Running Red Lights

  • I finally got around to visiting Walt’s Barn in Griffith Park. It’s a cool little museum dedicated to Walt Disney’s passion for railroads. A bit of background: Walt Disney bought a house in Holmby Hills, California and promptly built a 1/8 scale steam railroad in his backyard. He named it the Carolwood Pacific Railway after the street the house was on. The barn was a replica of the barn on the Disney farm in Marceline, Missouri, and it was built to be used as a workshop for his trains. After Lillian Disney died in 1997 the Holmby Hills house was sold and the barn was dismantled and moved to Griffith Park.

    In its new location Walt’s barn was turned into a small museum dedicated to Walt’s love of trains. The barn is filled with memorabilia, photos, artifacts, model trains, and some of Walt’s personal items such as his workbench and tools.

    Next to the barn is a combine railcar (a combination passenger/mail car) that ran on the Disneyland Railroad from 1955-1966, displayed alongside more Disney and railroad items. Around the corner from the railcar is a small depot built by Ollie Johnston, one of Walt’s “Nine Old Men” and also a train enthusiast.

    The switchboard for the Carolwood Pacific. Disney used this to operate the switch tracks remotely

    I really enjoyed visiting the barn. There was so much cool train-related stuff to look at. Lots of photos of Disney working on and enjoying his trains, scale models of steam engines in various sizes, and actual props that were used in Disneyland. I loved the small, intimate scale of the museum, it’s very quaint and inviting. This museum is a real treat for Disney fans. Walt’s Barn is open the third Sunday of every month from 11am – 3pm. This is also the only free Disney attraction in the world, but of course donations are welcome.

    The King George V engine that Walt bought at a model train shop in England. It was damaged by sea water when it was shipped back to the US and Disney was too busy to repair it.
    The C.K. Holliday steam engine, built from the same plans as the Lilly Belle, the locomotive Walt ran on the Carolwood Pacific. The original Lilly Belle is on display at the Disney Family Museum.
    Concept art for Mickey Mouse Park, Disney’s idea for a small theme park next to Disney Studios in Burbank. Walt’s ideas eventually outgrew the small lot and led to the creation of Disneyland in Anaheim.

  • After watching the 2024 Paris Olympics non-stop the last 2 weeks I’m now getting excited about the 2028 LA Olympics. The venues for the events are spread all around LA and they’re only using pre-existing or temporary stadiums. They’re obviously reusing the Memorial Coliseum downtown, which was also used in the ’32 and ’84 Olympics, as well as the Exposition Park pool next door. Marine Stadium in Long Beach was specifically built for rowing events for the ’32 games. Golf will be at the Riviera Country Club and track cycling at the Velodrome in Carson. BMX, skateboarding, and archery will be at a temporary complex at the Sepulveda Basin Recreation Area in the Valley. One event that I was interested in, kayak/canoe slalom, will be in Oklahoma City, unfortunately, although it’s still closer than surfing being in Tahiti 10,000 miles from Paris. And I love that they also can’t use the corporate sponsor names for the venues, so for example SoFi Stadium is just called Stadium. More about the LA venues here.

  • For the 40th anniversary of Neuromancer the Folio Society is releasing a limited edition version of the seminal work. Approved by William Gibson himself, the hardbound book has 14 illustrations and comes in a presentation box made to look like a cyberdeck. Unfortunately the $600 book is already sold out.

  • This Star Tours playset is so cool. It’s a limited edition release for this year’s D23 Disney fan event. I’m impressed how accurately it reproduces the ride vehicle. It actually has all the rows of seats inside with seatbelts, opening doors, a detailed cockpit area with Rex the pilot, and the screen plays actual video clips from the ride. It has lights on the outside and retractable landing gear. The $300 set is limited to 3000.

  • The Linamp is a real, physical Winamp music player, based on the classic Winamp MP3 player from the ’90s. It’s actually a Raspberry Pi connected to a full-width screen which uses Winamp as the touch interface, along with a 3D printed frame that matches the Winamp bezel.

    I loved the simplicity and purity of Winamp. It plays mp3s – that’s all, no music store, no videos, no podcasts. I spent a lot of time looking for cool skins but I usually ended up back at the default skin cause it was more usable.

  • You can now pre-order Lego sets from the BrickLink Designer Program series 2. This series includes a European train station, an ocean house, and a logging train on a trestle. I love the amount of detail in these sets, especially the pirate hideout with its interconnected islands.