The April 2015 issue of trains had a nice article about the most recent acquisition by G&W, along with some detail about their approach to the business and their size and success. This brought forth the thought, what if they bought the G&D? The largest problem is that G&W is a real company that runs real railroads for a profit, while the G&D was a fictional model railroad created and built by John Allen. That is why this is on the Model Railroader forum rather than Trains.
There are other issues. Since the G&D was all steam in an era where that was still possible, how did it dieselize? Then there is the question of how big was it, and what was its route? What parts would still be in operation at this date since there was so much reduction of rail lines since the 40’s? What would they be hauling today? G&W looks to haul bulk items since the car load business has mostly died. What is there like that on the G&D? Some hidden mineral, like frack sand has become? How big is “Port”, and what ships would be there? Would G&W&rsq
Like all community based “we gotta have a railroad” the G&D would have been abandon years ago as trucks,automobiles and improved roads made their inlay into the region.
Yup the old G&D would been a rails to trail years ago so,there would be nothing for GWI to buy.
Who’s to say if anything of the G&D would have been preserved since many such prototype railroads simply vanish to become a side note in local history?
I can see that for the Akinbak line, as one possibility, but Gorre and Port may both have had connections to the SP (now UP) and if there was business there could still be active. Lots of history for that. Again, maybe the SP line closed and if there was some business on line the G&D was the one still running?
If the line from Gorre to Daphetid was still active (what WAS in that mine?) I think gangs of SW’s would be used due to the tight curves.
Maybe turn it around. To survive the G&D became a shortline operator. Maybe only a few miles of the original line left, mostly to their locomotive and railcar remanufacturing facility. But they’ve bought up a bunch of smaller lines around the country, including the G&W. Plus with their equipment leasing business and new low emissions and battery powered locomotives, G&D equipment is seen in every part of the country.
Looking at G&D’s equipment I don’t think they had the money to maintain their own car and locomotive fleet let alone invest in other short lines or even buy the largest short line operator–GWI.It was GWI that bought Rail America and it family of short lines.GWI also operates railroads in other countries.
From my years of short line study if there was anything left of the G&D it would be operating on a “as needed bases” with a short tourist train ride during the summer and early fall months.Maybe a “Ghost Train” ride on Halloween.
In a sense, G&W did that when they bought the Ohio Central, the largest privately owned railroad in the country. Jerry Joe Jacobson, the former owner, kept a fleet of active steam locomotives. I believe at one time he had as many as ten in operating condition. He would occasionally allow them to be used in revenue service. He kept the steam locomotives when he sold the railroad and has stored them in a roundhouse in Sugarcreek, OH. It could be argued that under JJJ, the Ohio Central was his 1:1 model railroad.
I think the G and D is a lot like the NYO and W, mountainous railroading, with lots of bridges, but not a lot of traffic. Considering it looks to be modeling the late steam era when roads were still not as common. Looking at how railroads have fallen since post WWII, I think this road would have fallen on hard times also, John Allen himself said his line parralled the SP, so any thing that might make money would have been bought up, or the G and D would have down sized to it’s SP connection near the port and larger city sections. His railroad had lots of hard terrain and costly bridges to maintain. Like the O and W it would have been over by the late fifties.
The postings on this thread have not gone the way that was expected. I now suspect it is because many of the viewers do not know much about John Allen and his Gorre & Daphetid (the G D Line). This would not be surprising since he died in 1973. I learned of him when given a stack of old MR’s going back to before I was born. I also bought the Kalmbach book.
He bought his first models in 1944 and continued modeling until his death. Early on he was sending photos of his models in carefully stage and shot scenes. His work was stunning for the time, filled with figures and details. The models were well
The G&W is a very prosperous corporation. They could very easily purchase locomotives for the G&D and even make money using the steam engines to run fail fan trips through the mountains. The G&D does not need large diesels. mostly 4 axle or small 6 axle units units would work fine.
I grew up in the G&D era and it was featured in MR,RMC,advertisements and some catalogs.It was a sad day when John died and even a sadder day when the G&D was destroyed by a house fire.It was IMHO a end of a era.
Just think the G&D started life as a simple 4x8’ layout and ended up filling a basement…
While most people knew that the president of G&D lines, John Allen, was very frugal, few knew that the G&D was sitting on top of a pile of cash. Following Mr. Allen’s retirement a new board took office and set about upgrading the line, purchasing many first and second generation diesels second-hand and using the extra cash to upgrade its main line. G&D ran a tight ship and with out any debt, the line became one of the more prosperous railroads of the west. When the SP fell on hard times in the 80s, G&D lines took the opportunity to purchase the SP and became one of the Super Seven.