The Influence of the Late John Allen and a ride in Dr Peabody's WaBac Machine

[Mike Trent]

Greetings,

A change of pace, but certainly related to the C&S modelers such as myself who were influenced and inspired back in the 60's by the work of the late, great, John Allen.

For those of us who are of, shall we say, a "particular age" growing up in the 60's, we became enthralled with the great John Allen through countless pictorial articles In Model Railroader and Model Railroad Craftsman over the years. His famed "Gorre & Daphetid" (yes, pronounced "Gory & Defeated"), the "G-D Line" inspired an entire generation of model railroaders who are now seasoned model railroaders. I'll bet I'm not the only one in this group who waited each month for the next installment of his world. His actual profession was as a photographer, and his first venture in the hobby was to try to create scenes which he could realistically photograph.

Mr Allen died many years ago, and his house caught fire shortly afterward and burned along with the layout to the ground.

Now, after all these years, a Mr. Matsumoto in Japan has built an amazing tribute layout to John Allen, so much like the original it will make you think time travel is actually possible.

With permission arranged by Takeshi Okomoto, here are three amazing photos. Tak Took these photos, and his wife appears in the one along with "Mr. M" and his wife.

[Paul R.]

Mike,
I think Mr M has a larger roundhouse than John Allen had, that looks like a large layout, did he use a similar trackplan?.Paul R.

[Mike Trent]

I have no idea. It couldn't be just the same. But it sure has the feel.