Category:Ward Kimball (1914-2002)

"Toys – Delights from the Past: An Applied Arts Book by Ward Kimball" [image info]

Betty and Ward Kimball at home. All photos by Chris Littledale [image info]

Ward Kimball's full-size home railway, with "Grizzly Flats" depot [image info]

Some of the shelving for Ward Kimball's model railroad collection [image info]

Ward Kimball (1914-2002), Disney animator/artist and model railroad enthusiast.

Ward Kimball was one of Disney's critical core of artists (the "nine old men"). Kimball's forte was manic crazy characters with wide lopsided grins and body dynamics that played fast and loose with the laws of physics.

more pictures to follow

The Kimball House

Betty and Ward's house was a magnet for animators and artists and fellow model railroad enthusiasts from around the world, and there are stories and photographs of visitors riding the railway such as Salvador Dali, Werner Von Braun (because of Ward's series of Disney films on the US space project) and Walt Disney.

The photos on this page are from a visit by fellow-collector () Chris Littledale circa ~2000.

The house is/was at 8910 Ardendale Ave, San Gabriel, CA 91775 USA. The site is now likely to be redeveloped (the property straddles a line that would allow roads on either side to be linked up), but as of 2015, the outline of the plot still shows up on Google Maps aerial view with the lines originally traced out by the rails still visible. The aerial view shows just how much the surrounding area was developed and built up in the years since Ward originally bought the land.

Grizzly Flats and the railroad

Ward's backyard didn't have a miniature railway, but a full-size narrow-gauge railway with real full-size steam locomotives.

Grizzly Flats Depot

The passenger station was named "Grizzly Flats", and had originally been built as a set prop for a Disney film, which Walt gave to Ward after the filming was over. It had been closely based on a real US station design which had been suggested for the film by Ward, but since it had only been built for filming from the front, Ward had to build his own back-end for it.

Walt was another model railroad enthusiast, too, and Ward helped Walt build a garden railway of his own. Walt is supposed to have asked Ward at one point if he could have the station back, and Ward said no. Given the depot's history, it required "rescuing" in case the site was falttened for redevelopment, and the little wooden building has now been removed from the site, and is owned by Walt Disney and Pixar's Chief Creative Officer, John Lasseter.