John Whitby Allen

John Whitby Allen (July 2, 1913 – January 6, 1973) was an American model railroader who created the famous HO scale Gorre & Daphetid model railroad in Monterey, California and authored numerous magazine articles on the subject starting in the 1940s. Allen was renowned for his skill at scratch building and creating scenery, and he pioneered the technique of weathering his models to make them look old and more realistic. Besides his superdetailing of rolling stock, structures, and scenery, Allen also filled his model world with scale people who provided humorous vignettes on life. Other techniques Allen promoted were train operation and forced perspective--the use of smaller-than-scale items to make them look distant, and create the illusion of a larger layout.

Early life

Born in Joplin, Missouri, John's father died of typhoid fever when he was three, and his mother died during the flu epidemic about nine years later. John would live with relatives in Missouri until attending school in Minnesota. While there, he would catch rheumatic fever, and on the advice of a doctor, moved to California to live with an aunt and uncle. His health improved, but the rheumatic fever weakened his heart.

After completing high school, John attended UCLA, and joined the ROTC. He became comfortable around military people, which would later result in servicemen being recruited to help run the Gorre and Daphetid.

In 1934, John and his brother went to the World's Fair, and saw scale model trains in operation, and he was impressed. He was attending UCLA studying economics, but decided to go to art school. He attended art school for three years, specializing in photography. There he would acquire the skills that set his layout and model photography apart.

In 1935 John's paternal grandparents passed away, and his inheiritence was about $1900. This was 1935, an amount equal to a year's salary for a middle class man. John invested the money with the help of his brother, and in about 11 years, the value was such that he really didn't have to work. His investments, combined with a frugal lifestyle, resulted in a sum of over $500,000 at the time of his death. After completing school, John partnered with another student and opened a photography business in the Westlake Park area of Los Angeles.

WWII

Before the war, John and his brother visited an uncle living near Oakland, who had a model railroad. John got very interested in working on it. When the US joined the Second World War, John's brother Andrew joined the military, and John offered his services as a photo analyst. Visiting his brother, John saw Monterey, and decided there was work there for a photographer. He partnered with one Weston Booth, opening a shop on the main street, and did a brisk business photographing servicemen.

In 1946, John sold his business, invested the money, and decided to retire.

He would say that he got into model railroading just before the end of the war, and due to a limited supply of hobby materials, began building things from scratch. He spent a lot of time studying and observing railroads in operation, and how the prototype is put together. During this time John built models, then meticulously arranged and photographed them. In July 1946 the first of many photographs by John Allen appeared in Model Railroader.

He would move into a house in 1946 and begin construction of his railroad's first version. In 1953, he decided he needed more room and, decided to move. He offered a railroad for sale, with free house. When no one was interested in buying the house with the railroad, he dismantled it. The original 3.5 by 6.5 foot G.D. was saved and incorporated into the final version, while other parts where given away to friends.

John would move to his final house, chosen because it had an unfinished basement. He would dig out the basement, put concrete on the floor, and prepare it for construction of the final layout. He allocated about half the 1200 square feet to the layout, the rest for a workshop and storage.

John would build a scale model of the house to aid in planning, in addition to models of the layout he planned to build. His planning was very thorough. Construction began in January 1954. One feature of the layout was Devil's Gulch, a part of the basement not excavated, but shaped and then concrete was poured over it. John would construct the layout almost completely by himself. He would spend the next 20 years on that project.

During this time John would revolutionize model railroading with realistic operations, lighting, including night lighting, and weathering of models. He would use forced perspective to enhance the illusion, and only allowed photography under his condtions.

John Allen would suffer a fatal heart attack on the evening of January 6, 1973. He previously suffered at least one heart attack during the 1960s. He wasn't feeling well, yet worked at completing the Gorre and Daphetid. In a telephone conversation with Linn Westcott, he suggested that he would drive the last spike in the spring of 1973, and that Linn should come for a visit then. In 1972 he was already suggesting that things may not go well, and wondering "what to do with the railroad" in letters to a friend.

Ten days after Allen died unexpectedly of a heart attack, some of Allen's friends gathered for an operating session and discussion on the preservation of the railroad, in accordance with Allen's wishes. When they left, someone set a radiator in the train room to 65 degrees. Allen never used that radiator and had covered it with tarpaper. This caused a fire, which was quickly reported and extinguished fast enough to save the house, but it destroyed the final, still-unfinished incarnation of Allen's railroad. The damage was mainly contained to the layout room, and the house was rehabilitated and sold. A few model railroad items attributed to Allen survive and have been authenticated.

According to Linn Westcott's book "Model Railroading with John Allen" ("The Book") the fire was determined by an investigator be have started from a small gas furnace. John rarely used the furnace, because he liked to keep the house cool.

Linn Westcott was asked by John's brother to investigate if the layout could be salvaged. The fire caused extensive damage. They tried to save the "French Gulch" section, but it collapsed as they moved it (after two hours of work.)

Allen's death was covered in the April 1973 issue of Model Railroader magazine. It contained an obituary and Allen was featured on the front cover. There was also a retrospective on John Allen in the January 2003 issue of "Model Railroader" in regards to 30 years since his death.

Former "Model Railroader" editor Linn Westcott's final book, entitled "Model Railroading with John Allen", was published posthumously in 1981. Westcott died in 1980 while writing the book. It contained various quotes and photographs from Allen demonstrating his techniques.

There is a video on John Allen's railroad by "Sunday River Productions" called "The Gorre & Daphetid" with footage shot by Richard Reynolds who committed to the famous Gorre & Daphetid and also a small intro by Glenn Beier who also operated on the G&D. [http://www.sundayriverproductions.com/model/sG_D.html] . And Glenn Beier says it's the only Motion Picture ever made of the world's most famous Model Railroad. Until February 2007, only a VHS copy of the video was for sale. Now both VHS and DVD are available.

John Allen is also famous for devising the Timesaver model railway shunting puzzle.

See also

* Gorre & Daphetid
* Timesaver

External links

* [http://www.gdlines.com/index.html A Memorial Tribute to the Gorre and Daphetid and John Whitby Allen (The Gorre and Daphetid Reminiscence Project)]