Derailed Dream: Why Walt Disney's Famous Backyard Train Ran for Only 3 Years

A Hobby Born from Passion

For many, the image of Walt Disney is synonymous with animation and theme parks. But behind the creator of Mickey Mouse was a man with a profound, lifelong fascination with trains. This passion wasn't just a fleeting interest; it was a driving force that led to the creation of one of the most famous backyard railroads in history: the Carolwood Pacific Railroad. Encouraged by his doctor to find a relaxing hobby and inspired by fellow animators Ward Kimball and Ollie Johnston who had their own backyard railways, Walt embarked on a project that would become the stuff of legend. It would also, surprisingly, be one of his shortest-lived ventures.

Building the Carolwood Pacific

This was no simple model train set. The Carolwood Pacific was an ambitious 1/8th-scale live steam railway, meticulously engineered and built with the help of Roger E. Broggie and the Walt Disney Studios machine shop. The star of the line was the locomotive, No. 173, a stunning replica of the Central Pacific Railroad's 4-4-0 steam engine, which Walt lovingly named the Lilly Belle in honor of his wife, Lillian. The track snaked for over 2,600 feet around his Holmby Hills estate, featuring a 46-foot-long trestle bridge and a 90-foot S-curve tunnel that ran directly beneath Lillian's prized flower beds—a feature she wryly called the “tilly” tunnel. For a brief time, starting in 1950, Walt's backyard was a railroader's paradise.

The Incident That Halted Everything

Walt delighted in sharing his railroad, often donning an engineer's cap and overalls to give rides to family, friends, and studio guests. For three golden years, the Lilly Belle chugged along its private route, a source of immense joy and a tangible expression of Walt's passion. But in 1953, this idyllic chapter came to an abrupt end. During one run, a steam pop-off valve malfunctioned, and a young girl who was visiting received minor burns on her leg from the escaping steam. Though the injury was not serious, the incident deeply affected Walt. His commitment to safety was absolute, a principle that would later become a cornerstone of his theme parks.

Walt's number one priority was the safety of his guests. The minute that happened, he said, 'That's it. We're shutting it down.' He took the locomotive, put it in the machine shop at the studio, and it never ran at the house again.

Immediately following the incident, Walt Disney made the decisive call to shut down the Carolwood Pacific Railroad for good. The dream, it seemed, was derailed.

A New Terminus: Disneyland

While the Carolwood Pacific's operational life was cut short, its spirit was anything but extinguished. The experience of designing, building, and operating his own railroad was a crucial prototype for something much, much bigger. The passion and ideas cultivated in his backyard were channeled directly into his vision for a new kind of family entertainment venue. When Disneyland Park opened just two years later in 1955, a full-sized steam train, the Disneyland Railroad, was one of its premier attractions, circling the park and welcoming guests. The Carolwood Pacific was not an end, but a scale model for a dream that millions would come to share. Its legacy lives on not just in the theme parks, but in preserved pieces of its history, from the original Lilly Belle locomotive housed at the Walt Disney Family Museum to Walt's personal workshop barn, which now resides in Griffith Park, a lasting monument to a three-year legend.

Sources

• Wikipedia - Carolwood Pacific Railroad
• The Walt Disney Family Museum - The Lilly Belle
• The Carolwood Foundation