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The Roundhouse: Episode 21
Always fun to hear about (and see) the Gorre and Daphetid RR of John Allen. Thanks, Andy, for your recollections. When I was a kid, I was always fascinated by his layout and the articles he wrote for Model Railroader. It’s a shame that it was destroyed by fire and water shortly after John’s death. Quite ironic.
Great Roundhouse segment on the G&D!! I grew up reading MR and any article I find on John Allen in the late 1950’s and1960’s and beyond. Let’s have more videos of the past and present model railroad greats like this. Even more talk about John and the G&D is okay. Great work and my Great Northern hat is off to you and your team.
Jim Scofield,
Augusta, GA
Brand new video, but can tell this is a classic Roundhouse
I’ve always enjoyed Andy’s columns in the mag, hopefully there are many more to come.
Wonderful to listen to this, Hal and Andy. I am very happy to have an original copy of ‘Model Railroading with John Allen’ in my personal library, and newer readers of MR should be delighted that the book will be available again. You really brought it to life with the editing on this video. Well done!
Great to see Andy, and also so many great photos of the G&D.
Great episode! Loved listening to Andy and loved hearing about the Gorre & Daphetid! I miss Andy being part of the MR staff and would like to know how his home layout is coming along too??
I saw the promo for this episode some months back and wondered when it would air. I almost contacted MR about it. Now, I am so happy that this has appeared. I have every thing that can be found about the G&D from the book to the movie as well as every issue of MR in which the railroad appeared. (That is through the dvd which I often look at.) I have issues of MR dating to the ‘50s so the dvd makes things so much easier and I find the old issues which have been lost over the years. This was so enjoyable to hear from Andy about the railroad and John Allen. I wonder if there is anything similar regarding Whit Towers’ Alturas and Lone Pine which was a simple railroad but one with such a great concept of operation? Again, thanks so much for the wonderful half hour, and thanks to you, Andy.
Great episode. I always wanted to know some history about John Allen and his railroad. Did not know his railroad was around as late as the early 70’s.
What a treat to have Mr. Sperandeo on the show. I have always enjoyed his knowledge and insights on this great hobby. The photos of Mr. Allen’s layout were terrific to see. Mr. Allen definitely had the right stuff necessary to build a great model rail road which inspires us all. I hope to see Mr. Sperandeo on future episodes of round house. Mr. Miller is a great host/interviewer and the relaxed atmosphere makes it feel like you are sharing with old friends. Thanks for this.
Blain Roman from Saskatchewan
I got stationed aboard the USS Long Beach (CGN9) when she was in Mare Island shipyard in mid 1971. Why is this important? Mare Island was less than a hour from John Allen’s home. As close as I got, I never had a chance to visit the G & D and to this day I despair not trying to contact him. It was only after his passing that I learned he enjoyed having service men visit. I have too little time in the area as well as too little free time because three months after I got to Vallejo, we changed our home port back to Long Beach, CA.
One thing I DID notice about #34 was that the front truck of the tender (actually both tenders - original and as shown in the video) has a connecting rod between the wheels of the tender. I seem to remember that some of the engines used back then had the motor in the tender and used the tender truck(s) as the actual means of getting the motive power to the rails. Andy mentions that #34 was on the work bench for some reason - could it have been that there was a problem with the mechanism? (I would rate that as highly unlikely because BOTH tenders had the connecting rods.)
Excellent. So interesting and so good to see Andy.
Q: When will we see Andy Sperandeo’s ATSF layout on MR Video Plus and in the magazine? That would be great.
As a young reader of MR and Craftsman in the mid-60’s I always enjoyed seeing John Allen’s articles or photos of the G&D so I found this video especially enjoyable. Great job guys!
Excellent video! Great story backed by great photographs. Thank you for enriching our hobby / lifestyle
Great video. Would have loved to have met John Allen in person. Thanks for the informative discussion.
Very enjoyable. Perhaps personal mics would have made for a better sound.
Mr. Miller, one of the best episodes yet.
Very nicely done!
Very nice Roundhouse episode on a very inspirational model railroader and a ground breaking model railroad. I have the great fortune and pleasure of operating on the West Virginia Central & Pittsburg model railroad, which has appeared in Model Railroader, Model Railroad Planning and on the cover of Moder Railroader 43 Track Plans from the Experts. We operate in the same fashion as John Allen, at the end of the operating session everything remains in place and the next operating session picks up where the last one left off. The railroad is never re staged, since the staging yards are return loops. I agree with Andy and John, using this method really does replicate running a railroad as the first thing the new dispatcher needs to do is re-crew trains that have outlawed someplace along the mainline. Another advantage of this type of operations is, the operating session is more dynamic, you may not run the same trains as you did at the last operating session and the yards will always be in a different state at the beginning of the next session. Again great episode Hal and good to hear from Andy again.