John Whitby Allen
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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 model railroading 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 realistic train operation and forced perspective, and create the illusion of a larger model railroad layout.
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[edit] 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 lived with relatives in Missouri until attending school in Minnesota. While there, he developed 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 in Chicago, 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 acquired the skills that set his layout and model photography apart.
In 1935 John's paternal grandparents died, and his inheritance was about $1900 (the equivalent of 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 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.
[edit] World War II
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 United States 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 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 said 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 magazine.
[edit] Gorre & Daphetid Early Version
He moved into a house in 1946 and began construction of the first version of the Gorre & Daphetid (G&D) model railroad in HO scale. 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 ft (1.1 m) by 6.5 ft (2.0 m) G&D was saved and incorporated into the final version, while other parts where given away to friends.
[edit] Gorre & Daphetid Final Version
John moved to his final house, chosen because it had an unfinished basement. He dug out the basement, put concrete on the floor, and prepared it for construction of the final layout. He allocated about half the 1,200 sq ft (110 m2) to the layout, the rest for a workshop and storage.
John built 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. Early plans included the use of real water in scale rivers and lakes. 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 constructed the layout almost completely by himself. He spent the next 20 years devoted to this project.
During this period John revolutionized model railroading with realistic operations, lighting (including night lighting), and weathering of models. He used forced perspective to enhance the illusion of realism, and only allowed photography under his conditions.
[edit] Death and Aftermath
John Allen suffered a fatal heart attack on the evening of January 6, 1973. He had previously suffered at least one heart attack during the 1960s. Although he wasn't feeling well, he 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 might not be going 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 tar paper. 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 have been 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).
[edit] Retrospective
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 remembrance of him 30 years after 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 about John Allen's railroad by Sunday River Productions called The Gorre & Daphetid [1] with footage shot by Richard Reynolds with a small intro by Glenn Beier who also operated on the G&D. 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 versions are available.
John Allen is also famous for devising the Timesaver model railway shunting puzzle.
