Hi Railroad  and Disney buddies!  Attached is one of my submissions to this months Garden Railway newsletter...Read or delete! 

I hope that you are having a pleasant week....Bill

WALT’S TRAINS

Musings of a Disney Railroad fan

“Disneyland will never be completed. It will grow as long as there is imagination left in the world” -Walt Disney No attraction or ride demonstrates Walt Disney’s commitment to change and innovation more than the Disneyland Railroad. As one of the original rides on opening day in 1955, the Disneyland Railroad has been “plussed” multiple times through the years beginning with the addition of The Grand Canyon Diorama in1958. A temporary bypass track was installed on the Disneyland Railroad during the construction of the show building so that daily railroad operation would not impacted. Delmer J. Yoakum, a well known fine arts painter, designer and motion picture background artist was selected to paint the south rim view of the Grand Canyon on a single piece of seamless canvas 306 ft long and 34 feet high. Yoakum had worked on movie background scenes for Paramount, 20 th Century Fox, MGM and did special assignments for Walt Disney Studios. Show building construction, diorama painting, installation of foreground rockwork and lifelike animals required 80,000 labor hours at a cost of $367,000 to complete. The project was promoted as the longest diorama in the world and was blessed by 96 year old Hopi Chief Nevangnewa during the Disneyland Railroads inauguration run on March 31, 1958.

The addition of the Grand Canyon Diorama prompted changes to some of the DRR rolling stock including the installation side facing bench seating and the removal of the cattle car walls allowing for better viewing of the diorama, as well as the addition of several new gondola cars to the freight train set. Prior to the modifications the cattle cars had no seating requiring passengers to stand for the entire Disneyland Circle Tour. Walt Disney had insisted that there be no seats as he wanted the passengers to feel like cattle on an actual cattle train!

With the close of the 1964 New York Worlds Fair, the Audio- Animatronic dinosaurs created by Disney for Ford’s Magic Skyway attraction were shipped to Anahiem and incorporated into the Primeval World Diorama adjacent to The Grand Canyon Diorama. Delmar J. Yoakum was once again selected to paint the diorama background as well as being tapped to paint portions of the Pirates of the Caribbean, It’s a Small World, and the Haunted Mansion attractions. The Primeval World Diorama was one of the last additions made to Disneyland before Walt Disney’s passing on December 15, 1966.

During the 2017 closure and rerouting of the Disneyland Railroad to accommodate the construction of the new Star Wars attractions, new scenes were added, the tunnel improved and the Grand Canyon and Primeval World Dioramas were plussed with realistic digital projections, Audio-Animatronic animals and enhanced lightning strikes. 63 years after it’s first run, the Disneyland Railroad continues to evolve and entertain millions. - Bill Ralph