The railing shown here on the Northern Pacific's Oriental Limited,
typical of Pullman's design, may have been the inspiration
for the railing seen on the Lilly Belle.
These private conveyances were called "Palaces on Rails." As written in
Rails Across America (William L. Withuhn, Editor), "The private railroad car
has always been a status symbol for aristocracy and the extravagantly wealthy. A
veritable land yacht on wheels." And indeed they were. Private railroad cars
represented the apex of car design and luxury during the golden era of rail
travel in America. According to Rails Across America, "The cars
themselves were the finest examples of the car builder's art, with décor
borrowed from the latest hotels and restaurants. Inlaid wood, japanning, French
polishing, carvings tapestries and plush upholstery typified Pullman Palace Car
interiors."
The history of the private railroad car goes back nearly as far as rail
travel itself. Abraham Lincoln owned one of the fist private railroad cars, but
a Southern assassin would see that its only use would be in transporting
Lincoln's body back to Illinois for burial.
The Lackawanna Railroad's fictional spokeswoman, Phoebe Snow, enjoys the passing
scenery from the brass railing of her train's observation car (soot never soiled
her white outfits, because the railroad used cleaner-burning anthracite coal).
Another Midwesterner and a railroad magnate on a small scale who would pass
form this earth a century after the Great Emancipator, Walt Disney may have
wanted a private car to ride on his personal railroad, but unfortunately, like
Lincoln, he too did not live to see that dream become a reality. But as a
consolation, Walt Disney got to "play trains" on a scale few of us will ever
know.
When Walt Disney was designing the railroad for his first theme park in
Anaheim, California, in 1954, his idea was to have two trains, representing two
different eras, and portraying two different types of trains. One train would be
patterned after the freight trains that sped across the west and the Great
Plains, carrying cattle and freight to Eastern markets. This train would feature
a balloon-stacked steam locomotive looking like a wood burner from the 1870s,
and its rolling stock would consist of stock cars and gondolas. The final car of
the original six-car train would be an authentic caboose, the little car at the
end of freight trains that had an elevated "lookout" area, called a "cupola,"
where the conductor or brakeman could keep an eye on the train.
The second train conceived by Walt would be an 1880s passenger train, pulled
by a brass cap-stacked speed queen of the 1890s. The cars would be modeled on
typical open-platform coaches of the era, and the train would also be 6 cars in
length. Master Disney draftsman Eddie Sargeant began laying out engineering
drawings of this passenger train on August 14th, 1954, and they were all
constructed in an identical fashion inside a soundstage at the Disney Studios in
Burbank, CA. The entire set of cars cost $93,332 to build--nearly double what it
cost to build the freight train.
All the cars were built with steel beam under frames, while the interiors and
exteriors would be built of wood, just as the prototypes were. Outside, they
would be sheathed in tongue-and-groove siding, while inside, mahogany would be
used to panel the walls and ceilings. The "trucks" (wheelsets and frames) and
other related hardware were purchased from a supplier of railroad equipment in
Seattle called C.M. Lovsted Co. Speakers were installed in each end of the cars,
and flush-mounted lamps were placed in the ceiling. The doors on the cars' ends
would feature unusual arched tops, and the upper "clerestory" roof would utilize
a versatile new material that was finding wide use at the young theme park:
Frosted fiberglass panels would replace expensive glass in these upper windows.
One of the faux-brass ceiling lamps used on
Disneyland's first passenger cars.
The cars were painted a canary yellow, with bright red doors and window
sashes. Dark hunter green trim was used on the corner posts of the cars, with
gold scrollwork. The letter board above the windows was also painted with the
hunter green, and lettered "Santa Fe & Disneyland R.R." The cars had
salmon-colored roofs, and the trucks were painted an olive green, with red
wheels.
The entire train set was known by cast members as "Retlaw1," in reference to
Walt's personal company that operated the Disneyland trains, and each car bore a
name as well as a number. The original and only sponsor of the Disneyland trains
from 1955 through 1974 was the venerable Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Ry., and
the cars' names would reflect that sponsorship. The first car was a combination
baggage car and coach, called a "combine" and named Wells Fargo Express,
No. 101. Following that would be four coaches, with passenger seating
throughout. These cars were No. 102 Navajo Chief, No. 103 Colorado
Rockies, No. 104 Land of Pueblos, and No. 105 Painted Desert.
Bringing up the rear was a car that differed subtly from the four coaches
that preceded it. The car was numbered 106, and it bore the stately name
Grand Canyon.
An unusual view of Retlaw 1, featuring the observation
car Grand Canyon, around 1957.
