Engine No. 5

It's only natural that trains have played into the Disney Parks experience since the very beginning. After all, Walt's connection with the railroad dated back to his childhood. He developed a love of trains and shared that love with Ward Kimball, one of his top animators, among others. Both men enjoyed a backyard railroading hobby, and it was a fateful visit Walt and Ward made to the Chicago Railroad Fair of 1948 that planted some of the seeds that would become Disneyland.

In 2005, a new engine was added to the Disneyland Railroad, the first since 1959. Engine No. 5 is a lovingly restored 1902 Baldwin locomotive and has been christened Ward Kimball in honor of Walt's friend and animator. The headlamp on No. 5 even bears a golden silhouette of Jiminy Cricket, one of Kimball's most iconic creations.

An interesting note from the photo above: No. 5 is pulling a train made up in part by remodeled cattle cars from one of the original Disneyland and Santa Fe Railroad trains. When the Railroad opened in 1955, there were two trains and two train stations. From Main Street, Guests boarded a train of yellow passenger cars with small windows affording views of the surrounding park. When the train approached Frontierland, it was actually switched to a side track so it could keep going, bypassing the station. Guests choosing to ride the rails from the Frontierland station instead boarded old-fashioned cattle cars, in which they would stand and hold onto the boards to watch the park go by and bypassing Main Street Station on the side track there.

This setup didn't last. Before long, the trains were making stops at each station. By 1958, with the opening of the Grand Canyon Diorama, additional stations had been added and the passenger cars were modified to allow better views (not to mention seats) for everyone.

Another Disneyland Railroad connection to Ward Kimball: The Frontierland Railroad Station (above) was modeled on the station used in the 1949 Disney film So Dear to My Heart. Walt wanted the original set used for the film, but it had already found a home in Ward Kimball's backyard as part of his Grizzly Flats Railroad. The replica was built instead. With the addition of New Orleans Square in the 1960s, the station was moved to the other side of the tracks where it still stands today. Listen carefully while you're waiting for the next train, and you'll hear a telegraph operator tapping away inside. His message, in Morse Code, is Walt Disney's opening day dedication speech for Disneyland.