John Schow Anderson (b. Aug 8, 1925, Alameda County, CA; d. November 6, 2000, Hayward, California) was a design engineer and entrepreneur in the model railroading industry.
He was one of three cofounders of Associated Brass Products, Inc., a California corporation based in Pinedale, California (Fresno area).
Contents |
The following three partners founded Associated Brass on June 2, 1959, organizing it as a California corporation:
The firm owned a foundry that manufactured model railroading products under the "Cal-Scale" brand. Bruce Bechtold was the grandson of the Bechtold Stage Line family. He grew up living in the Denver home built by his grand parents about 1933. He was an Air Force veteran, having spent time at Castle Air Force Base, Merced, CA. Because of his model railroading interest, Oscar Neubert III (b. Nov. 27, 1925 Fresno, CA; d. Oct. 27, 1991 Fresno, CA), also an Air Force veteran,[1] introduced Bruce to John and Harry. Bruce went to work for Kemtron after his release from the military. John, Bruce and Harry formed Associated Brass Products to be more in control of the use of their talents. John was a master die maker, Bruce a pattern maker and Harry supervised the plant.
The Associated Brass facility was located in Pinedale, California (Fresno County). The company manufactured some of the finest lost wax brass castings ever produced for model railroading, many of which are still in production today.[2]
Bowser Manufacturing, a Pennsylvania corporation based in Montoursville, Pennsylvania, purchased the Cal-Scale line from Anderson and Parker in June 1985. Anderson and Parker subsequently sold their commercial casting operation—foundry, which included the property and physical plant at 7070 N Harrison Ave, Pindale—to David Sciacca, who operates the plant today under the name, "Valley Brass & Bronz." Valley Brass does not produce model railroading products. Anderson and Parker never sold the corporate shell, Associated Brass Products, Inc.
Anderson attended schools in Berkeley, California. Upon graduation (age 18), he was drafted into the U.S. Army[4] and sent into combat during World War II. He served in Special Forces under General Montgomery, behind the lines and in British uniform. He was eventually captured by the Germans. They cured his trench foot, healed his wounds and returned him to the American Forces. He remained in Bath, England, for the rest of the war and, according to his obituary, witnessed lights of Bath going back on VE Day.
After the war, Anderson returned to Berkeley to study design engineering at California College of the Arts; whereupon, in January 1950, he graduated with a Bachelor of Applied Arts.
Shortly after, he moved to Oregon, settling in Medford, where he developed the model railroad line for Red Ball Ltd.
Anderson moved to Fresno in the early 1950's to work for Kemtron Corporation, developing their line of model railroad equipment.
In addition to model railroading, John was active in photography and authored articles for Trains Magazine, the most recent of which (1999) was about West Side Lumber Company railway narrow gauge logging operation in Tuolumne.
In 1958, he married Barbara LeFevre Dodd (b. 1932–2010),[5][6][7] daughter of David Dodd, a professor at Columbia Business School.