Bill Oden
by Tom Elliott

Bill Oden: (click here for biography) This story begins in about 1975 long after High School and Bill playing in our band the Vagabonds. My oldest son was playing Pop Warner Football and I met another father, of the quarterback. Dave Nelson was then the President of Dough-boy Pools company and the factory was east of Ontario and we lived in town of Upland.

Upland was a lot like Covina, more lemons but mainly citrus, good schools and Churches. Dave just happened to mention one day that a guy worked for him that drew so well (mechanical drawings) that new pipe fixtures, pumps and parts would go straight to the manufacturer of the product without building a prototype first. Also mentioned was he had a real train in his back yard. I ask his name and Dave said "Bill Oden." Well, guess what, after loosing track of Bll for many years I now needed to run him down. There was an article in the LA Times, front page of the section on Sunday, about his two locomotives and cars on a track in Rialto. One picture showed one of his engines on a flat bed truck heading out across the desert to Virginia City. 

Sometime during this time, he had put together a company had was hired to put together the California Train Museum in Sacramento and had another venture out of Sonora. All this came together about 1975 when I was doing the Mother Lode Bank merger for Security Pacific National Bank. One of the branches was in Sonora and when I went down there, from Placerville,  to check on progress, I took time to see what his little train ride was all about. That train and the ride encompassed miles of track through the foothills that we have all seen in western movies. I found out Bill was in Virginia City starting another venture or tourist ride affair.

I went with Pat and the boys, now about 15 and 12, to Virginia City. Found the tourist ride and we walked to the front of the train. I heard Bill's voice yell, "Tom Elliott, how the hell are you." We chatted for a while and then got onto the train which went about 4 miles down a track and then back to the station. Bill had a full beard and was almost not recognizable (guess I was). His arms were bulging from muscles as the work involved heavy things (I guess).

We met that night for dinner. Bill didn't look so well and he blamed it on a cold. He said that originally he went to an auction of all the rolling stock of Universal Studios and put in the highest bid of $20k for the whole bunch. Bill said he didn't have the money but then started going through the cars and found some really great antique movie pieces like gowns, etc. He sold the findings from one car for more than the $20k needed. He then had all that rolling stock hauled to Rialto for further work.

I don't know how well you knew Bill but we used to play around a lot and run trains (HO Gage) in his bedroom. He was VERY particular and detail oriented, In High School he milled train parts for a model that was something like 6 feet long and a real steam engine that was beautiful. He knew what he was doing now with the big engines. 

Bill had a falling out with a partner for the tourist rides in Virginia City, they parted company.  Bill was hired to put together the Nevada State Train Museum. About two years later Pat and I stopped there, we went in and I asked for Bill Oden. The clerk in the museum almost fainted as NO-ONE had ever mentioned his name since he died about two years earlier from a heart attack. After I recovered myself, we went through the museum and the trains were flawless re-constriction and his special engine (his favorite used for many movies by altering some features like the smoke stack, etc.) was still put on a flat bed truck periodically and hauled somewhere for movies when needed. His wife took over the company and sold it and there was hardly any mention sign or name of Bill Oden anywhere, his old partner I think bought the company and basically re-wrote the facts to include his name. That was really dirty dealing but at least I saw with my own eyes what Bill had done.

Many more side stories but for now, do you have any questions???