Walt Disney Story

A letter Walt Disney wrote to his sister Ruth in 1948. Walt made the most of his every minute. He did absolutely make time for activities that relaxed him, though! In his birthday/Christmas letter to Ruth in 1948, Walt wrote:

"I bought myself a birthday-Christmas present - something I've wanted all my life - an electric train. Being a girl, you probably can't understand how much I wanted one when I was a kid, but I've got one now and what fun I'm having."

"I have it set up in one of the outer rooms adjoining my office so I can play with it in my spare moments. It's a freight train with a whistle, and real smoke comes out of the smokestack - there are switches, semaphores (a system of sending messages by holding the arms or two flags or poles in certain positions according to an alphabetic code), station and everything. It's just wonderful!"

Walt went on to offer to send Ruth's son, Ted, a train set of his own for Christmas.  He made similar train offers to his other nieces and nephews that year, although my little bit of digging did not find whether or not any of Walt's siblings or in-laws accepted his offer. Of course, Walt had been a train nut since he first rode the rails as a young boy in Marceline, Missouri, and his love of trains was a big part of the inspiration for what eventually became his Happiest Place on Earth, Disneyland.