Carolwood Pacific Railroad
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The Carolwood Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a Template:Frac-inch (Template:Track gauge) gauge ridable miniature railroad run by Walt Disney in the backyard of his home in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It featured the Lilly Belle, a 1:8-scale live steam locomotive named after Disney's wife, Lillian Disney, and built by the Walt Disney Studios' machine shop. The locomotive made its first test run on December 24, 1949. It pulled a set of freight cars, as well as a caboose that was almost entirely built by Disney himself. It was Disney's lifelong fascination with trains, as well as his interest in miniature models, that led to the creation of the CPRR. The railroad, which became operational in 1950, was Template:Convert long and encircled his house. The backyard railroad attracted visitors to Disney's home; he invited them to ride and occasionally drive his miniature train. In 1953, after an accident occurred in which a guest was injured, the CPRR was closed to the public.
The Carolwood Pacific Railroad inspired Disney to include railroad attractions in the design for the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California. Railroad attractions in Disney theme parks around the world are now commonplace. The barn structure that was used as the railroad's control center is now at the Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum (LALSRM) in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. The Lilly Belle, some of the freight cars, and the caboose are now on display at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, California.
History
Walt Disney was a rail enthusiast.<ref name="Broggie2014p17">Template:Harvp.</ref><ref name="Broggie2014p355">Template:Harvp.</ref> As a young boy, he wanted to become a train engineer like his father's cousin, Mike Martin, who drove main line trains on the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway.<ref name="Broggie2014p35">Template:Harvp.</ref><ref name="Amendola2015pp16–17">Template:Harvp.</ref> Disney's father, Elias, once worked as part of a track installation crew for the Union Pacific Railroad.<ref name="Broggie2014p35"/> As a teenager, Disney worked as a news butcher on the Missouri Pacific Railway, where he sold newspapers, candy, cigars, and other products on trains.<ref name="Broggie2014pp36–37">Template:Harvp.</ref> He sometimes climbed over the tender and into the locomotive's cab while the train was in motion.<ref name="Broggie2014pp36–37"/><ref name="Amendola2015pp23–24">Template:Harvp.</ref> After he bribed the engineer and fireman with chewing tobacco, they showed him how to operate the locomotive.<ref name="Broggie2014pp36–37"/><ref name="Amendola2015pp23–24"/>
Disney renewed his interest in trains after injuries forced him to stop playing polo.<ref name="Broggie2014pp44–45">Template:Harvp.</ref> Seeking a calmer recreational activity, he purchased several Lionel train sets in late 1947.<ref name="Broggie2014pp44–45"/> By 1948, his interest in model trains was evolving into an interest in larger, ridable miniature trains after observing the trains and backyard railroad layouts of several hobbyists.<ref name="Broggie2014p99">Template:Harvp.</ref> These hobbyists included Disney animators like Ollie Johnston, who had a ridable miniature railroad; as well as Ward Kimball, who owned the full-size, Template:Track gauge narrow-gauge Grizzly Flats Railroad.<ref name="Broggie2014p99"/><ref name="Amendola2015pp118–119">Template:Harvp.</ref>
On June 1, 1949, Disney purchased Template:Convert of vacant land in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles.<ref name="Broggie2014p109">Template:Harvp.</ref> The property consisted of a bluff, which was Template:Convert in size, and a level shelf of land behind it, which Disney named Yensid Valley.<ref name="Broggie2014p108">Template:Harvp.</ref><ref name="Broggie2014pp135–136">Template:Harvp.</ref> The word Yensid is Disney spelled backwards.<ref name="Broggie2014pp135–136"/> Disney purchased this land to build a new family home with an elaborate backyard railroad behind it.<ref name="Broggie2014p109"/> Plans for the railroad's layout included Template:Convert of Template:Frac-inch (Template:Track gauge) gauge track with eleven switches, as well as gradients, overpasses, a trestle, and an elevated dirt berm.<ref name="Broggie2014p112">Template:Harvp.</ref><ref name="Broggie2014p115">Template:Harvp.</ref> The layout would completely surround the house.<ref name="Broggie2014p115"/> Disney's wife, Lillian Disney, objected to the plan that part of the layout be built in an area where she intended to plant a flower garden.<ref name="Broggie2014p115"/> As a compromise, Disney had an S-curve tunnel built underneath the spot where the garden was eventually planted.<ref name="Forbes">Template:Cite magazine</ref> Aided by a Walt Disney Studios attorney, Disney had a tongue-in-cheek legal contract written to establish his right to own and operate the railroad's right of way.<ref name="Broggie2014p7">Template:Harvp.</ref><ref name="Broggie2014pp117–118">Template:Harvp.</ref> He and his wife signed the contract and their two daughters witnessed it.<ref name="Broggie2014p7"/><ref name="Broggie2014pp117–118"/> Disney named his railroad Carolwood Pacific Railroad (CPRR) in reference to his address at 355 Carolwood Drive.<ref name="Broggie2014p109"/> The railroad eventually cost $50,000, split evenly between its layout and rolling stock.<ref name="Broggie2014pp173–175">Template:Harvp.</ref>
The railroad featured the Lilly Belle, a 1:8-scale live steam locomotive named after Disney's wife and built by the Walt Disney Studios' machine shop team led by Roger E. Broggie.<ref name="Broggie2014pp123–128">Template:Harvp.</ref><ref name="Broggie2014pp139–144">Template:Harvp.</ref> The locomotive's design, chosen by Disney after seeing a smaller locomotive model with the same design at the home of rail historian Gerald M. Best, was based directly on copies of the blueprints for the Central Pacific No. 173, a 4-4-0 steam locomotive rebuilt by the Central Pacific Railroad in 1872.<ref name="Broggie2014pp123–128"/> The initials for the Carolwood Pacific Railroad, CPRR, matched the initials for the Central Pacific, one of the railroads that helped complete the first transcontinental railroad in 1869.<ref name="Broggie2014pp151–152">Template:Harvp.</ref> Under Broggie's guidance, Disney helped build several parts for the Lilly Belle, including its smokestack and headlamp.<ref name="Broggie2014pp123–128"/> Most of the machining was done by Broggie's machine shop team, and the wooden cab was built by Disney personally.<ref name="Broggie2014pp123–128"/><ref name="Broggie2014p159">Template:Harvp.</ref> On December 24, 1949, the Lilly Belle and its tender were first test run on a small loop of track during the studio's Christmas party in front of the staff.<ref name="Broggie2014pp139–144"/> The tender could carry up to Template:Convert of water and Template:Convert of coal crushed to scale-sized lumps to fuel the locomotive.<ref name="Broggie2014pp139–144"/><ref name="Broggie2014p167">Template:Harvp.</ref> Disney ran the Lilly Belle on the Carolwood Pacific Railroad for the first time on May 7, 1950.<ref name="Broggie2014p390">Template:Harvp.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
The CPRR's train cars consisted of six cast-metal, woodgrain-patterned gondolas made by the studio's machine shop.<ref name="Broggie2014pp147–148">Template:Harvp.</ref> There were also two boxcars, two stock cars, a flatcar, and a caboose made of wood from the studio's prop shop.<ref name="Broggie2014pp147–148"/> Disney's fascination with miniature models was apparent from the level of detail he applied to the miniature interior of the caboose, which included a calendar hung on the wall, a broom, and a working potbelly stove.<ref name="Broggie2014pp147–148"/><ref name="Broggie2014p58">Template:Harvp.</ref> Except for its frame and trucks, Disney built the entire caboose himself.<ref name="Broggie2014pp147–148"/> All of the train cars, except for the caboose, were stored in the CPRR's tunnel when not in use.<ref name="Broggie2014p167"/><ref name="Broggie2014pp147–148"/>
The CPRR's caboose was stored in a special barn where Disney monitored and controlled the CPRR's track.<ref name="Broggie2014pp135–136"/><ref name="Broggie2014pp147–148"/> The barn's design was based on a set piece for the 1949 Disney film So Dear to My Heart, and it brought back Disney's childhood memories of a similar barn on his family farm in Marceline, Missouri.<ref name="Broggie2014p121">Template:Harvp.</ref><ref name="Amendola2015p116">Template:Harvp.</ref> The barn had a centralized traffic control board, which had several lights designed to indicate the presence of trains along the railroad's route.<ref name="Broggie2014pp135–136"/> The CPRR's switches could also be electrically controlled from this board.<ref name="Broggie2014pp135–136"/>
Articles about the CPRR appeared in several magazines, including the September 1951 issue of Look magazine.<ref name="Broggie2014pp173–175"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> These articles attracted visitors interested in the CPRR to the home of Disney, who invited them to ride and occasionally drive his miniature train.<ref name="Broggie2014pp173–175"/><ref name="Broggie2014p171">Template:Harvp.</ref> With a tractive effort of more than Template:Convert, the Lilly Belle could pull a train with up to 12 adult passengers.<ref name="Broggie2014p167"/> Due to its lack of brakes, the locomotive was set in reverse if it ever needed to stop quickly.<ref name="Broggie2014pp139–144"/><ref name="Broggie2014p164">Template:Harvp.</ref> In early 1953, a visitor drove the Lilly Belle too fast along a curve, causing it to derail.<ref name="Broggie2014pp179–180">Template:Harvp.</ref> As a result, the locomotive fell on its side, broke its whistle, and released a jet of steam across the ground.<ref name="Broggie2014pp179–180"/> A five-year-old girl ran through the steam jet, which left minor burns on her legs.<ref name="Broggie2014pp179–180"/> As a result of this incident, Disney, fearing the possibility of future accidents, closed down the CPRR and stored the locomotive in the studio's machine shop.<ref name="Broggie2014pp179–180"/><ref name="Barrier2007p219">Template:Harvp.</ref> Disney removed the Carolwood Pacific Railroad's trackage in 1964.<ref name="CarolwoodChronicleSpring2006">Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Influences
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Disney credited the Carolwood Pacific Railroad with inspiring the creation of Disneyland in Anaheim, California.<ref name="Broggie2014p28">Template:Harvp.</ref> In one early concept for the park, the CPRR was included as an attraction, in which its train would carry passengers past miniature towns and settings.<ref name="Broggie2014p207">Template:Harvp.</ref> The Casey Jr. Circus Train, a different ridable miniature railroad that travels past miniature scenes of animated Disney films, is one of Disneyland's original attractions.<ref name="Broggie2014pp284–286">Template:Harvp.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Another early design for the park included a narrow-gauge steam railroad encircling it, a feature which was retained in the park's final design.<ref name="Broggie2014pp194–195">Template:Harvp.</ref><ref name="Broggie2014pp200–201">Template:Harvp.</ref> Disneyland, and the Disneyland Railroad encircling the park, opened on July 17, 1955.<ref name="Broggie2014p31">Template:Harvp.</ref><ref name="Amendola2015p138">Template:Harvp.</ref> The Disneyland Railroad's No. 1 locomotive, the C.K. Holliday, bears a strong resemblance to the CPRR's Lilly Belle, since their designs were based on the same blueprints.<ref name="Amendola2015p139">Template:Harvp.</ref> There are also steam railroads in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World near Orlando, Florida; Tokyo Disneyland in Japan; and Disneyland Park near Paris.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Copies of the blueprints for the CPRR's Lilly Belle were sold to model railroad hobbyists through a company named Walt Disney Miniature Railroad, formed by Disney in 1950 as a legally separate entity from Walt Disney Productions.<ref name="Broggie2014pp173–175"/><ref name="Amendola2015p222">Template:Harvp.</ref> After that company evolved into Walt Disney, Inc., in 1952 and had its name changed to WED Enterprises in 1953, it developed rides and attractions for Disneyland and later Walt Disney World.<ref name="Broggie2014pp173–175"/><ref name="Broggie2014pp130–131">Template:Harvp.</ref> In 1965, Walt Disney Productions purchased WED Enterprises, and in 1986 changed its name to Walt Disney Imagineering.<ref name="Mannheim2016p97">Template:Harvp.</ref> According to Los Angeles magazine, the CPRR's barn has been referred to as the "birthplace of Imagineering."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
As well as inspiring rail attractions at Disney theme parks, the CPRR became the inspiration for the 1951 Disney animated short film Out of Scale, in which Donald Duck is portrayed running a ridable miniature railroad in his backyard.<ref name="Amendola2015pp62–63">Template:Harvp.</ref> The train of the CPRR also appeared in several Disney television specials in the 1950s.<ref name="Broggie2014p189">Template:Harvp.</ref><ref name="Broggie2014pp210–217">Template:Harvp.</ref> The Walt Disney World Railroad's Fantasyland Station area is nicknamed Carolwood Park, paying tribute to the CPRR.<ref name="Veness2015p48">Template:Harvp.</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Preservation
In 1965, Disney donated Template:Convert of the Carolwood Pacific Railroad's track, as well as the railroad's trestle, to the Los Angeles Live Steamers, a group of miniature steam train enthusiasts.<ref name="CarolwoodChronicleSpring2006"/><ref name="Stephens2013p42">Template:Harvp.</ref> Disney was a charter member of that group.<ref name="Broggie2014pp135–136"/> The completion of the CPRR's track installation at the Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum (LALSRM) in Los Angeles' Griffith Park was celebrated on October 22, 1966, and the route utilizing that track became known as the Disney Loop.<ref name="CarolwoodChronicleSpring2006"/> This event occurred a few weeks before Disney's death on December 15, 1966.<ref name="Broggie2014p314">Template:Harvp.</ref> In 1968, Lillian Disney donated the rest of the CPRR's track to the Los Angeles Live Steamers.<ref name="Danilov2013p102">Template:Harvp.</ref><ref name="CarolwoodChronicleSummer2014">Template:Cite magazine</ref> The original CPRR track on the Disney Loop has since been removed and replaced with newer, more durable track.<ref name="CarolwoodChronicleSummer2014"/>
After Lillian died in 1997, the Disney residence, including the area where the CPRR was located, was put up for sale.<ref name="Forbes"/> Mexican investor Gabriel Brener, who bought the property in 1998, demolished the original house due to issues with lead paint, lead piping, asbestos, and a weak foundation.<ref name="CarolwoodChronicleSummer2014"/> The CPRR's tunnel was still in place in 2013.<ref name="Forbes"/> In 2014, the property was sold to an unknown buyer.<ref name="CarolwoodChronicleSummer2014"/>
In 1999, Disney's Carolwood Barn, the CPRR's former control center, was relocated to the Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum.<ref name="CarolwoodChronicleWinter2000">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Morgan "Bill" Evans, the original landscaper of the Disney residence and several Disney theme parks, arranged for Walt Disney Imagineering to provide a landscaping plan for the barn's new site.<ref name="CarolwoodChronicleWinter2000"/> On July 19, Diane Disney Miller, Disney's daughter, participated in the rededication ceremony for the barn.<ref name="CarolwoodChronicleWinter2000"/>
Since 2009, the CPRR's Lilly Belle, some of the freight cars, and the caboose have been on display at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, California.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> There are also two pieces of CPRR rolling stock on display inside the Carolwood Pacific Railroad Room in the Boulder Ridge Villas at Disney's Wilderness Lodge within Walt Disney World.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
See also
References
Bibliography
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