I bet you that every person who ever visited Disneyland knows that Walt Disney loved trains. In fact, I bet you that every person who ever visited a Disney park around the world can tell you the same thing. Why? Well, because Walt Disney put his locomotive at the front of his park and the company has made sure that every park modeled after it has had one as well.
That is why on May 10th, 2014, which is National Train Day, The Walt Disney Family Museum played host to a special presentation called “A Day of Railroading at The Walt Disney Family Museum.” Granted, this presentation wasn’t so much of a whole day as a few hours. And we certainly didn’t get on a track and ride anywhere, but we did explore a little-known film from the Disney Vault, The Great Locomotive Chase.
If you’re a train collector, then you may have arrived earlier in the day to purchase a boxed train set based on the locomotives in The Great Locomotive Chase and have it signed by creator Lowell Smith. The box set featured miniature replicas of the engines, as well as a pin and a placeholder for the DVD (available separately). The limited edition set will set you back $298 and is available online through Mr. Smith’s web store.
The presentation started at 3pm and was hosted by Michael Campbell, president of the Carolwood Pacific Historical Society, which has preserved Walt’s Barn for the public to see. He introduced Joel Fritsche, who is a Civil War historian. I personally found his career credits more impressive, seeing as he is an executive director at WDI.
Fritsche gave a presentation before the film to talk about the real-life inspiration for the characters. First was James Andrews, a suave Southern gentleman with no military ties. He knew the railroad system from North to South better than anybody due to his profession of delivering contraband medicine. His allegiance was questionable, as he was welcome in both the North and South on opposing party lines. However, his allegiance was clearly with the North when he decided to help lead a secret assignment to destroy the railroad system in the South. In the film, James Andrews is played by Disney Legend Fess Parker.
He also talked about General Mitchell, a leader of union forces who was persuaded by Andrews into letting him lead this mission. William Pittenger was a volunteer soldier and writer. He would go on to write books about his war experiences and his work was the inspiration for the film. Lastly was William Fuller, a Southern conductor whose train is hijacked by Andrews and his men. His determination at getting his train back is the only thing strong enough to foil their plans.
At the end of Fritsche’s presentation, Campbell started the film. I’ve previously written about it at my personal blog and you can read about it in detail there (shameless plug). The audience seemed mostly unfamiliar with the film and when Campbell paused it for a 10-minute intermission, they seemed upset that they had to wait to find out what happens next.
After the film, Harrison Ellenshaw shared his memories and some family photos from the making of the film. His first memory of discussion of the film came in Spring of 1955. He was at Disneyland with his dad and the railroad tracks were being installed. The locomotives hadn’t yet arrived, but Walt had a pushcart on the tracks and gave Harrison the first ride by pushing the cart.
Peter Ellenshaw painted all of the matte paintings in the film, including a historically accurate Washington, D.C. (the Washington Monument can be seen under construction in the shot). Harrison pointed out that this film succeeds in directional continuity, which most action chase films fail at. In every shot, the direction they are traveling in is correct. The technical challenges of filming required Peter Ellenshaw to be on location, often painting outside where the shot was setup days prior to shooting that scene. In several cases, the camera would be mounted on scaffolding shooting through a matte. Ellenshaw would paint these scenes up in the air. One day while he was on a break, a train passing by with a side extension destroyed the scaffolding. Thankfully, that painting was done on Masonite instead of glass and he didn’t have to start over on it.
To close out the presentation, Michael Campbell announced a new exhibit coming to The Walt Disney Family Museum in November called “I Have Always Loved Trains,” a celebration of Walt’s favorite hobby. It will feature rare artifacts, artwork, and model trains on display in the Diane Disney Miller Exhibit Hall. Toys For Tots will be part of this exhibit, a charity that was close to Walt’s heart and whose logo is a Disney designed train. As we exited the theater, every guest was handed a deck of miniature reproductions of lobby cards that were featured in theaters in 1956 when The Great Locomotive Chase was first released.
Alex is currently watching and reviewing all of Disney’s films in chronological order. You can follow along here.