Don’t stop there… how about the book PLUS a compilation of articles by and / or about John & the G&D? This has been a traditional Kalmbach practice; reprinting similar articles in book form. I’d be in line to get a set…
dlm
He was THE influence in my life. He inspired the funny name of my railroads. It took more than 50 years and 5 attempts to finally take a shot at his ideas. It has been an old man’s dream to work on what I only dreamed of as a kid and a young man.
I also recognize some of the other greats, most of which are mentioned above, but he was the “perfect storm” (thanks stix) that kept me going.
I think that John Allen’s legacy is that he was a great inspiration for so many, including myself. It’s a richer hobby because of him.
Enjoy
Paul
Saying John Allen was a great model railroader is like saying that Sophia Loren was/is a beautiful woman – not a statement calculated to pick many fights, frankly. And yet the man did have his detractors back when he was alive and in his prime and more than able to defend his views.
By the way if you have old issues or see them at swap meets, try to track down the March 1963 issue of MR with John Allen’s 10 page article (with foldout) “Concept and planning of the Gorre & Daphetid.” He says dozens and dozens of wise things in that article. Let me give an example: “I like massive modern steam power, yet I restrained myself to conform to the railroad concept and I built a railroad on which massive steam power can’t be used. To assure myself that I wouldn’t renege later, I built the turntable too short and the embankments and tunnel portals too close on curves to handle massive power. This wasn’t done lightly.”
Back when Linn Westcott was editor of MR, which many now see as a golden age for the magazine, the letters section of the mag fumed with angry and vituperative letters, some of them nearly incoherent. From the December 1963 issue, a letter from M. La Sagessa of Montgomery Alabama: “I save all my issues of Model Railroader and on cold days I spread them throughout the house. The hot air emanating from the columns written by your staff substantially reduces my fuel bill. Drop dead.” The heading they gave his letter? “From a warm friend.”
You wanna pick a fight? Try saying something along these lines: “the only true MODEL railroaders are those who have the ready built Plasticville structures on their layout. All others are effette dilettantes.”
Heh heh.
Dave Nelson
I don’t mind admitting that John Allen has had quite an influence on my approach to model railroading, as I was a fledgling scale modeler when his Varney photos began appearing in MR, way back in the 'fifties. At that time his realism was pretty astounding to a 16 year old kid, and his subtle sense of humor (“Emma” the Stegosaurus yard switcher for one) let me know that the hobby could also be a lot of fun. Which is why I chose the hobby in the first place–I wanted to enjoy myself and still do the best I could with whatever talents I posessed. Allen’s photographs kept me going–and wishing.
Frankly, and you might not understand this musical analogy, for John Allen to appear during the time when HO wasn’t supposed to stay on the tracks (and a lot of it didn’t), is pretty much akin to what might have happened to music if Beethoven had arrived on the scene right after Medieval Gregorian Chant and not 200 years later. For me, Allen not only expanded, but literally exploded the concepts of what the hobby was capable.
I remember when I started slapping down my Sierra Nevada’s on my current Yuba River Sub. Every now and then I’d stand back and think to myself, “Well, they’re not the Akinback’s, but I’m not John Allen, either. So they’ll do.”
Do I admire other ‘contemporary’ modelers? You bet I do! I’ve seen photos by current modelers that make me drool. But sometimes I wonder if possibly THEY haven’t tapped into Allen’s ideas in some subtle way and made it uniquely their own. If he’d been less of what he was, I don’t think we’d be discussing him as if he were still building that railroad of his in his Monterey basement.
Tom [:)]
No doubt Allen was a top notch modeler, but he had no influence on me and no inspiration whatsoever. The Gorre and Daphetid was strictly a steam railroad, and I’m not into steam.
aloco - I’m sorry you’re not into steam, but surely you can find inspiration from John Allen’s modelling in terms of planning and building a prototypically operating railroad (don’t worry about the name - some of us are stuck with our early choice!) with humour and modesty.
Look at the articles and photographs that John Allen contributed to a number of model magazines, and think about the lucid explanations, artistic perspective, lighting balance and technical skill to produce as you search for inspiration.
John Allen was ahead of his time.
So would I and I’d bet that there would be enough others to buy most of the print run. If they aren’t sure they could just ask and take pre-orders.
Irv
I still interchange with the G&D [;)]
John’s first G&D was about 30 sq. ft., slightly smaller than a 4’ x 8’ sheet of plywood (which is 32 sq.ft.). According to the trackplans he drew (I believe for the 1963 article on the layout) the layout room’s dimensions at it’s largest points was 23’ x 32’, which would be 736 sq ft. The room had a ‘jog’ to it so the actual area of the room wasn’t a rectangle. Probably the available space was more like 5-600 sq. ft.
BTW someone mentioned keeping John ‘and friends’ busy working on the layout…my understanding is that although the layout’s operating sessions were done with several people, it was relatively rare that any work on the layout - benchwork, wiring, scenery, structures, cars, etc. - was done by anyone but John himself. I know he built some cars for other people’s layouts, so it could be had a few cars or buildings given to him by friends in return that he used, but apparently 99.9% of the layout was John alone.
oh yeah ! my credit card is ready to go anytime MR publishes a book with all of JA’s articles , and all those written about him as you suggest . i already have the Westcott book and re-read it every couple of years . which reminds me , i should put it in my ‘to be read’ pile
ernie
John Allen ranks right up there with the best of the best in the Golden Era of model railroading pioneers.
One of my all time favorite quotes of his is this one:
" Start small and build well. Plan your small railroad for operation rather than as a race track, and build it with care. You will be amazed at how much fun a small pike can be."
~ John Allen
That was my post.
Your percentage is probably about right, but Jim Findley built a number of the most famous structures on the G & D. One was the two-level station at Corsa/Cross Junction and another was the station with the triangular footprint and circular tower (I don’t recall where it was located on the layout). This one had a telescoping chimney and Jim liked to adjust the length and wait to see how long it took Allen to notice. According to Westcott, John Allen loved a good harmess prank, even if the joke was on him.
Cliff Grandt made drive trains for special equipment for John Allen. In exchange, Allen made highly detailed O scale rolling stock for Grandt (I wonder where those are, now).
When I made my previous post I was making an effort not to snub these and other masters of the hobby who contributed to the G & D.
For those of you looking for the book, I found my copy by doing a google search. I got it from a used book store in England for 3 Pounds (something like 9 dollars); shipping was about $10. It arrived in great condition and took about 2 weeks. The book is often listed on eBay and sells for upwards of $70.
The importance of John Allen has nothing to do with a current modeller not getting any inspiration directly from the G&D. It goes far beyond that. John was one of the pioneers that led to what evolved into the current way of thinking when it comes to model railroad design. He wasn’t the only person to have this influence though. John Armstrong had many good articles and his Canandaigua Southern layout was a masterpiece but in a different way than John Allen’s. Frank Ellison was also very influential with his ideas and his layout the Delta Lines.
I consider these 3 men to be among the most influential of their time and it is their ideas and views that have inspired so many current modellers who have in turn inspired many more. The importance is their legacy. They all had very large contributions to the hobby and whether or not you agreed with their practices, you can’t deny their influence.
One area that John Allen gets no love over is the Timesaver. There are people who absolutely hate switching puzzles. Over time we’ve seen these get integrated into track plans and this was never it’s intended use. People get frustrated with it from an operations standpoint and then go back to the man who designed it. It was never intended to be anything more than a puzzle. It’s not a layout design. Of course many do appreciate it for what it is but I’ve seen more people criticize John Allen over the timesaver than anything else. The only criticism I’ve ever heard about the G&D was that it’s grades are steep and it uses real tight radiuses. Of course John justifies all of this so it really just comes down to opinion and what you want to run.
He was a great modeller and I would love to see what could have been with the G&D had John lived to current times. I’d love to see what he would have done with DCC!
I actually just saw 2 of John Allen’s old train cars here this past weekend. Gil Freitag in Houston h
John Allen was good at what he did but,there were those that was just as good or better* in John’s day but,never had the publicity like John got from friend Linn Westcott in the pages of MR…
This may come as a shock to younger modelers a lot of modelers back in John’s day didn’t care that much for him…Yes youngin’s we had “rivet” counters and nay sayers even in those days.[:O]
*There was some new up and comers back then that is well known today that was turning heads faster then John back in the late 50s and early 60s.
By golly come to think of it those were exciting times in the hobby and the beginning of the hobby we know today thanks in no small parts to these bright up and comers that shook the hobby in advanced modeling,advanced layout designs and prototypical operations.
There you have it.
What’s done is done and I can’t change that. I was not so influenced by those people I did not know about or whose work I did not see. I was influenced by John Allen’s work as presented in Westcott’s book.
Now I don’t doubt, that these others had an impact on the hobby. However, photos of John’s work survived long enough for me to see and be a huge influence.
There are always unknown people out there in all hobbies, jobs, etc that can equal or sometimes even surpass the skill of those that are known. The music world being a very good example as I wouldn’t call many of them good singers by any stretch of the imagination. However when no one knows who you are, you aren’t that influential. Maybe to a few who know you but that’s it. I absolutely believe there were people back then with just as much talent as John Allen. John Armstrong and Frank Ellison being 2 that I already mentioned and there are certainly others. It’s more than just modelling skill though that these men were influential. It was a model railroad philosophy. Each of them brought something unique to the table. In the internet age almost anyone can be influential. These men didn’t have that.
My current influences are a few local friends that aside from a random layout feature in a magazine here and there are relatively unknown to those outside of town. One of my biggest current influences is Pelle Soeborg who writes articles for MR. His modelling skill is superb. It doesn’t matter if you are into the era or location he models. That doesn’t take away from the skill and creativity. I really enjoy reading about the “pioneers” such as John Allen. He nor any of the other people weren’t my first influences or the reason I got into the hobby. I guess that would be my dad. Those men however had alot of good insight and ideas that still apply and it is still worth studying. Whether they were the best or not is irrelevant. They are the ones that are documented and can actually learn from.
I subscribed to MR from 1969-1977 and I never felt that John Allen was included disproportionately to any other modeler. Having read a lot of Westcott’s writing and read about Westcott, I doubt that their friendship played much of a role in editorial decisions. Allen was an excellent modeler, excellent photographer, and a good writer; that’s a combination that is going to help anyone to accumulate column-inches in a model railroading magazine.
Myself, I couldn’t get enough of Allen’s work. If they had published a John Allen article every month I’d have wished for more. In terms of influence, it’s all over my layout.
Also, in terms of influence, consider this example: Westcott reported in his book that John Allen was the first to get real notoriety for weathering. Assuming that this is true, every one of us who weathers our structures, engines, rolling stock, etc. can trace that practice back to John Allen.
Chip,Does these names ring a bell? Allen McClelland,Tony Koester,Doug Smith(the father of carcards/waybills)…How about Paul Jansen? There are many.
There was a lot of “super” modelers in that day that was real hobby shakers and movers the problem is they never got their far share of publicity as up and comers like John did…That’s the sad part.
Most modelers never heard of Paul Jansen but,his modeling and photography was advance for that era.
Allen and Tony would wait till the 70s before they raise to fame even tho’ Allen had several photos in Trackside Photos that showed modeling well ahead of its time.
Doug Smith was as the father of car card/waybill operation.A novel idea that was thought to be quite useless…After all who wants to flip through way bills and car cards when they are running their trains and why did MR waste the space on such a useless subject?
John has a part in the history of the hobby has what could be done beyond the simple track filled 5x9 “ping pong” layouts of those times…
I dunno the hobby was advancing on all sides for the better and yet John and his G&D still held top billing in MR till the bubble burst in or around the mid 60s then John kinda slipped into the shadows as more “advanced” modeling came on the scene and “fantasy” modeling was frown upon…Even the old wooden car kits was scorn by the majority as being to cruel looking and outdated.
Brakie,
Yes I read (or read about) all those modelers. But I read about them long after I started my first layout. By then I had my vision of big scenery firmly planted in my brain. Now the one you did not mention, Armstrong, I read in between reading Westcott’s book and building my first layout. But Anderson gave me the how, Allen gave me the inspiration.