Walt Disney built a 2,615-foot railroad in his backyard in 1950; when his house was demolished decades later, one tiny barn was saved and moved

For a few years in the 1950s, Walt Disney had an unusual feature in his Holmby Hills backyard: a working miniature railway stretching for more than half a mile. The Carolwood Pacific Railroad ran for 2,615 feet around the property, crossing a trestle, disappearing into a tunnel and passing beneath his wife’s flower bed. Beside the tracks stood a small barn where Disney could operate switches, work on his trains and spend time away from the demands of his growing studio. The railway disappeared after the family’s home was sold and the property was redeveloped. The barn faced the same fate, but it was saved before the old structures were demolished. Dismantled, stored and eventually moved to Griffith Park, the building survives today as a tangible remnant of Disney’s private railroad and a small piece of the setting where he spent time working on ideas.Walt Disney built the Carolwood Pacific Railroad in his backyardDisney began building the Carolwood Pacific Railroad in 1950, naming it after Carolwood Drive, the Holmby Hills street where his family lived. The project gave him a chance to indulge a long-standing interest in railways on a much larger scale than a model train running around a table.According to The Carolwood Foundation, the first train travelled the line on May 7, 1950. By then, Disney had created about 2,615 feet of track around the grounds. The railway included a 46-foot trestle and a 90-foot tunnel, the latter running beneath an area occupied by his wife’s flower bed.Disney could use it to monitor the railway and control its track switches remotely, while the building also gave him somewhere to repair and work on his trains.The barn became a place where railway work could sit alongside the other projects occupying his attention, with friends also using it as somewhere to gather. Its later history would give the otherwise modest building an importance separate from the railroad itself.The barn remained on the property after Disney's house was eventually sold. That became significant when the new owners discovered serious problems with the existing structures, including structural concerns and asbestos. Plans to retain the original house could not go ahead, and the buildings were demolished before a new residence was constructed.Diane Disney Miller found a way to save Disney’s railroad barnThe barn might have disappeared with the rest of the property had Disney’s daughter, Diane Disney Miller, not recognised that it could be preserved separately.Before the sale process was complete, Miller contacted Michael and Sharon Broggie, who had founded the Carolwood Society and were familiar with the history of Disney’s backyard railway. The question was no longer whether the barn could remain where it stood, but whether it could be carefully taken apart and given another home.A contractor, Bill Abel, was brought in to dismantle the structure. The pieces were stored while arrangements were worked out for its eventual relocation. It took an agreement involving the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Live Steamers Museum to establish where the barn could be reconstructed.The Carolwood barn reopened inside a Griffith Park railwayReportedly, the solution was Griffith Park, where the barn was eventually opened to the public on July 19, 1999. It was placed within the Los Angeles Live Steamers Museum’s 1/8-scale railway, matching the scale Disney had used for his own line.The setting is very different from the Holmby Hills backyard, but the railway connection remains. Instead of sitting beside the original house and garden, the barn now occupies a landscaped section of Griffith Park surrounded by the miniature railway.What remains insideThe barn is a relatively small building, but its contents help explain how Disney used it. Items connected with his railroading are displayed there, alongside material relating to the history of the railroad and Disneyland.This was where Disney worked on his trains and spent time thinking through ideas away from the main activity of his professional life. The Carolwood Society describes the barn as having a connection to the early thinking behind what would later become known as Imagineering.The railroad itself is long gone from the Holmby Hills property. The barn is the surviving physical link.The Carolwood barn remains open to visitors in Griffith ParkToday, visitors can see the preserved barn at the Los Angeles Live Steamers Museum on the third Sunday of each month. It is open from 11am to 3pm, with free admission and free parking. Donations are accepted by the museum.The original Carolwood Pacific Railroad no longer winds through Disney’s former backyard. Its trestle, tunnel and 2,615-foot course belonged to a particular place and period of his life. The small barn had a different fate.Catch the latest World News and Live updates. Download the TOI app.