Carolwood Pacific Railroad

June 1, 1948, Walt and Lillian bought the lot where they built the house where they lived until their deaths - Walt in 1966 and Lillian in 1997.

The home was located at 355 Carolwood Drive in Los Angeles, on 5 acres in the developing and exclusive Holmby Hills area, and they moved in during February of 1950.

There is very little information on the house itself, but it's rumored that Walt did not want it to be a mansion like the other homes in the area, because he did not want a staff to maintain it. Almost all literature on Walt's time at this address focus on his building a miniature railroad around the property, which is dubbed the Carolwood Pacific Railroad.

When Lillian died in 1997, the property was sold. The new owners promptly tore down the house, siting structural problems and asbestos.

The Carolwood Pacific Railroad (CPRR) was a ​7 1⁄4-inch gauge ridable miniature railroad run by Walt Disney in the backyard of his home in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, California. It featured the Lilly Belle, a 1:8-scale live steam locomotive named after Disney's wife, Lillian Disney, and built by the Walt Disney Studios' machine shop. The locomotive made its first test run on December 24, 1949. It pulled a set of freight cars, as well as a caboose that was almost entirely built by Disney himself. It was Disney's lifelong fascination with trains, as well as his interest in miniature models, that led to the creation of the CPRR. The railroad, which became operational in 1950, was 2,615 feet long and encircled his house. The backyard railroad attracted visitors to Disney's home; he invited them to ride and occasionally drive his miniature train. In 1953, after an accident occurred in which a guest was injured, the CPRR was closed to the public.

The Carolwood Pacific Railroad inspired Disney to include railroad attractions in the design for the Disneyland theme park in Anaheim, California. Railroad attractions in Disney theme parks around the world are now commonplace. The barn structure that was used as the railroad's control center is now at the Los Angeles Live Steamers Railroad Museum in Los Angeles' Griffith Park. The Lilly Belle, some of the freight cars, and the caboose are now on display at the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco, California.