Lasseter Honors Ollie with Private Celebration
Written by Leonard Maltin (www.leonardmaltin.com) Republished with permission

John Lasseter and second-generation railroad buff Michael Broggie flank legendary Disney animator Ollie Johnston

My wife and I were back in Anaheim a week later for a private celebration engineered (no pun intended) by John Lasseter, the creative genius behind Pixar studio. Several years ago he purchased a back-yard steam-run railroad from Ollie Johnston, the great Disney animator with whom he'd studied years earlier. Joining the select ranks of railroad enthusiasts puts John one step closer to Walt Disney, who loved trains almost as much as he did animation.

Ollie is now 92 years old, the last surviving member of the elite corps of animators known as Walt's Nine Old Men. He sold his train because he wasn't up to the physical demand of running it any more, and was happy to find such an enthusiastic buyer. Having had the locomotive, tender, and passenger cars restored, John Lasseter thought it would be nice to give Ollie one last ride before the outfit finds its new home in Northern California, so he arranged to have it shipped to Anaheim and placed on the Disneyland tracks for one final run, early in the morning before the park opened. It was to be a surprise for Ollie, who thought he was there to receive a railroading award.

Ollie is in his element at the helm of the Marie E. at Disneyland

He was presented with a citation by Michael Brogge (son of Roger, the man in the Disney studio machine shop who helped Walt build and set up his elaborate backyard trains)... but then the sound of a steam whistle was heard at New Orleans Square and the Marie E., named for Ollie's wife, pulled into the station. Ollie was thrilled almost beyond words to board his train once more for two spins around the park, with such happy passengers as the Johnston and Lasseter families, a handful of Disney honchos, and the family of Ollie's lifelong friend and colleague Frank Thomas. It was a beautiful morning in every way. I'm glad the Disney brass were there to see first-hand how some people (including Lasseter's Pixar colleagues Brad Bird and Pete Docter) still revere the legacy of Walt and his studio. I only hope some Pixie Dust rubbed off on them that morning.