Carolwood Pacific Railroad

The Carolwood Pacific Railroad was a private railroad built and owned by Walt Disney.

The layout of Walt's backyard railroad. The "barn" is the small building at top left. Lillian Disney had the tracks removed several years after Walt's death and donated them to the Los Angeles Live Steamers, a group of steam train enthusiasts. The house, the footprint of which is shown here, was demolished in the late 1990s.

Photos

From Jan-Eric Nyström

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  The Carolwood Pacific Railroad was Walt Disney's hobb for several years in the late 1940's and early 1950's. He built many of the parts himself, with help from other rail and steam hobbyists at the Disney studio, such as Ollie Johnston and Ward Kimball Photo by Ollie Johnson. Copyright 1950-1998 Ollie Johnson. Used with permission.

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  This is the "Lilly Belle", a live steam engine in 1:8 scale, 7 1/4" gauge, built by Walt and his friends in the workshops of the Disney Studio. It is now on display at the railroad station in Disneyland.. Photo by J-E Nystrom.

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  Another wiew of the Lilly Belle. The caboose was entirely built by Walt Disney himself. It is extremely detailed, with full interior furnishings. Photo by J-E Nystrom.

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  The edge of Walt's home and garage can be seen in the center & upper left in this picture. Photographed and Copyright © 1950-1998 by Ollie Johnston. Used with permission.

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  Photographed and Copyright © 1950-1998 by Ollie Johnston. Used with permission.

All of the equipment was removed when Walt's interest shifted to the 3-foot gauge steam locomotives at Disneyland.

For more information about this fascinating subject, see the book "Walt Disney's Railroad Story", by Michael Broggie. Forewords by Ward Kimball and Ollie Johnston. ISBN 1-56342-006-6

External Links

• "Carolwood Pacific Railroad", Wikipedia
• Carolwood Foundation
• Carolwood Pacific Historical Society