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Frank
& Ollie >
Ollie's Page
 Ollie is
considered
one of the world's leading train enthusiasts. The backyard of his home
boasts one of the finest hand built miniature railroads in existence.
Even more
impressive is the Marie-E a full size three foot gauge, antique
locomotive that he
purchased in 1965. He restored it in his
drive way over a period of two years.
He and Marie
purchased forty acres of land in Julian, Ca where he and his sons laid
three quarters of a mile of track. Ollie added a fourteen
foot, four wheel caboose patterned after one he had seen in
Colorado. He also built a flat car which could hold close to
twenty passengers.
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QuickTime) | |
Ollie’s
Hobby was working on railroads... and he had several. He
first built a
backyard “live steamer” railroad, which he built himself, complete with
bridges and trestles.
His neighbor, (Frank Thomas)
recounted the tale
that while he was building his backyard railroad, he was visited by
Walt
himself, who was planning his own backyard railroad. Ollie
was busy
digging the ground on his Flintridge property, making sure that the
track was perfectly level. Ollie had already “worn out” one
heavy duty
pick ax, as there was a reason why they called the area “Flintridge” .
“You could rent a backhoe and do this in a day” Walt said, “and you
wouldn’t have to break your back doing all this digging.”
Wiping
the sweat, Ollie simply stated “No, this is the way I wanted to do
it.” Later, Walt related the scene to Frank, stating ,,”and
that's how
he animates!”
Click the image above to see Ollie's backyard train.
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Click on the image on the right to view
the Disney Family Album program, dedicated to Ollie’s
biography.
Ollie was an animator who added the “heart” in Disney
features.
Ollie would tell how the story people wanted to show Bambi’s mother
being shot, with her falling down with a gunshot wound. Ollie
felt
this was too gruesome, and instead, created the scene as it now
exists.
The biography shows the great characters he indelibly
created. | |
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