I just saw the Andy Sperandeo video and listened to the 1971 audio tape with John Allen speaking about operations on his layout, and I just wanted to say that I’m looking forward to seeing the January issue.
To be perfectly honest, I am not all too familiar with John Allen and the G&D, other than a few vague recollections and memories from my youth. From what I’ve seen, he was a brilliant modeler. I think it’s great to see MR revisit some of the classic landmark layouts as well as showcase the great modelers of the past for a generation that didn’t get a chance to see or know them in person.
Here’s a web site http://www.gdlines.com/ about John Allen and his model railroads. I have always been a fan of his, I started the hobby in late 1971 just before he died. Kalmbach published an excellent book on him a few years ago, Model Railroading With John Allen by Linn Westcott.
I started model railroading in 1969 and hold John Allen as one of the modelers who showed us the way and demonstrated what’s possible - I think of him as model railroading’s Babe Ruth. Based on the book, the G&D was like one huge FSM project - every square inch was highly detailed. It took over 20 years and Allen worked on it like it was a job - 8 or more hours a day for 20 years. Allen did not work at a regular job, he lived from investment income and from the money he was paid by Varney for his advertising photos (their products on Allen’s layout); he had no family, so he devoted most of his waking hours to model railroading.
Beyond building an exemplary layout, Allen also wrote numerous articles to help all of us improve. He never criticized other modelers’ work. He was a heck of a guy, from what I read in Westcott’s book.
Allen also had his own version of the forums - he would send a letter to a routing list; each member would add to it and send it on to the next member. Apparently these letters would make a number of circuits before they would stop and be replaced by another topic. His routing list included Jim Findley, Cliff Grandt, Linn Westcott, Whit Towers, and other accomplished modelers - I’d love to read those round-robin letters after a few circuits (just imagine!)
From what I’ve read, I think Allen would have embraced DCC, electronic signals, and sound. I like to imagine what the G & D would have been if he’d had this technology available.
The book, by the way, is worth seeking out - it’s out of print, but used copies are often available on eBay and at used books websites.
I came to the hobby about 6 years after John Allen had passed away so I didn’t know who he was or even what the Gorre and Dephetid was. But I kept reading about them and what I read looked interesting. I tried to find out more about him and his railroad and over the years a found an article and an article there whic described his layout and gave a track plan and also discussed how his layout evolved from scenery for photographing model railroading items for use in advertising (John’s profession was photography).
I was still facsinated and then one day I actually got to se reproductions of some of the cars he created and some photos of scenes from his layout at the hobbyshop I frequented back then. I was blown away to say the least. Now I had reado about other hobbyists and their layouts, most especially the V&O and r4ealized just how much I had missed by not being in the hobby until I had a son of my own.
So all I can say is stuff like this is very valuable even though John never had DCC to pay with or some of the other advances that we have that make it easier to do some of the stuff he did. While I know I will never the kind of hobbyist and innovator that John was, he still provides inspiration to me and probably to many others as well.
Can someone post the book title etc? What with all the book stores i’ve got around here one never knows… Also having a few of his articles in some old MRR and RMC,s gave me ideas that are workable for my not so nimble fingers. Did he do rail photograhy as well?
Back in the 1950s, 60s and 70s there were many photo articles about the fabulous Gorre & Daphetid in Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman, and back in the 1950s the ads by Varney were often shot on the G&D. MR has run retrospective articles since. In some ways the G&D was from a different era but John Allen was such an excellent craftsman that I think there will always be something to learn from the G&D.
I can’t recall if it was Linn Westcott, longtime editor of MR, or Hal Carstens of RMC, but one or the other remarked that if the rival magazine published a John Allen article someone would complain that there was “too much Gorre & Daphetid” in the other magazine! Even if they had not run anything in years.
Back when I was a kid just getting into the hobby, John Allen’s G&D was really inspirational. I followed it from the little 3X6’ mining loop he started (which became incorporated into the larger layout) to the absolute scenic wonder it had progressed to at his death. For me, it was always a “How’d he do THAT?” kind of admiration.
Frankly, when I started my Yuba River Sub about seven years ago, I kept remembering his convoluted passage through the Akinbak Mountains, and it kinda/sorta inspired my own Sierra Nevada crossing. Things that he did on his MR always keep coming back to remind me of what I can possibly do on mine.
Sure, things have progressed in the hobby since the G&D, but as far as I’m concerned, Allen’s basic concepts are still extremely viable. He had a wonderful, fanciful, and often quirky imagination (his Stegosaurus yard switcher Emma, for example) but I don’t think any of his ‘quirks’ were nonsensical, they always seemed rooted in a deep enjoyment of both the hobby and his talents.
I remember him very fondly. I would really have liked to have met him.
I remeber that quote. It was Wescott, and he was referring to reader’s of Model Railroader. He said that whenever an article on the G&D was published in another hobby magazine he could always count on someone writing him a letter complaining about the over-saturation of John Allen articles in MR.
Yup, in fact it was in the story where they reported John’s death, starting from the editorial and covering many pages of that issue. The gist of the comment was that they hadn’t run anything by or about John Allen in over two years in MR, and RMC did a story on John - which resulted in MR getting a bunch of letters complaining about too much coverage of John Allen.
Glad people pay attention to what they’re reading. LOL
Like many model railroaders, John Allen had a big influence on my modeling, despite the fact I’d never met him. First time I ever heard of him was reading an article in MR when I was a teen, back around '69 or 70. I was blown away by his floor-to-ceiling scenery, which was one of a kind back then. Scenery was always my favorite aspect of the hobby, and I long dreamed of doing something like that myself. As a kid, modeling railroading was out of my reach, money-wise. In fact money was pretty tight for long time as an adult too. Also I never owned my own home and rarely lived in one place very long, so my modeling was limited to a few very small dioramas. By the mid-80’s I was married and owned a home, and started on an HOn30 layout in my garage. Got the benchwork in and started laying track - then we had to put an addition onto the house and everything in the garage had to be torn out. Afterwards the garage was needed for storage and work space. Flash forward about 20 years, and I finally have a model railroad, with detailed, “floor-to-ceiling” scenery you can walk through – except it’s a 1/24 scale outdoor layout! It’s built on a steep hillside so I was able to create the mountainous terrain I always wanted. Funny how life twists and turns… 30-40 years ago I never would have expected my “dream layout” to be outdoors.
The book has been out of print for maybe 10+ years so it’s unlikely a local book store will have it in stock. Might find on the shelf of a hobby shop, but more likely on ebay or a local RR flea market.
John Allen worked as a professional photographer starting in the 1940’s after studying art at UCLA. Much of the effect his layout had was the combination of his artistic skill (like his backdrops and use of color) and his ability to light and photograph the layout in ways that really hadn’t been done before. His pics really looked like a pic of a real railroad. Before that most model RR pics were just kinda snapshots showing the layout in an overview.
He was 4-F for the WW2 draft (although he tried many times to enlist) due to a weak heart caused by rheumatic fever caught while going to Shattuck Military Academy here in Minnesota. He lived near a large military base in California and apparently made a lot of money during the war taking photos of servicemen (like pictures of them when they “graduated” from basic training, and pics to send home to family etc.). His brother was an investment broker or banker and had invested his and John’s inheritance well (John’s parents died while he was quite young) and this money plus John’s photography earnings meant that by the late forties John was able to just do free-lance photo work when he wanted to, and concentrate on building his model railroad.
Not in any way meaning to take away from John’s outstanding abilities as a photographer and modeler, I would just point out for the record that his were by no means the earliest examples of “realistic” model railroad photography, or even as good examples as some by others that were publishing well before him.
“Realistic” low-angle photos of Varney locomotives were appearing in the Varney catalogs prior to 1950. Several MR contributors prior to, or contemporary with John, produced amazingly realistic looking images, notably better than his efforts. During the interval between the 1950’s and the early 1960’s, William Clouser was far and away the grand master of the art, submitting many photos to MR that are unmatched for realism even down to today. He was actually accused in MR’s Letters to the Editor column of passing off prototype photos as those of models!
So, while John’s photos were impressive for the time, he was really following in the footsteps of others who had gone before. Actually, I think that he was a far better model photographer than his MR and RMC images suggest. John shot “cutesy” scenes, which honestly lacked realism, for most of his Varney ad photos and this became pretty much his trademark (to the distaste of some at the time). Just as he grew disenchanted in later years with the name he had given his model railroad, I really think it bothered him as a professional photographer that his best, most realistic model
Just before Girls became more important than trains I joined NMRA and the membership book was a small blue book that looked hand made. The inspiration to join was the Varney ads on the back cover of Model Railroader. The very first thing I would look at in a new issue was that back cover.
The rumor that went around when the G&D burned that John had rigged up something to start the fire if he didn’t reset the trigger. I never really heard what really started the fire. I’m glad that we have had great modelers and magazines to egg us on to be better.
I don’t get much better but the inspiration is there!
Although, having personally had a connection to the fire investigation field, I never felt absolutely 100% confident that the fire could without question be ruled accidental, the reported details surrounding what likely precipitated the incident are certainly not at all unreasonable. The actual story is longer than I’d care to relate in detail here, especially as it would be thirdhand on my part. However, Andy S. certainly could comment on this as a firsthand source and I would leave it to him to do that if he should so desire.
Not in any way meaning to take away from John’s outstanding abilities as a photographer and modeler, I would just point out for the record that his were by no means the earliest examples of “realistic” model railroad photography, or even as good examples as some by others that were publishing well before him.
“Realistic” low-angle photos of Varney locomotives were appearing in the Varney catalogs prior to 1950. Several MR contributors prior to, or contemporary with John, produced amazingly realistic looking images, notably better than his efforts. During the interval between the 1950’s and the early 1960’s, William Clouser was far and away the grand master of the art, submitting many photos to MR that are unmatched for realism even down to today. He was actually accused in MR’s Letters to the Editor column of passing off prototype photos as those of models!
So, while John’s photos were impressive for the time, he was really following in the footsteps of others who had gone before. Actually, I think that he was a far better model photographer than his MR and RMC images suggest. John shot “cutesy” scenes, which honestly lacked realism, for most of his Varney ad photos and this became pretty much his trademark (to the distaste of some at the time). Just as he grew disenchanted in later years with the name he had given his model railroad, I really think it bothered him as a professional photographer that his