Building and operating a full-scale railroad in your backyard would be a dream come true for many devoted railfans, and renowned Disney animator Ward Kimball lived that dream for more than 60 years at his Southern California home.
The iconic San Gabriel backyard railroad was dubbed the “Grizzly Flats Railroad – The Scenic Wonder of The West” by Kimball – a fanciful name for a line with 900 feet of track on two acres, surrounded by citrus groves.
I had heard of the Grizzly Flats Railroad, but my personal connection began recently while working on a volunteer project to sort photo-historian L.T. Gotchy’s enormous photo collection donated in 2023 to the San Bernardino Historical and Pioneer Society. Gotchy, 92, died in 2014.
It was during my volunteer work, that I found Gotchy’s connection to Kimball, in a box of nostalgic images appropriately labeled “Grizzly Flats Railroad.”
Through further research, I found Dick Donat, a former friend and colleague of Gotchy’s who had extensive knowledge of the late photographer’s life and his time on the Grizzly Flats Railroad. Donat joyfully shared some of his memories of the times they spent at Kimball’s backyard railroad.
Kimball (1914 – 2002) became an animator for Walt Disney’s studios in 1934, and while art and music were his life’s work, trains were his passion. Kimball was one of Disney’s “Nine Old Men,” a group of the studio’s core animators from the 1920s to the 1980s.
Kimball and Walt Disney shared a love of trains, and that became a bond that strongly influenced both men’s careers and hobbies. Kimball’s backyard railroad inspired Disney, and his passion for trains was deeply woven into the fabric of Disneyland.
Grizzly Flats Railroad began in 1938 with Kimball’s purchase of a dilapidated wooden passenger coach for $50. His wife Betty encouraged him to go big and build a full-sized railroad on their ranch property.
Within a few short years, Kimball’s quirky hobby blossomed…
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