Presidential Parlor Car
 The Disneyland Lilly Belle Train Car

 

In 1974 the Retlaw (Walter spelled backwards) It was retired and placed in storage within the Disneyland roundhouse.

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Lillian Disney was highly influential with the design of the interior and thus the coach was named for her, the 'Lilly Belle'. 

Numerous family photos and select memorabilia were placed within the car.

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 Most of the vintage memorabilia has been removed, but the car retains all of it's charm and wonderful ambiance. 

One of the Lilly Belle's first guest was Japanese Emperor Hirohito and his wife, Empress Nagako.

 

The Disneyland Railroad Engines are: C.K. Holliday,E.P. Ripley,Ernest Marsh,Fred Gurley,Ward Kimball. Each is lovingly detailed with a fine finish and striped awnings. Per Walt Disney's vision, the trains are purely historical in design. Only one has any reference to a Disney character — a golden silhouette of Jiminy Cricket.

This appears on the Ward Kimball train, which was named after the legendary Disney animator who fostered Walt's love for locomotives.Lilly Belle Presidential Train Car Get a glimpse of this gleaming beauty hitched as a caboose to one of the other trains. This elegant Victorian parlor car is quite the lady of the rail with its stained glass and gold stenciling. The Imagineers worked with Lillian Disney to create this precious car, which had been a longtime dream of Walt's. It's just another reason to ride the Disneyland Railroad for a tour you'll never forget!

 

 

A Bit of Disneyland Railroad information ;

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In 1954 when Walt Disney was designing the railroad for his first theme park in Anaheim, California. 

The first train would feature a balloon-stacked steam locomotive looking like a wood burner from the 1870s, and its rolling stock would consist of stock cars and gondolas. The final car of the original six-car train would be an authentic caboose, the little car at the end of freight trains that had an elevated "lookout" area, called a "cupola," where the conductor or brakeman could keep an eye on the train.

 

The second train conceived by Walt would be an 1880s passenger train, pulled by a brass cap-stacked speed queen of the 1890s. The cars would be modeled on typical open-platform coaches of the era, and the train would also be six cars in length.

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All the cars were built with steel beam under frames, while the interiors and exteriors would be built of wood, just as the prototypes were. Outside, they would be sheathed in tongue-and-groove siding, while inside, mahogany would be used to panel the walls and ceilings. The "trucks" (wheelsets and frames) and other related hardware were purchased from a supplier of railroad equipment in Seattle called the C.M. Lovsted Co. Speakers were installed in each end of the cars, and flush-mounted lamps were placed in the ceiling. The doors on the cars' ends would feature unusual arched tops, and the upper "clerestory" roof would highlight a versatile material that was finding wide use at the young theme park: Frosted fiberglass panels would replace expensive glass in these upper windows.

 

The Disneyland Train Car were painted a canary yellow, with bright red doors and window sashes. Dark hunter green trim was used on the corner posts of the cars, with gold scrollwork. The letter board above the windows was also painted with the hunter green, and lettered "Santa Fe & Disneyland R.R." The cars had salmon-colored roofs, and the trucks were painted an olive green, with red wheels.

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America was quickly gearing up for its 1976 Bicentennial celebration, only two years away. The car 106, Grand Canyon, could be revived as a "Bicentennial Car," for Disneyland, decked out with red-white-and-blue bunting. Eventually, according to a Disneyland newsletter. 

 

Along with a complete restoration, the car would receive a new name as well. Borrowing the tradition of naming ships after women, it was decided to give the car a lady's name, and no one deserved the honor more that Lillian Disney. So, the car would be re-christened Lilly Belle Train Car, as Walt would no doubt have wished.

 

The concept of the private car was carefully planned with Mrs. Lillian Disney Truyens to carry out the theme and the personal taste with memorabilia of Walt Disney's interest in trains.

 

Research was conducted using books on private rail cars of the era, with the understanding that the car should reflect the personal tastes of the owner. Walt Disney had a great interest in the Victorian era, and as such, a strong Victorian theme resulted in the car's decoration.

 

The Disneylands Lilly Belle's history of being one of the original passenger cars on the Santa Fe and Disneyland Railroad, which was then turned into a luxury VIP car.