A slice of Disneyland Railroad history

Disneyland's roots go back to the days when top Disney animators, like Ollie Johnston and Ward Kimball, got Walt hooked on the hobby of large-scale model railroads. Soon, Walt had his own backyard railroad, which he dubbed "The Carolwood Pacific." To a large degree, Disneyland was born out of Walt's desire to own a bigger and better train set. At least in the early planning stages, the rest of the park was more or less secondary in importance to the train that ran around it all.

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Last week, I had the pleasure of attending the ribbon-cutting for Ollie Johnston's recently-restored stationhouse at the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society in Griffith Park. This group has preserved the barn and some of the equipment Walt used to work on his backyard railroad. They also work to preserve other parts of the Disney railroad legacy. What's more, they offer rides on similar miniature trains. (You sit on the roofs of the cars!) The route takes you through tunnels, past miniature towns, and across a 200-foot bridge. It's great fun!

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The top photo shows the ribbon-cutting for Ollie Johnston's station. The second photo shows one of Disney's first Imagineers, animator and sculptor Blaine Gibson, telling us about his experiences. To the right is Michael Broggie, who MCed the event and who literally wrote the book on Walt's trains. On the front of the podium is a photo of Johnston.

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After the event, Greg Ottinger (this blog's Phoenix correspondent) and I had the chance to join Gibson, the Myers Family (CPHS members), and early Imagineer Harriet Burns for lunch at Bob's Big Boy in Toluca Lake. (See the third photo in today's post.)

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It was a fascinating group to hang out with. Harriet was working on set designs for the Mickey Mouse Club TV show in 1955, when Walt asked her to spend her free time on Disneyland projects. She was one of three “model shop” employees during Disneyland’s development, and became the first woman Imagineer. She was also - and as far as I can tell, still is - the best-dressed of the Imagineers.

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Harriet helped create such attractions as Storybook Land, Carousel of Progress, Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, New Orleans Square and the Haunted Mansion. She even designed the Enchanted Tiki Room birds. She tells me she’s also one of the only people still alive who worked on the original walk-through” inside Sleeping Beauty’s Castle. [Ed - Chris Merritt points out that Bob Gurr also worked on the walk-through.]

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I asked her what the employees thought when Walt said he was building the park in Anaheim. She said that nobody thought it would work, and that it was way out in the middle of nowhere.

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Coming to Disney Studios in 1939, Blaine Gibson was an animator, working on such films as "Fantasia," "Bambi," "Song of the South," "Peter Pan," and "Sleeping Beauty." Walt discovered that Blaine was also a gifted sculptor, and in 1954 he put him to work on Disneyland. You'll find his work in hundreds of sculpted figures (both static and audio-animatronic) throughout Disney’s theme parks. Blaine's work graces such attractions as Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and the Tiki Room. He also sculpted Lincoln for Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln at Disneyland and ALL the U.S. Presidents in the Hall of Presidents at Walt Disney World. He is also responsible for the “Partners” statue, of Walt Disney and Mickey Mouse, located at “the hub” in Disneyland.