What is at Walt’s
Barn? ~ Retlaw 101 Combination Car
One
of the wonderful things that is at Walt Disney’s Carolwood Barn is the Retlaw
101 Combine Car. So what is the Retlaw 101 Combine and what is the story?
First
off let’s start with start with the name. Retlaw, stands for Retlaw Enterprises
the company that owned and operated the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railroad, all
the Main Street Vehicles and the Mark Twain Paddle Boat. Flip it backwards and
Retlaw becomes Walter. Yes, Walt Disney had a privet company that owned and
operated the stated vehicles at Disneyland. They were not owned by the Disney
Company or Disneyland in anyway, they were his personally.
The
number 101 means this was the first car of 6 that ran in a set on the
Disneyland Railroad. On opening day there were 2 locomotives, #1 C. K. Holiday
and #2 E. P. Ripley. The cars pulled by the #1 Holiday were 101-106 and the #2
Ripley were 201-206. So the 101 Combine was the first of the passenger cars
pulled by the C. K. Holiday.
I’m
going addressed why it is called a Combination or Combine car. This car is a
combination of passenger and mail/cargo car. The first 1/3 of the car is for
mail/cargo and the last 2/3 if the car is for passengers. This was standard on
trains when Walt was a boy and when he was a boy Walt was a news butch on the
trains selling newspapers and apples from his family farm. He would often take
a break in the cargo section of the combine car so that type of car had one
made for his park. Now this is not practical for an amusement park. It can’t
carry as many guests and it also was not easy to load or unload guests. So why
did Walt demand there be a combination car? I believe it was because it was
historically correct and it brought back fond childhood memories. It is
reported that the Retlaw 101 Combine (the only Disneyland Combine) was Walt’s
favorite car.
In
1968 the Grand Canyon Diorama was added to the Disneyland Railroad. This
required the change of the rolling stock because the front facing passenger
cars were making it hard for people to see the Diorama. The cars were tipping
slightly on the track as everybody moved over to see the Diorama. That is why
this car is no longer in use at Disneyland.
The
Retlaw cars were stored in the Disneyland Roundhouse for several years and then
sold to privet collectors. Eventually the Combine ended up at the Carolwood Foundation
and has been restored. 102-105 are in the hands of a privet collector that runs
them in Northern California and the 106 or last car in this set was the Grand
Canyon and has been re-imagined as the Lilly Bell VIP Presidential Parlor Car.
The Lilly Bell is still being run at Disneyland and is for the use of VIPs,
Club 33 members and daily tours.
If
you are interested in the Lilly Bell Tour check out my other blog post for more
information:
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