“I suppose I’ve always been in love with trains,” Walt wrote, and in October we will celebrate his lifelong locomotive love at The Walt Disney Family Museum, and here on Storyboard.
When Walt Disney made the trip from Kansas City, Missouri to Los Angles, California in July of 1923, he boarded the famed Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe passenger train, the California Limited. Inaugurated in 1892 and surviving until 1954, the California Limited was a true “workhorse” of the famed railroad.
The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF), often abbreviated as Santa Fe, was one of the larger railroads in the United States. The company was first chartered in February 1859, and was widely known for its high-quality passenger train service in the first half of the 20th century, finally ending its passenger operations on May 1, 1971.
Disneyland, even in its earliest incarnations, was always the home to a train. When it was planned as a “magical little park” on a tiny 11-acre site across from the Studio, an encircling train ride was a part of the plan. When Walt gave direction to famed artist Herb Ryman for the first major concept rendering of the Park in September of 1953, the artist recalled Walt saying, “Herbie, I just want it to look like nothing else in the world. And it should be surrounded by a train.”
When seeking sponsorships for the circuit railway that would surround Disneyland, it must have been a sentimental victory when the only response came from the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe. Thus, the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad came to be.
Four of the five Disneyland locomotives are named for executives of the Santa Fe Railroad: C. K. Holliday, founder of the railroad in 1859; E. P. Ripley, an early president of the ATSF after its 1895 reorganization; Fred Gurley, named for the chairman of the ATSF at the time of the locomotive’s installation in March of 1958; and the Ernest S. Marsh, named for the president of the ATSF at the time of that locomotive’s service start in July of 1959. (The fifth locomotive, which went into permanent service on June 25, 2005, is named for legendary Disney animator and director Ward Kimball.)
Walt Disney, along with California Governor Goodwin J. Knight and Fred G. Gurley (in his capacity as president of the Santa Fe) presided over the opening-day ceremonies in 1955. The Santa Fe sponsored the attraction from its opening until 1974. Santa Fe was by then out of the passenger train business, and could not justify the sponsorship expenses. The Santa Fe name was removed—though the engines’ names remained.
The Great Locomotive Chase screens daily through October at 1pm & 4pm (except Tuesdays, and October 15). Tickets are available at the Reception and Member Service Desk at the Museum, or online by clicking here.