Major Exhibit about Walt Disney and Railroading this Fall!

[CP173]

Last weekend, we celebrated The Great Locomotive Chase at The Walt Disney Family Museum. During the show, I announced a major new exhibit about Walt Disney and trains. Scheduled to open this November, this show will explore the impact that railroading had upon Walt's life and work. It will feature rare artwork and artifacts, some of which have never been on public display. We're also going to feature operating models railroads throughout and are hoping to present a speaker series, too.

The working title for the show is, "I have always loved trains", named after an article that Walt wrote for the October 1965 issue of Railroad magazine. We are in the early planning stages right now, but the current plan is for this show to occupy the entire Diane Disney Miller Exhibit Hall at the Museum. This gives us the opportunity to tell the story of Walt, his trains and his legacy to a greater depth than all of our previous exhibits combined.

I'm honored to have been asked to be the Curator of this show. Our goal is present an exhibit that is entertaining, informative and enjoyable by the entire family. I'll provide updates here as all the "blue sky" ideas we are talking about now become real.

[Fire Geek]

That will be so cool! How long will it run?

[CP173]

At this point, the plan is to open early November and run through January 2015. However, please don't book any flights or hotels just yet Those dates could shift a bit.

[Steve DeGaetano]

Congratulations, Michael. With you at the helm I'm sure it will be an awesome event!

[CP173]

Thanks, Steve!

BTW, if any of you have ideas or suggestions you'd like to share, please send them to me via PM. I can't promise that we'd use any of them -- I've already proposed a few things that are highly impractical, but would be awesome -- but I'd love to hear your thoughts just the same.

[jazzfan4]

That will be fun, I won't book any flights but I can always come by CZ on AMTRAK on a two week notice.

[TFN5459]

Will definitely be looking forward to this. The Presidio is less than an hour from me but I've honestly only been there once. Will this exhibit be in the Diane Disney hall replacing the Mark Davis and Mary Blair Exhibits (want to catch those too ). Can't wait to see the operating layouts and what other "goodies and surprises" the railroad exhibit has in store.

[CP173]

Hi, TFN, the Marc Davis exhibit is in the foyer by the theater. The Mary Blair exhibit is in the Diane Disney Miller Exhibit Hall, formerly the Presidio gymnasium. That's where our exhibit will be housed.

Hope to see you there!

[Pullman]

From the Walt Disney Family Museum - http://www.waltdisney.org/trains


All Aboard: A Celebration of Walt's Trains
The Walt Disney Family Museum is pleased to present All Aboard: A Celebration of Walt’s Trains, on view from November 13, 2014 through February 9, 2015. This comprehensive exhibition explores the influence that railroading had on Walt Disney's life and work. It also tells the story of how his railroading legacy lives on to this day in Disney films and theme parks around the world. Including more than 200 artifacts, firsthand accounts, archival videos, images of Walt and his trains, and actual model trains running throughout the show, All Aboard highlights how Walt's passion for trains developed long before manifesting itself in Disney short cartoons, feature films, and in Walt's personal life at home.

Guest curator Michael Campbell, president of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society, constructed the exhibition to reflect Walt’s railroad journey as told through multiple chapters: Lighting the Fire, Building Steam, Gaining Speed, Full Throttle, Switching Tracks, Branching Out, A Grand Circle Tour Around The World, and Coming Full Circle. The exhibition’s conclusion reminds us that, even over a century later, Walt’s railroading influence remains as a vibrant and relevant force.

In the early 1900s, trains weren’t just a means of transportation; they were a lifeline and critical to the development of the United States. Walt’s father Elias, along with his Uncle Mike, worked on the railroad. This instigated Walt‘s fascination of railroading. One of Walt’s earliest jobs was as a news butcher for a few months in 1916, selling magazines and snacks on the Missouri Pacific, Kansas City Southern, and the Missouri-Kansas-Texas railroads. About this experience, Walt said: “My railroad career was brief, exciting, and unprofitable.” Little did he know that a number of his later successes would involve railroading, in both his personal and professional lives.

During a cross-country rail trip to New York in early 1928, Walt not only lost his cartoon star Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, but also half of his animation staff to his film distributor. Before boarding the return train to California, Walt sent his brother Roy a telegram: “Don’t worry, everything OK.” On the train home, Walt contemplated a new character—a mouse, which he named Mortimer. His wife Lillian had a different idea, and, with their collaboration on a name, Mickey Mouse was born.

After Mickey’s debut in Steamboat Willie on November 18, 1928, he would star with a train in the 1929 short Mickey’s Choo-Choo. Trains would also make appearances in future Disney shorts and films, either as plot devices or as characters of their own—with The Brave Engineer (1950) and Casey Jr. from the 1941 classic Dumbo. In the move to live-action films, it was inevitable that the Studios began featuring more trains, including the ones seen in So Dear to My Heart and The Great Locomotive Chase. Around this time, Walt also fulfilled a long-time desire: he bought and built a tabletop model train layout in his office suite, running it whenever he had a spare moment. He enjoyed showing it off to visitors, including some of his own animators who were train buffs themselves.

In July of 1948, Walt boarded a train to attend the Chicago Railroad Fair. In addition to being invited to participate in the “Wheels-a-Rolling” pageant—where classic trains paraded by—Walt was deeply moved by the recreation of the funeral train for the president he most admired: Abraham Lincoln. Also, after visiting the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan on his way back to California, Walt was impressed and inspired by the attractions of this park, which included a 4-4-0 locomotive that pulled guests around the estate. When he returned home, Walt constructed his own steam engine—a 1/8th scale model, that he named the Lilly Belle in honor of his wife Lillian. This train circled on a half-mile track, looping around his home in Holmby Hills. Also at this time, he began documenting ideas for a “Mickey Mouse Park,” a family park he would build that would include a railroad station.

Walt was undeniably a great storyteller. So it came as no surprise when he used railroading as a tool to fully immerse his audience in stories planted throughout his Magic Kingdom: Disneyland. In all of the Park’s lands, locomotives served a greater purpose than just transportation. They were also essential elements to the story, responsible for helping guests imagine themselves part of an American train voyage at the turn of the 20th Century.

The journey of this exhibition doesn’t start and end with just Walt, though. All Aboard also explores the interest and passion for railroading of Walt’s friends and staff, including two of Walt’s “Nine Old Men,” animators Ward Kimball and Ollie Johnston. Notably, Kimball was the first private owner of a full-sized steam locomotive, and Johnston’s railroading hobby was latent until he stumbled upon the miniature train Walt was building in his office. Showcased alongside the animators are WED Enterprises’ Imagineers - “Imagination Engineers” - Roger Broggie and Bob Gurr, whose creative locomotives helped Walt transport his guests throughout Disneyland, and later, the Magic Kingdom Park in the Walt Disney World Resort.

Finally, All Aboard will reveal how Walt’s railroad legacy continues today. Guests will learn how Disney theme parks and films continue to honor trains and railroading, from recent creations to those that have yet to be imagined.

ABOUT THE CURATOR

Michael Campbell’s love of steam railroading was sparked by a childhood trip to Disneyland. He is currently the President of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society and a Board Member Emeritus of the Carolwood Foundation, the non-profit organization that maintains and operates Walt Disney's Barn in Griffith Park. Exhibitions celebrating Walt's love of trains, planned and prepared by Campbell, were showcased at the California State Railroad Museum in 2002 and at the Disney Gallery in 2012. Campbell has presented talks about Walt and railroading for many groups, including Disneyland Resort, Walt Disney World Resort, Pixar Animation Studios, and various schools, charities and railroad organizations. Recently, he was the Project Director for the Carolwood Foundation's project to acquire, restore, and preserve the Wells Fargo Combine: Walt’s favorite car from his Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad passenger train.

Campbell—in collaboration with Walt’s daughter Diane Disney Miller, and her son Walter Elias Disney Miller—assisted in the creation of railroad-related content on view in The Walt Disney Family Museum’s core galleries.

All Aboard: A Celebration of Walt’s Trains is produced by The Walt Disney Family Museum and is made possible, in part, with support from Lionel, LLC.

[Retlaw7]

There is still some availability left on Roger's private car trip From LA to Oakland the weekend of the 23rd thru 25th, to visit the Walt Disney Family Museum for the Walt's Train Exhibit.
It is aboard the Silver Splendor. Contact Pullman (Roger) if you are interested ASAP!