Walt Disney's Carolwood Pacific Railroad in O

Is this something that is going to be produced? The last steam engine MTH was going to do for Disney never happened. 

Todd that looks great. I wish they would make one. Nice post John

Wow!  I'd be in for one of those if someone would make it, and even more so if it came in a set with matching rolling stock based on what ran on the real Carolwood Pacific!

 

Andy

If this gets made, I'm probably in.  NEED to have cars to go with it of course!

 

-Dave

If they make the C.K Holiday and the Ward Kimball with Passenger Cars, i I'll buy it. Nice "artist rendering" but I don't think anyone has a licesene from Disney.

Todd,

   Got to agree with Andy, I am in for this one if some really makes it!

Real nice looking engine and tender for sure.  Made in Tin Plate it would be fantastic.

PCRR/Dave

True in a way but it is not that hard to convert one of the so called President series or the Great American Circus 19th cent. 4-6-0s. The hard work has already been done and except for the logos even the paint on the headlamp housing is accurate to the Disney engine. The mold is based on this Disney engine. So with a little work an accurate engine can be done.

 

MTH has done nearly everything they can short of  getting the license to make it easy to have one of these.

 

 

Here's the loco (same Leviathan that didn't have any hardware changes in the first image), but now with a balloon stack from an MTH Railking 4-6-0. A Premier-worthy riveted balloon stack is probably in order, but even this is a nice improvement. I know MTH makes the proper spoked tender wheels for other 4-4-0s, but I don't have the strength today.

 

 

 

Keep in mind there's a distinction between the Carolwood trains and the park trains, along the lines of the distinction between The Walt Disney Family Foundation and The Walt Disney Company. Still beautifully intertwined, but not exactly the same thing -- for licensing and such.

 

 

 

Todd

 

The ballast is pretty light, looks like fastrack (in this rendering). Lionel had the Disney license a few years ago. I wish someone would produce this.

If you're going to model the Carolwood Pacific Railroad, you need a track plan. Here's an attempt using MTH RealTrax. It's 13'x15', which it needs to be to incorporate the last large piece of Walt's real track that still exists -- the 45 degree crossover. All the lines and switches from the real miniature railroad are represented. The track loop around the house is certainly truncated to save space. Walt's barn is to the scale of the miniature railroad. The house is scaled as though surrounded by a full-sized railroad.  I would imagine scaling down the barn and putting a mountain, town, rail yard or alternate access area where the house is. Nice that the minimum curves are 054, but still a rather large layout despite all the compromises to save space. The labels for the various features and switches are the same as those used on the control panel in Walt's Barn (now in Griffith Park, Los Angeles). The Yensid Valley section (Disney spelled backwards) might make a good place for a big access area. Designed in RR-Track v5.1

 

Todd

 

Does this mean you're going to make a very large scale model of Walt and some of his friends and family to ride on those scale models... of scale models?

That is probably where these guys came from with the inspiration from the Disney World #1

Here's another attempt at a Carolwood Pacific layout design, this time with 031 minimum curves squeezed onto an 8'x10' layout with MTH RealTrax. Still managed to get the 45 degree crossover in there. All the lines and switches of the real miniature railroad are also in there, despite the compact design. Made with RR-Track v5.1

 

Todd

 

Hi Todd, 

 

These are really neat plans. Thank you so much for taking the time to put them together and share them. I'd really like to see someone attempt to build the larger one. It could be a really fun railroad to model. 

John, Andy, Notch 6 -- Thanks for the kind words about the loco and layouts. The track plan is a fun design with some good operational potential.

 

Silver Lake and Tim -- Yes, quite disappointed no one has yet produced any of the park locos in O. But 95% of one is a good start.

 

P51 -- I know you're not altogether serious, but imagine how tall the tunnels and trestles would have to be for scale riders!

 

Keep the posts and pics about the Carolwood Pacific and the park trains coming! Has anyone else designed a layout for the CP or park trains?

 

Todd

 

 

Here's another version of the Carolwood Pacific, this time with 042 minimum curves squeezed onto an 9'x10' layout with MTH RealTrax. Still has the 45 degree crossover. All the lines and switches of the real miniature railroad are also in there, despite the compact design. Made with RR-Track v5.1

 

Todd

 

Great subject and good collection of posts.

 

Would make a great small room layout the track designs posted.

 

Trainworld has some of the MTH engines on sale like this that could easily be modified with just adding some decals.

They also have a sale on this week.

 

However if one was to model the Carolwood Pacific in O scale 1/48 would you not be better off using an N scale train and have people riding on the cars? This would fit well into even a display layout for shows.

 

If you are modeling the engines at the Disney parks then perhaps the Bachmann ON30 engines might fit a bit closer to the size.

 

I really like the MTH engine but it is a bit over scale for the park trains.

Finally, an 8'x9' version. About as compact as it can get. O31 curves and a 90 degree crossing.

 

Todd

Thanks for posting an interesting topic. I found some cool info searching around.

 

The best that I can find is that his live steamer was 1/8 scale with 2617' feet of track.

 

His lot was 5 acres irregular shaped. I was trying to determine what size table that would be to scale it to O, but no plot plans with dimensions were available. it appears to me that a 15' x 20' would keep the shape close.

 

Your compressions are good. here's a nice recreation of the plan on the original lot over the current 2.63 acre lot with an $18 million mansion.

 

A few more shots that you can find

Hi Moonman,

 

I've seen some of your great layout design work elsewhere on the forum. Thanks for the kind words. The former Disney Carolwood estate last sold for $74M a couple years ago, including what's left of the CP train tunnel as a bonus. 

 

No, I wasn't the buyer.

 

Todd

Here's a better version of the Carolwood Pacific with 042 minimum curves squeezed onto a 9'x10' layout with MTH RealTrax. At least I think it looks better. The siding is longer and the track is a little further from the edge of the table all around. Still has the 45 degree crossover. All the lines and switches of the real miniature railroad are also in there, despite the compact design. Made with RR-Track v5.1

 

Todd

Finally, a revision of the 8'x9' version. Still about as compact as it can get, but with better use of space and longer siding. O31 curves and a 90 degree crossing.

 

Todd

 

And now even smaller at 7'x8'. Not too practical, but it works in theory.

 

Todd

 

 

 

 

Here's an 8'x8' version that would fit well on two 4x8 sheets of plywood. You'll note the little barn keeps getting smaller. The 45 degree crossover makes a return in this version. Layout could fit a standard bedroom, garage... or barn.

 

Todd

 

 

 

Had a request for a 10x12 version with 054 minimum curves. This is more or less the result. Had to lose the station siding, but everything else is represented. Todd

Here it is will all the tracks and switches represented. Not much of a station siding...