miniature train set in his office that he would show off whenever he could. His staff was also intrigued by the golden age of trains and had their own collections they worked on. Two animators in particular that fueled his imagination even further were Ward Kimball and Ollie Johnston, who had backyard railroads of their own. They inspired Walt to start a train collection of his own.

Ultimately this hobby led Walt to the creation of the world’s most incredible theme park.

A few more facts:

• Whistles on a steam locomotive have a unique sound depending on the whistle’s shape, size, and pressure. At Disneyland, engineers have a tradition of blowing the whistle while pulling into the Main Street Station, alerting the crew to which train is arriving. Some of the engineers have even created a signature whistle.
• The Grand Canyon Diorama is 306‐foot‐long
• The large background painting of the Grand Canyon was created by Delmer J. Yoakum in 1958 and took more than 300 gallons of paint to create.

For more info to read more about Disney and trains, we would recommend checking out the Carolwood Foundation and picking up Walt Disney’s Railroad Story by Michael Broggie.

Mentioned In This Episode:

• Our live show on Monday nights
• Support the show on Patreon
• Upcoming Disney Cruise
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