John Olsen's Jerome and Southwestern of the 1980's

Is anyone familiar with John Olsen's Jerome and Southwestern layout of the 1980's? That was THE layout that turned me on to model railroading when I was a kid. I have a book published by Kambalch that shows the whoel thing from start to finish. Olsen's talent was really displayed with that layout. I don't think it would be that difficult to recreate now with all the good materials and stuff that are on the market. Plus, it's only 4x8 with a 2x6 extension so it would not be that bad on space.

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Reply to
A. Paul
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I've always enjoyed John Olsen's modeling. The Jerome and Southwestern is one of the great small layouts. Its has a yard, a siding, spurs and the ability to reverse trains. That's about as much as you can ask for in such a small space yet it still has good separation of the scenes. Another neat layout that's slightly larger is Furlow's San Juan Central. The yard is kind of bizarre but that could be redesigned. There was also a book published on it. Both Olsen and Furlow are masters of making convincing vertical scenery to break up individual scenes and make the layout seem larger. Any one who likes mountain or southwestern railroads could get some good ideas from those layouts even if not using the track plans. John Olsen went to some length to study the area he places his freelance J&SW in and captured the feel of that wide open land in such a small space very well. My preferences have changed over the years to a more linier around the walls type layout. If I had the space for either one of these railroads I would choose something more like Andy Sperandeo's San Jacinto District ( Feb 1980 MR) because the more realistic way freight switching as you go type operation would keep me more involved with the layout after its built. In fact I have a good bit more space but I've simply stretched out the SJD and added a siding. Never the less I don't think anyone could go wrong with the J&SW plans and the great A to Z layout building information provided by Olson's book. Bruce

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Reply to
Bruce Favinger

The January 1984 issue of MR had a feature on Jon Olsen's HOn3 layout which was even better than the J&S. I built my own J&S about 15 years ago at another house. It had two turnouts inside of (removeable) hills that were a bit of trouble, so I don't recommend hidden turnouts. I loved the waterfront extension. In the early 90's Olsen also did a three part feature for MR on making a SMALL HOn3 layout (2x4) for traveling, carved out of a slab of foam. Very cartoonish. All these layouts had the Disneyesque look that I love. Heavy influence on my On30.

-John

Reply to
Pacific95

His work WOULD look "Disneyish" since as I recall he is/was a designer for the Disney theme parks.

Perhaps one could say the Disney parks look "Olsenish"?

Don

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Reply to
Trainman

Salvé "A. Paul" skrev i meddelandet news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com...

I have the same book :) yes it is a rather nice layout it has a lot of interest built in :) Beowulf

Reply to
Beowulf

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