Did you know Walt Disney had his own private railroad? 🚂✨ One of the coolest pieces of Disney history is hiding right here in Los Angeles. Before Disneyland, Walt Disney was building his biggest dreams in Los Feliz & Holmby Hills. In 1932, after Mickey Mouse became a global sensation thanks to Steamboat Willie, Walt & Lillian Disney built their storybook Tudor-Norman home at 4053 Woking Way in Los Feliz. Designed with Disney studio architect Frank Crowhurst, the house was completed in under three months for around $50,000 - just a short distance from the side-by-side Lyric Avenue homes where Walt & his brother Roy had lived while Walt, Roy & legendary animator Ub Iwerks secretly developed a certain cartoon mouse that would go on to change the world. The Disney family lived in the Woking Way house until 1950, as the creation of classics like Snow White, Pinocchio & Fantasia solidified the once unknown animation studio into a beloved worldwide brand. The home still stands today as a private residence. But when Walt & Lillian later moved to their larger Holmby Hills estate on Carolwood Drive, Walt finally brought one of his lifelong dreams to life: a backyard railroad. Across five acres, he built the Carolwood Pacific Railroad - a 7¼-inch gauge, 2,615-foot live-steam miniature railway that circled the property with trestles, grades, overpasses & even a 90-foot tunnel beneath Lillian’s flower garden… A compromise, naturally. 😂 Walt helped engineer much of it himself alongside studio machinist Roger Broggie. Its centerpiece was the Lilly Belle, a steam locomotive named for Lillian, plus a red barn inspired by Walt’s childhood farm in Marceline, Missouri - his workshop, retreat & creative “happy place.” The railroad ran for family & friends from 1950 to 1953, and helped inspire the Disneyland Railroad before Disneyland opened in 1955. Today, Walt’s original barn lives on as a museum in Griffith Park. From quaint Los Feliz family homes to a backyard train that helped inspire the Disneyland Railroad, Walt Disney’s LA story is one of childhood dreams come true. Follow @LAExplained for more hidden Los Angeles history, Disney history, historic landmarks, architecture, forgotten places, Hollywood history, California history & stories hiding in plain sight. #waltdisney #disneyhistory #losangeles #losfeliz #disneyland - @laexplained