Oscar Andresen was one of the most visible early American OO gauge enthusiasts and manufacturers. His layout was featured in The Modelmaker in 1934 and twice in early issues of The Model Railroader, specifically in the May 1935 and February 1936 issues.

Starting with the March 1934 issue of The Modelmaker, we find not only four OO advertisements (Nieter Models, Oscar Andresen, Nason, and H. Dalrymple) but also the first published feature article on the early OO layout of Oscar Andresen. 

Illustrated with this photo and with a plan for a small, portable layout (but not the layout illustrated in the photo) Andresen began,

You often hear this remark, “I do not have a space large enough for a general railroad layout.” The man who feels that way should get acquainted with “OO” gauge. Here is a size that will appeal to the most fastidious person because of its smallness, and yet remarkable accuracy of details are obtainable. A system is this scale requires just a little more than half the space used for “O” gauge and make a model railroad practical for those who are not blessed with an old fashioned attic or cellar. The illustration is from a photograph of my railroad. I have christened it “The Mowhawk Valley” and hope later to have other mythically names branch lines feeding into it.

This picture shows an area of 1 ft. 2 in., by 3 ft. 6 in. and gives a fair idea of the number of railroad cars that can be placed in a small space. The Passenger stock is of the largest type (84 ft.) These cars have been made almost entirely by hand, the truck frames being the only parts that were cast. Due to the photo-chemical process I use, I have been able to construct quite a variety of cars.

The May 1935 article gives us a pretty good view into his layout and was the cover story. This first photo was the cover photo of the issue. He was not only a photo engraver and model railroader but also a painter. Thus in an era long before Photoshop the images in this article are all re-touched, with various details added. Even with that element these photos are quite interesting today. Keeping in mind this was way back in an era when toy trains really looked like toys these were amazing small scale models. The article begins,

The OO gauge system of Oscar Andresen, Shade St., Lexington, Mass., is slowly taking shape, and the photographs with this article will give an idea of the scenic completeness of the portions already finished. The total space available is only 10’ 6” x 12’ 9”. This allows for very little straightaway. There are two windows and one door.

The article goes on to describe that the layout has a double track mainline with 12 switches and varies from a width of 3 ½” to 2’. The cover photo was of “Mohawk Valley, a country town with a small commercial station. The main industry is the Mohawk Valley car shops.” The second photo is of a station made of plywood. “The general design follows an actual suburban station near Boston, with an arched driveway for the numerous taxis which come and go continually (No depression here!).”

There was also a smaller town scene, not depicted in the article but described, called Rock Haven. This final photo is another view of Mohawk Valley. You can see again retouched elements, for example the gondola on the left is brought into focus with the paintbrush, the right side is totally painted in, and the birds and such are in new positions. The figures he notes “are all made by the same process as the car sides, a method of transferring an exact image with raised portions to a metal surface.”

As he was also a manufacturer (this ad ran later in the same issue) this following text is especially interesting.

The Mohawk Valley car shops have been working overtime turning out cars, not only for the Mohawk Valley, but also for other roads in the vicinity. A new observation car was built for the M.V. just before the holidays and more recently a caboose was delivered. The Rock Haven had a sand type gondola built for it…. At the present time work is going forward on a body for an M.U. unit.

Near the end of the article he offers

What do you say if we board a special train on the Mohawk Valley for a tour of inspection? We are sure to forget the passage of time, and so we will naturally stop at the car shops to watch the construction of many types of cars. The strangest site of all is to see the riveters at work, “Wonder of wonders.” They make no noise. The process used not only permits rivets without noise but at the same time raises all lettering above the car surface. All around the shops and other factories at Mohawk Valley there is no sign of a depression, with work going forward at full blast.

Again, I go back to thinking of what toy trains looked like in 1935 and what these models looked like and the comparison is very striking. Andresen was way ahead of the curve. Returning to the layout, there he was also pretty ahead of the curve with an around the walls plan of the general type that we associate with more modern layout design. OO had some serious model makers who also ran their trains.

Turning to the February, 1936 issue of The Model Railroader we find two photos of an addition to the Mohawk Valley layout of Oscar Andresen. This 1936 update was on “a new corner just completed” on the layout. The main body of the article offers these details.

In both pictures the M. U. unit can be seen which furnishes passenger service between Echo Notch and Rock Haven. This belongs to the Echo Line, another unit of the system, and is the only means of passenger service between the points named. This unit runs at speeds of about 60 to 70 m. p. h., maintaining a schedule of 52.2 m. p. h. average from terminal to terminal.

The Mohawk Valley System is a OO gauge line, with exceptionally detailed cars made by a photo-chemical process similar to photo-engraving. The scenery is a clever combination of painted background and actual buildings in the foreground.

Especially in the first 1936 photo the retouching done by Andresen to the photo is pretty visible, most notably the track on the left. In this second photo we have a last look at other equipment already seen, in particular the steeple cab electric freight motor. I say a last look because, so far as I can tell, these are the last photos ever published of his early and highly influential layout.

Text and photos combined from three articles in 2021. For more on the models he produced, see my book.