Bob Thomas: How did the railroading get started?
Ollie Johnston: I got interested in trains and decided to build a steam engine in my backyard about 1946. I started sometime in the middle of the year, and then just before Christmas time Ward Kimball came into my room and said, “Let’s go up and see Walt’s Lionel train up in his office for his nephew.” So Ward and I came up and Walt had this all spread out around the room next to the office. During the course of the conversation I mentioned something about the fact that I was building a backyard railroad, and Walt looked kind of interested in that and said he’d always wanted one.
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