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