Thanks Andy, for the feature on John Allen’s immortal G&D…I was particularly pleased with the number of photos that had never previously appeared in a Kalmbach publication…great stuff, on the all-time Greatest Model Rairoad ever. [In the humble opinions of countless thousands of model rairoaders, I would think.]
Happy Holidays & regards / Mike
Andy,
Ditto on Jim’s comment. The hard cover version would be great, too. BTW, there is a G&D Group Forum on Yahoo.
I met you at a train show in Long Beach, CA back in about 1996 and we talked about the G&D. One day I’ll take you up on your offer to see #34 in person. I am building a selectively compressed version of the G&D (now owned by the Pine Ridge Railroad) in a space of about 21 ft by 20 ft.
Let’s have more pictures and stories of the G&D throughout the months and years. You’re going to receive a lot of positive feedback. Great job!
Tom Hokel
Andy:
I agree with Mike’s comments. The John Alen feature was great. Do you know whether Kalmbach plans to republish Lynn Wescott’s book on John Allen? The book has been out of print for a number of years, but I think that a whole new generation of model railroaders would be interested in the book. Much of John’s work is timeless.
After seeing a related thread on the Atlas forum, thanks also to Paul and Terry.
Hello Mike,
It was a privilege for me to participate in this. The April 1973 issue of MR, in which Linn Westcott gave a stunning pictorial and written tribute after John passed way just three months earlier, was one of the first, if not the first, issue of MR that I checked out of the library in Corvallis, Ore., that summer. I was 11 years old. I still remember how mesmerized I was by the Gorre & Daphetid. I get the same feeling at the same intensity every time I see John’s work.
Going through John’s slides at Kalmbach, I’d come across small yellow boxes that were singed on the outside while the insides smelled of smoke. Somehow they had survived that awful fire.
Paul
In my opinion John Allen photos have never been reproduced with such clarity and crispness as in this article. Bravo to the printer on this one.
By the way some of us are old enough to remember when Pacific Fast Mail, known for its brass engines and sound systems and high quality books, was largely in the business of selling Tenshodo switch machines and … a set of John Allen slides.
Dave Nelson
it was great to see the g&d again. i was a lot younger than i am now when i first saw the layout in MR. seeing the recentphotos inspired me to go back into my old books and look at them all again. wheather we realize it or not we all owe a great deal to john allen who in the early days inspired us all to pu***he envelope and made us believe that we could be as good as he was. thanks guys for the new inspiration.
Hello Dave,
As a matter of fact we just this morning conducted an internal review of our January issue and I made the same comment you did. In all modesty – which is fairly easy, because I had nothing to do with that part of the process – I’m sure those photos never looked better.
My thanks to all of you for your comments, and I’m very glad we were able to share the John Allen photos with you.
As far as Linn’s book is concerned, it is out of print and realistically speaking I don’t expect it to be reprinted any time soon. (And please note that Linn did spell his name with an “i,” not a “y.”)
Happy holidays,
Andy Sperandeo
MODEL RAILROADER Magazine
I too, was pleased to see the article on John Allens GD lines. More accurately, I was stunned! Glad I was sitting at the time. There are many wonderful modelers and model railroaders, but John Allen Achieved what can only be described as spectacular. I still have the first photo I saw of the GD when it appeared in an ad for Varney way back when. (logging in the high country)I am still trying to attain a semblance of the realism on my RR. that permeated his in every way.
Andy, I presume part of the reason that you don’t anticipate a reprint is the price you would have to charge. I have my own copy that I purchased on its first release, but, if I didn’t, (and it wasn’t cheap then), I’d be prepared to pay $50 US for it now, even in soft cover. It is a treasure.
David
Andy Sperandeo said…
As far as Linn’s book is concerned, it is out of print and realistically speaking I don’t expect it to be reprinted any time soon.
Then put it out on CD. The cost would be considerable less. 
Roger
Roger Hensley – madisonrails@railfan.net
== http://cid.railfan.net/eci_new.html ==
== East Central Indiana HO Scale Railroad ==
My sentimenst, exactly! In 1971, while a member of the Sacramento (CA) Model Railroad Club, I was privileged to visit John and his wonderful railroad. What a treat; very gracious, and openly answered all of our questions. I purchased a copy of Kalmbach’s soft-cover John Allen book…it firmly remains one of my favorites…not for sale at any price…memories of a great man and his r.r…that we lost all too soon…