Walt Disney was a very serious miniature railway enthusiast and was very active in the hobby, especially live steam railroading well before he developed and built Disneyland. He had a circle of close friends who were into live steam, many of whom also worked at the Disney studios. Disney built, with the help of these friends, an O scale model railroad in his office and later a railroad in his backyard called the Carolwood Pacific. His passion for railroads and live steam locomotives directly  motivated him to build Disneyland.

This excellent 12 minute YouTube documentary (see below) tells the story very well.

Click here to read Part 2 in this series of postings

Posting by Russ Milland