Photo of Walt With CP engine 173?

[raveoned]

I was looking at my LGB catalog from a few years ago, and in the pages with their Disney trains, there is a background on some that have Walt in Engineer clothing, I think holding an oil can, and the number plate on the front reading "173".

I'm assuming this is the Central Pacific 173 that he modeled the Lilly Belle from?

If so, does anyone have that photo? It looks like a great photo, but I can't see it too well, as it is a background on a page.

[Locoboy5150]

I have seen that same black and white photo in several books about Walt Disney. I think that it was a composite image with the newer picture of Walt Disney added over an old photo of C.P.R.R. 173. The lighting on Walt looks a little different than the lighting on the locomotive.

[Steve DeGaetano]

You're correct, Locoboy. The image is a composite. The engine is Walt's model, the Lilly Belle. Even Randy Bright got fooled by this in "Disneyland Inside Story."

Speaking of which, there is a large image of the photo in that book. I can scan it this weekend if no one beats me to it.

[raveoned]

Wow. I didn't know that it was a composite. But, since I can't see the photo clearly enough, I couldn't tell.

But if anyone can post a pic of it anyway, I'd love to see it!

[jayo]

You're correct, Locoboy. The image is a composite. The engine is Walt's model, the Lilly Belle. Even Randy Bright got fooled by this in "Disneyland Inside Story."

It'd have to be. The real 173 was long gone by that time!

[Steve DeGaetano]

Here's the photo in question:



And here's how Michael Broggie decribes the story of the photo in his book:

During a visit to the Los Gatos, California ranch of live steam enthusiast Billy Jones, Walt was photographed by Roger Broggie. Back at the studio, machine shop employee Gene Foster photographed the Lilly Belle with matching lighting, then superimposed Walt from the earlier photo. This composite image resulted. Note how convincing the model's detailing really is; it holds together well even when greatly enlarged.

[Castor Oil]

Here's the elusive base photo, which despite fairly frequent appearances of the doctored version managed to disappear from the Disney archives for decades. An original print surfaced in Los Gatos a few years ago and I've since donated copies to both Burbank and the Family Museum (it makes a full-page appearance on p.76 of the official souvenir guidebook). I believe it was taken in the Spring of 1948, during the first of Walt's visits to the Jones ranch, while in the company of Roger Broggie, Eddie Sergeant and Ward Kimball. Jones (left) would finish his nearly six-decade Coast Division career the following year—and we all know what Walt was up to!