The Gorre and Daphetid - External Links

John Allen's Gorre and Daphetid Railroad is featured on many sites on the Internet,
as are his techniques for fine modeling. Here are some of our favorites:
NOTE: all links will open in new windows.
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SPONSORS
The Gorre and Daphetid Reminiscence Project Team would like to thank the following sponsors for their contributions to the project:
  • Pine Canyon Models
    Pine Canyon Models, who produced the "RockBottom Station Kit" kit, which calls to mind "Squawbottom Station" on the G&D has been a strong moral and financial supporter of the project from its inception. Unfortunately, this excellent kit is long out of production. Keith Blanchard, who owns Pine Canyon, also generously donated the pictures of John's surviving ore cars and other photos featured on the site.
  • Jim Dill and TrainPlayer
    Jim's software allows you to operate the original Gorre & Daphetid as well as the TimeSaver. Jim has generously supported the GDRP.
  • Would YOU like to sponsor the site?
    Sponsors are featured on this page and throughout the site. Just drop us a note for details.
Groups

There is a Gorre & Daphetid Groups.io group dedicated to John Allen's modeling, where the authors of this site and about a thousand of John's fans hang out. The site has had all of the Yahoo! G&D content copied to it, and is a treasure trove of reminsiscences, ideas, comments and other Gorre material.

The legacy Gorre & Daphetid Yahoo group has been locked to changes, but is still accessible until Yahoo! decides otherwise.

A Facebook group has sprung up, started by GDRP contributor Pat Turner.

The National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) has recognized John Allen as an Industry Pioneer and awarded him its Distinguished Service Award TWICE.

Magazines

Model Railroader and Railroad Model Craftsman magazines have featured John's work in myriad issues. A complete listing of citations may be found in the Model Railroad Publication Index. Both publishers also offer reprints of many of their back issues.

The Book: Model Railroading with John Allen

Kalmbach published Linn Westcott's famous work Model Railroading with John Allen, known to fans of the Gorre and Daphetid as simply "The Book." It is long out-of-print, but can usually be found on EBay. There were three soft-cover printings (1981, 1982, and 1989) and one hard-cover edition, all identical in content.

"The Book" has been re-issued in an expanded edition by Bob Hayden's Benchmark Publications, but is now also out-of-print. From Bob's web site:

Trim size: 9.5" x 11.5" 160 pages, color throughout, hard cover with dust jacket

This dramatic coffee-table book documents the construction and operation of John Allen's world-famous HO scale Gorre & Daphetid layouts, including the HOn3 Devil's Gulch & Helengon. Allen, who passed away in 1973, was one of the hobby's first acknowledged grand masters, and many of his concepts and techniques are in evidence in today's best model railroads.

First published (soft cover) 1981 by Kalmbach Publishing Co., this new edition from Benchmark Publications is a sturdy, high-quality, thick-paper reproduction of original, plus 16 new pages.

The new material includes information and reproduction of John Allen's photos for Pacific Fast Mail catalogs and advertisements, and a comprehensive listing of Allen's published articles and photographs from 1945 through 2007.

Whether or not you are familiar with John Allen's work, this inspirational book is a great read.

Note that much of the new material was added with the assistance of and contributions by members of the GDRP!!

The Book has also been published in French. As of January 8, 2013 (the date on the order form), it looks like it can still be ordered.

Video

Sunday River Productions offers the only full-length commercial video ever shot of the G & D. If you don't own it, buy it! It's worth viewing over and over.

A video of a clinic about the G&D given by John Allen's close friend Jim Findley is available on YouTube.

Websites that feature the Gorre and Daphetid and/or John Allen

Central Valley Model Works is one of the oldest and finest manufacturers of scale model railroad equipment. They are featured on the Gorre with a building dedicated to them. They have a photo tribute to John and the G&D which shows that building.

Grandt Line Models is another manufacturer of fine kits, detail parts and other model railroad goods that has a direct connection to John. Cliff Grandt was often John's companion on prototype research trips and several photos of Cliff may be found in the Galleries.

Grandt Line was a small, family owned and operated business. It was begun by Cliff Grandt over 60 years ago, and until he passed away in 2002 he could still be found at the shop on a daily basis. The business was run by his son Dave, and daughters, Liz and Phyllis.

As of 2019, the Grandt family has retired and sold the entire model railroading line to a new company formed by Bob Stears and Doug Junda, San Juan Model Co. We wish them success and a bright future in providing these and other fine products to the hobby.

Scott Mason, who contributed the photos of his icing platform diorama, is a well-recognized creator of craftsman structures, who also has an excellent DVD video of his techniques, tips and tricks.

Before he retired in 2013, Greg Komar of Komar Dry Transfers went out of his way to produce beautiful dry transfers and "Wet and Slimy" decals for the G&D (in three scales!) at the request of John's fans.
His incredible photographs are now seen in the model railroad press as well as the NMRA's annual calendar (seven total in the 2017 edition!).

Chris Disdero produced 400 kits of "Clance Hillside Station", a two-level station patterned after Cross Junction on the Gorre & Daphetid.

John's 'Timesaver' switching puzzle layout is discussed in detail at this TimeSaver site

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