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TheGorre & Daphetid ([ˈɡɔːri], [dɪˈfiːtɪd])model railroad was a notableHO-scale layout built byJohn Whitby Allen inMonterey, California.
The Gorre & Daphetid, also known as "The Gorre" or just "The G&D," is a trio of three successive model railroads. The first two were smaller in scale and were built at Allen's home in Monterey. The final version of the G&D, which incorporated the earliest layout, was much larger and built over twenty years at his new 9 Cielo Vista Terrace home in Monterey, where he excavated part of the basement to build the railroad. Allen created and documented realistic model railroad scenes and did so in numerous articles featured inModel Railroader, theNMRA'sScale Rails andRailroad Model Craftsman magazines. The final layout of the model is considered one of the greatest of all time and has several fan websites and a devoted Yahoo discussion group.
The basement of the house was severely damaged by fire just ten days after John Allen suffered a fatal heart attack in January, 1973. Most of the layout was destroyed in the fire. However, one of the locomotives, No. 34 (a4-10-0 that Johnkitbashed from parts), resided in the office of the late formerModel Railroader magazine executive editorAndy Sperandeo. Sperandeo was a frequent visitor to the G&D, being stationed in California while serving in the United States Army.
The February 2020 issue ofModel Railroader reported that 15 locomotives from the G&D were found in the home of NMRA past president Bob Dupont. The engines were stored in the attic until he passed on, and the locomotives were discovered by Rod Smith. Smith sent the locomotives to Kenichi Matsumoto and restored the G&D 10 in 2017. It is in running condition at the NMRA exhibit at theCalifornia State Railroad Museum inSacramento, California.
Kalmbach Publishing published several editions of a book entitledModel Railroading with John Allen written by Allen's longtime friend,Linn Westcott.
Allen was a professional photographer by trade. Numerous boxes of his slides and prints are in storage at Kalmbach Publishing's corporate building inWaukesha, Wisconsin. Some of the boxes were singed by the flames of the fire that destroyed the G&D.
