The Grizzly Flats Railroad (GFRR) was a 3-foot ()

narrow-gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structur ...

heritage railroad A heritage railway or heritage railroad (US usage) is a railway operated as living history to re-create or preserve railway scenes of the past. Heritage railways are often old railway lines preserved in a state depicting a period (or periods) i ...

owned by Disney animator

Ward Kimball Ward Walrath Kimball (March 4, 1914 – July 8, 2002) was an American animator employed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. He was part of Walt Disney's main team of animators, known collectively as Disney's Nine Old Men. His films have been honored ...

at his home in San Gabriel, California. The railroad had of track, and was operated from 1942 to 2006. It was the first full-size

backyard railroad __NOTOC__ A backyard railroad is a privately owned, outdoor railroad, most often in miniature, but large enough for one or several persons to ride on. The rail gauge can be anything from to or more. Smaller backyard or outdoor railroads that c ...

in the United States. The GFRR was notable for helping

Walt Disney Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...

rediscover his childhood fascination with trains, which led him to build the

Carolwood Pacific Railroad The Carolwood Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a -inch () gauge ridable miniature railroad run by Walt Disney in the backyard of his home in the Holmby Hills, Los Angeles, Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It featured the ''Lill ...

, a ridable miniature railroad in his backyard. The GFRR also influenced the design of the

Disneyland Railroad The Disneyland Railroad (DRR), formerly known as the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, is a 3-foot () narrow-gauge heritage railroad and attraction in the Disneyland theme park of the Disneyland Resort in Anaheim, California, in the United St ...

within the

Disneyland Disneyland is a amusement park, theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney in ...

theme park in

Anaheim, California Anaheim ( ) is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States Census, the city had a population of 346,824, making it the most populous city in Orange County, the 10th-most p ...

. The GFRR's

rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can b ...

, including the two

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

s owned by Kimball, are now on display at the

Southern California Railway Museum The Southern California Railway Museum (SCRM, reporting mark OERX), formerly known as the Orange Empire Railway Museum, is a railroad museum in Perris, California, United States. It was founded in 1956 at Griffith Park in Los Angeles before moving ...

(formerly the Orange Empire Railway Museum) in

Perris, California Perris is an old railway city in Riverside County, California, United States, located east-southeast of Los Angeles and north of San Diego. It is known for Lake Perris, an artificial lake, skydiving, and its sunny dry climate. Perris is wit ...

. The railroad's

depot Depot ( or ) may refer to: Places * Depot, Poland, a village * Depot Island, Kemp Land, Antarctica * Depot Island, Victoria Land, Antarctica * Depot Island Formation, Greenland Brands and enterprises * Maxwell Street Depot, a restaurant in ...

building and

water tower A water tower is an elevated structure supporting a water tank constructed at a height sufficient to pressurize a water distribution system, distribution system for potable water, and to provide emergency storage for fire protection. Water towe ...

were moved to the Justi Creek Railway, a private railroad owned by

John Lasseter John Alan Lasseter (; born January 12, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, animator, voice actor, and the head of animation at Skydance Animation. He was previously the chief creative officer of Pixar Animation Studios, ...

History

In 1938, Disney animator

, a lifelong

railfan A railfan, rail buff or train buff (American English), railway enthusiast, railway buff or trainspotter (Australian/British English), or ferroequinologist is a person who is recreationally interested in trains and rail transport systems. Rail ...

, purchased a

passenger coach A passenger railroad car or passenger car (United States), also called a passenger carriage, passenger coach (United Kingdom and International Union of Railways), or passenger bogie (India) is a railroad car that is designed to carry passen ...

, built in 1881 by the

Barney and Smith Car Company Barney and Smith Car Company was a railroad car manufacturer in Dayton, Ohio. {{coord, 39.767096, -84.175273, display=title Founded in 1849 by Eliam Eliakim Barney and Ebenezer Thresher as Thresher, Packard & Company, it changed names as partne ...

, from the

Carson and Colorado Railroad The Carson and Colorado Railway was a U.S. narrow gauge railroad that ran from Mound House, Nevada, to Keeler, California below the Cerro Gordo Mines. It was incorporated on May 10, 1880 as the Carson and Colorado ''Railroad'', and constructio ...

... He originally wanted the coach to house his collection of

model trains Railway modelling (UK, Australia, New Zealand, and Ireland) or model railroading (US and Canada) is a hobby in which rail transport systems are modelled at a reduced scale. The scale models include locomotives, rolling stock, streetcars, t ...

at his home in San Gabriel, California; however, his wife Betty suggested that he should also have a locomotive to pull the coach.. A suitable locomotive, the ''Sidney Dillon'', was purchased for $400 from the

Nevada Central Railroad The Nevada Central Railroad was a narrow gauge railroad completed in 1880 between Battle Mountain and Austin, Nevada. The railroad was constructed to connect Austin, the center of a rich silver mining area, with the transcontinental railroad, ...

, which was selling it for scrap.. A

2-6-0 Under the Whyte notation for the classification of steam locomotives, represents the wheel arrangement of two leading wheels on one axle, usually in a leading truck, six powered and coupled driving wheels on three axles and no trailing wheels. ...

built by

Baldwin Locomotive Works The Baldwin Locomotive Works (BLW) was an American manufacturer of railroad locomotives from 1825 to 1951. Originally located in Philadelphia, it moved to nearby Eddystone, Pennsylvania, in the early 20th century. The company was for decades t ...

in 1881, it was renamed ''Emma Nevada'', after the late 1800s opera star

Emma Nevada Emma Nevada (née Wixom) (7 February 1859 – 20 June 1940) was an American operatic soprano particularly known for her performances in operas by Bellini and Donizetti and the French composers Ambroise Thomas, Charles Gounod, and Léo Del ...

. Over the course of several years, Kimball, his family, and his friends worked to restore the engine to operating condition. The railroad became operational in 1942. Kimball named his railroad ''Grizzly Flats Railroad'' (GFRR), which eventually consisted of of narrow-gauge track, including a

main line Mainline, ''Main line'', or ''Main Line'' may refer to: Transportation Railway * Main line (railway), the principal artery of a railway system * Main line railway preservation, the practice of operating preserved trains on an operational railw ...

. The GFRR became the first full-size backyard railroad in the United States.. In the years to follow, Kimball added a

boxcar A boxcar is the North American ( AAR) term for a railroad car that is enclosed and generally used to carry freight. The boxcar, while not the simplest freight car design, is considered one of the most versatile since it can carry most ...

, a

cattle car A cattle wagon or a livestock wagon is a type of railway vehicle designed to carry livestock. Within the classification system of the International Union of Railways they fall under Class H - special covered wagons - which, in turn are part of the ...

, a

gondola The gondola (, ; vec, góndoła ) is a traditional, flat-bottomed Venetian rowing boat, well suited to the conditions of the Venetian lagoon. It is typically propelled by a gondolier, who uses a rowing oar, which is not fastened to the hull ...

, a

caboose A caboose is a crewed North American railroad car coupled at the end of a freight train. Cabooses provide shelter for crew at the end of a train, who were formerly required in switching and shunting, keeping a lookout for load shifting, damag ...

, and a second locomotive to the GFRR.. The second locomotive was a steam locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1907, and was originally run on the Waimanalo Sugar Plantation on the

Hawaiian island The Hawaiian Islands ( haw, Nā Mokupuni o Hawai‘i) are an archipelago of eight major islands, several atolls, and numerous smaller islets in the North Pacific Ocean, extending some from the island of Hawaii in the south to northernmost Ku ...

Oahu Oahu () (Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering place#Island of Oʻahu as The Gathering Place, Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over t ...

. Kimball renamed the locomotive from ''Pokaa'' to ''Chloe'', after one of his daughters.. As opposed to the ''Chloe'', which burned wood to generate steam, the ''Emma Nevada'' burned coal. Kimball was forced to stop running the ''Emma Nevada'' in 1967 due to complaints from his neighbors regarding the coal smoke it created. The ''Chloe'' pulled a set of train cars custom made by Kimball, consisting of a four-bench open car built around 1975 and two passenger-carrying gondolas built around 1993. Kimball gradually added several structures to the GFRR, including a roundhouse, a water tower, a

windmill A windmill is a structure that converts wind power into rotational energy using vanes called windmill sail, sails or blades, specifically to mill (grinding), mill grain (gristmills), but the term is also extended to windpumps, wind turbines, and ...

, and a depot building.. The depot building was given to him by his boss, Walt Disney, and was originally used as a set piece for the 1949 Disney film ''

So Dear to My Heart ''So Dear to My Heart'' is a 1948 American live-action/animated film produced by Walt Disney and released by RKO Radio Pictures. Its world premiere was in Chicago, Illinois, on November 29, 1948. Like 1946's ''Song of the South'', the film comb ...

''.. Kimball died in 2002, but his family continued to operate the GFRR until 2006.

Influences and preservation

Kimball shared his railroad hobby with fellow Disney animator

Ollie Johnston Oliver Martin Johnston Jr. (October 31, 1912 – April 14, 2008) was an American motion picture animator. He was one of Disney's Nine Old Men, and the last surviving at the time of his death from natural causes. He was recognized by The Walt ...

, who owned a ridable miniature railroad, and Walt Disney... On October 20, 1945, Disney attended one of the Kimball's "steam-ups", which were parties hosted at their home when the Grizzly Flats Railroad was in operation.. During the party, Disney was given the opportunity to drive the GFRR's ''Emma Nevada'' locomotive, which was the first time since working as a teenager on the

Missouri Pacific Railway The Missouri Pacific Railroad , commonly abbreviated as MoPac, was one of the first railroads in the United States west of the Mississippi River. MoPac was a Class I railroad growing from dozens of predecessors and mergers. In 1967, the railroad o ...

that he had been inside a

locomotive cab The cab, crew compartment or driver's compartment of a locomotive, or a self-propelled rail vehicle, is the part housing the train driver, fireman or secondman (if any), and the controls necessary for the locomotive or self-propelled rail v ...

. Disney eventually decided to have his own backyard railroad built, which he named ''Carolwood Pacific Railroad''.. His ridable miniature backyard railroad, and the narrow-gauge GFRR, inspired Disney to create the Disneyland Railroad within the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California.. The Disneyland Railroad's depot building in the

Frontierland Frontierland is one of the "themed lands" at the many Disneyland-style parks run by Disney around the world. Themed to the American Frontier of the 19th century, Frontierlands are home to cowboys and pioneers, saloons, red rock buttes and gol ...

section of the park was built using the same

blueprint A blueprint is a reproduction of a technical drawing or engineering drawing using a contact print process on light-sensitive sheets. Introduced by Sir John Herschel in 1842, the process allowed rapid and accurate production of an unlimited number ...

s for the GFRR's depot building. In late 1992, Kimball began to donate the GFRR's rolling stock to the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, California. The last of the rolling stock remaining on the GFRR, including the ''Chloe'' locomotive, was put on display at the museum in 2007. The GFRR's depot building and water tower were acquired by former

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californi ...

film director John Lasseter, who moved them to his private Justi Creek Railway..

References

Bibliography

* *

External links

Southern California Railway Museum (Grizzly Flats Railroad Collection)
{{Coord, 34.1187, -118.0747, display=title 1942 establishments in California 2006 disestablishments in California 3 ft gauge railways in the United States Amusement rides based on rail transport Backyard railroads in the United States Heritage railroads in California Railway lines opened in 1942 Railway lines closed in 2006 San Gabriel, California

History

Influences and preservation

See also

References

Bibliography

External links