As The Walt Disney Family Museum's major exhibition All Aboard: A Celebration of Walt's Train has been extended until March 15—and in recognition of Ward Kimball's centennial year—we're spending Wednesdays with Ward until his next birthday on March 4!
Part 1: First and Last Love…
Ward Kimball was nothing short of a renaissance man, with as many passions and talents as the many characters he animated. This past year, we celebrated the centennial of Ward’s birth. The world has had 100 years of Ward Kimball, and though he passed away in 2002, his influence and spirit remain in a multitude of legacies. Any retrospective of the man must begin with one thing: trains.
Though he found a career and fame in the pursuit of art and music, trains were really Ward’s first love. Taking train trips as a kid, Ward would describe walking up to the locomotive and shaking the engineer’s hand as “the biggest thrill of life.”
For over 50 years, there existed amidst the orange trees and suburban homes of San Gabriel, California, a little narrow gauge railroad. It was the dream of Ward and his wife Betty. The Grizzly Flats Railroad, as they called it, ran just 500 feet, up and down their backyard. This was no model layout, no dream—these were full-sized locomotives. Ward dubbed the first, acquired in 1938, the “Emma Nevada.” Formerly of the Nevada Central Railroad, the 1881 Baldwin Mogul hailed from the golden age of railroading. The Kimballs rebirthed her in greens and reds, steaming her up on weekends. The smell of coal dust mixed well with the perfume of citrus on a warm afternoon.
The second locomotive was smaller and came across the Pacific by boat from the sugar plantations of Hawaii. Again, the Kimballs spruced her up, modifying the 1907 Baldwin for easier use. They dubbed her the “Chloe” after their youngest daughter. Little “Chloe” was a wood burner, and became the family’s favorite for its compactness and character.
Grizzly Flats didn’t end with just the trains though. Also to be found was a whole slew of rolling stock, including a boxcar, stock car, flatcar, and caboose. Most impressive was Coach #5, formerly of the Carson and Colorado Railroad. It featured its original 19th century interior and, on the exterior, a highly characterized yellow paint scheme. The trains and rolling stock found rest in the red engine house, and next door were found a full water tower and Daisy windmill. Halfway down the line was the Grizzly Flats Depot, gifted to Ward by Walt Disney from the set of So Dear to My Heart (1948).
The Grizzly Flats Railroad was the “scenic wonder of the west,” a gathering place for a slew of friends and family at each steam up. No one knew quite how to have fun like the Kimballs. On October 20, 1945, Walt attended his first steam up party at the Kimball home. There, he served as chief engineer behind the throttle of the “Emma Nevada.” It was the first time Walt had driven a full-sized locomotive. Edging the train along five hundred feet of track, he was suddenly a kid again. His passion for trains was reignited. Walt would tell his studio nurse, “Kimball is always relaxed. Maybe it’s because he’s got that wonderful hobby running that big steam engine in his backyard.”
In 1948, at the height of a stressful work situation at the Studios, Walt invited Ward to take a vacation with him. The two boarded the famed Santa Fe Super Chief in Pasadena, and headed east for the Chicago Railroad Fair. The fair was a true spectacle, celebrating a near century’s worth of rich rail history. Ward would remember to historian Richard Hubler, “It was a thrill. It will never happen again because these things are all in museums and they can’t steam them up again. It was the last dying gasp of the railroads. So we played.”
Because of his railroad passion, Ward was able to become quite closer to Walt than others at the Studios. On the trip to Chicago, as Ward remembered, “he spent two nights telling me his entire history from the time he was a boy…he tells it just like a plot of one of his stories where good will[s] out and the villains will be defeated…” Ward had the rare privilege of seeing Walt open up a bit about himself. At the fair he experienced the boss at play, devoid of his work commitments. The two men, though certainly different, recognized each other’s genius and simply had fun.
The experiences Walt had with Ward, in Chicago and at Grizzly Flats, would be integral in the development of what would eventually become Disneyland. The railroad is the foundation of the park, and it was Ward Kimball’s passion for such that re-sparked Walt’s love for it.
The Grizzly Flats became famous over the decades as the country’s first private full size backyard railroad. Ward and Betty never lost their love for their trains. Beginning in the early 1990s, they ensured the future of the railroad by donating the trains and rolling stock to the Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, California. There to this day, a dedicated crew works to restore the locomotives to full operating order. Visitors to the Museum will be treated for a close up look at the “Emma Nevada,” the “Chloe,” and cars like the ornately painted Coach #5. One day, the trains of the Grizzly Flats Railroad will steam down a track again.
Though the renaissance of Ward Kimball always began and ended with trains, much came in between. When he wasn’t running his locomotives, he also found time to become one of the world’s greatest animators, as well as lead one of the world’s most famous jazz bands.
For more information on Ward Kimball and his Grizzly Flats Railroad, as well as how to visit to the Orange Empire Railway Museum, please check out their website here.
Lucas O. Seastrom served as a volunteer for two years before joining the staff as a Museum Educator in late 2014. He is a writer, filmmaker, and historian. His Disney studies can be found here.
Sources
- Hammond, Paul. Railway Odyssey: A Guidebook to the Orange Empire Railway Museum, Perris, California. Perris, CA: Museum, 1992. Print.
- "Interview with Ward Kimball by Richard Hubler." Walt's People. Talking Disney with the Artists Who Knew Him. Ed. Didier Ghez. Vol. 8. United States: Xlibris Corporation, 2008. 210-18. Print.
- Miller, Diane Disney, and Pete Martin. The Story of Walt Disney. New York: Disney Editions, 2005. Print.