Ward Kimball Tomorrow at Grizzly Flats - Part 1

The great animation website "Cartoon Brew" called attention to LA Times writer Bob Pool's article about Ward Kimball's Grizzly Flats Railroad, which "ended its long run on a short track" in May, 2007.

The railroad "inspired Walt Disney, excited neighborhood families and brought joy to the family that owned and ran it."

The Tomorrow Show visited Grizzly Flats around 1978. If you're a fan of Ward Kimball, Tom Snyder, or railroads, life-size as well as model (I'm a fan of all) you'll enjoy this program, presented here in seven parts.

Parts 1-7 run in order are the complete show minus commercials - about 45 minutes. Segments shot outside are in Parts 1,4,5 and 7; Model Train Room and Toy Room segments are 2,3,5, and 6.

To quote Pool again, on the big trains: "It was short in length — but long in its reach. The Grizzly Flats Railroad's steam engines traveled for 70 years along a 500-foot-long stretch of rails next to the San Gabriel home of Betty and Ward Kimball. Along the way, the Kimballs' picturesque narrow-gauge line helped inspire Walt Disney to build the famous passenger train system that circles Disneyland."

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Ward
• Kimball
• Tom
• Snyder
• Tomorrow
• Grizzly
• Flats
• Disney
• model
• railroad

[BrickstarRunner]

are they both dead? I will miss them both if they are

[sandysoup]

Sadly, yes.

[squirreland]

i hope i am miss-reading this but does mr. kimball's railroad no longer exist?

[trainchugger53]

If I were you, liking detail, start with MTH

[Charliecomet82]

Snyder did a Christmas "Tomorrow" show on a steam excursion train with "E. M. Frimbo" as his special guest in 1975(?) I didn't see it (was too young to stay up that late then,) but read about it in Trains Magazine. Is that available anywhere?

[gymnastix]

I bought a miniature, plastic train set myself this Christmas--one engine, one caboose and a small circular track. Someday, if finances permit & I may obtain larger living quarters, I hope to acquire a full-size model train set. Does anyone out there know if Lionel is the gold standard in model trains, or if some other brand?

[gymnastix]

I saw this when it first aired, was hoping I'd see it again someday. Thank you so much for uploading this! I believe Tom also had either this man or another train collector on his CBS program, and of course Tom's water tower, seen at the beginning, at the bumpers & the end of his "Late Late Show," was a symbol of his love of railroads & model trains.

[rwundrock]

As I remember, Snyder was a train guy and modeler.

[trainboy94]

R.I.P. Tom Snyder and Ward Kimball

[salvador75]

So cool how another master Disney animator, Ollie Johnston had the same appreciation of trains. I'll be interesting to see if that's mentioned at all...thanks for posting!