Ever since having to tear down my garden railway and move south nine years ago, I've been focused on the small scales. As such I've discovered the works of some of the hobby's early pioneers like Frank Elisson, John Allen, John Armstrong and their layouts. That got me to wondering, who are the John Allens of garde railroading?
If I had to nominate somebody, it would be the late Peter Jones. His Compton Down Railway shares a lot with John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid. namely it's based on prototype practices and has a sense of purpose, not to mention dramatic scenery.
What are your thoughts?
Modeling the Pennsylvania Railroad in N Scale.
www.prr-nscale.blogspot.com
Not everyone wants a "realistic" outdoor railroad. Not everyone wants operations. Also with the great variety in climate, there's just too many "right" answers.
You might want to narrow the definition down to categories, who has the best "garden", who is best at operations, etc.
Greg
Visit my site: http://www.elmassian.com - lots of tips on locos, rolling stock and more.
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In the days after my dad's passing, I received many notes of condolences from folks who had been inspired by the Woodland Railway over the decades. I think that's the heart of the question--whose railroads have inspired us over the years? It doesn't matter what kind of railroad it might be... if it strikes a chord within you, if it empowers you to try something new, that's inspiration, and that's the hallmark of an inspirational railroad.
For me (in addition to the Woodland Railway), my early influences were Herb Chaudiere's Cranis Garden Railway, Jack Verducci's Crystal Springs Railroad, and Larry Rose's Rio Verde Western. The common theme with those railroads was plausibility and realism. They were doing outside what the small scalers like John Allen, Dave Frary, and others were doing with great success indoors in terms of creating a real railroad, not just a collection of random locomotives pulling whatever rolling stock is on hand. All three were known for prototype operation, which dad and I were getting involved with in the small scales at the time as well.
Norm Grant and Dutton Foster also come to mind in terms of early influences. I drew a lot of inspiration from their modelbuilding, and Norm's railroad was Colorado railroading in the back yard. (And a back yard he only rented, at that! Talk about an understanding landlord!)
A while back, GR ran a series called "Great Garden Railways." It was authored by a dozen or so pioneers in the hobby whose railroads had inspired many over the years. I think I may have to go back and revisit that series...
Later,
K
kstrong A while back, GR ran a series called "Great Garden Railways." It was authored by a dozen or so pioneers in the hobby whose railroads had inspired many over the years. I think I may have to go back and revisit that series...
FWIW, Kevin, that series was called "What makes a great garden railway?" and it was already running when I joined the staff in 1998.
This is an interesting thread, and I look forward to seeing where it goes.
Rene Schweitzer
Classic Toy Trains/Garden Railways/Model Railroader
I must agree with Greg. I have seen many fantastic garden railroads. In the catagory of "family optimized" I've seen 4-4-0's passing a Genisis in a "wild west town" featuring a shoot out between coyboys, indians, imperial storm troopers, and sesame street characters. In the catagory of "mountain rr's" I've seen 5 foot long, 7 foot tall timber trestle bridges passing along carefully placed stone work, with water features in place, giving the reason for many small bridges. In the catagory of "modular clubs" (Yes, G Scale on modular layouts.) there are two that stand out in my mind. Oro Pacific has outstanding structures, 6foot by 4 foot oil refinery in extreme detail, a large "victorian" style house complete with seasonal lighting and music, i.e. Halloween, Christmas, 4th of july. Hollow Door Railroad has some outstanding wilderness scenery. (It's called Hollow Door as the modules are made atop reclaimed house doors.) Their track is chest high to me (I'm 6 ft tall) and one bridge reaches down to within inches from the floor complete with wildlife and fishermen. In the catagory of "maximum fun in minimum space" I've seen a wilderness railroad inside a glass coffee table (4 ft by 8 ft), a street car line inside a wheel borrow, and of course Vic's Pizza layout. I've seen some fantastic "club" layouts, where the train takes over half an hour to complete one lap around the layout. Two stand out in my mind, at Pomona Fairplex an outstanding example open to the public most weekend days. In the catagory of "commercial" layouts I would be amiss to not mention Anderson Nursery in Poway Ca. Think about it, in one place you can purchase trees, tommato plants, rose bushes, flowers, cactus, G Scale trains and buildings. By prior appointment you can bring your trains to run on their several thusand feet of track. Mountain mining operations, lumber rr's, massive water features ( yes you can buy the plants straight out of the rr water feature) desert and forest areas.
In the search for "John Allen's of Garden Railroading" I feel that we must look at the catagories. If I may, I would say there are several thousand "John Allen's" in the garden.
Tom Trigg
I guess what I mean by "John Allens" is the early pioneers who created a lot of the techniques, ideas and strategies we take for granted today.
I also think some of the ideas from the smaller scales can be used effectively outdoors. For example Frank Ellison's idea that the railroad is a stage and the trains are the performers and Allen McClelland's "good enough" philosophy.
George Schryer is #1 in my book. His website was the "bible" for many years.
While his layout is indoors, it is beautiful and has scratch built K series Mikados using LGB drives. I would put Barry Boggs up there, along with Malcom Furlow. Both gentleman have done incredible indoor G scale railways and many techniques can be used outdoors as well. Mike
Silly NT's, I have Asperger's Syndrome
To carry the question a step further, has anybody considered building a large scale railway, indoors or in the garden, based on John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid? Beautiful mountain scenery, various bridge designs (John loved bridges), prototype operation, etc. In the Lynn Westcott book, Model Railroading with John Allen, originally published by Kalmbach, John mentions that the closest prototype railroad that came close to the GD Lines, was the celebrated standard gauge Colorado Midland!
Though gone for almost 100 years, the CM still has many dedicated fans. Their unusual Hanrahan reefers were unique with center ice loading bunkers and a beautiful color scheme which included a full sized Ute Indian on the car sides. LGB released a CM reefer in two colors. Both are incorrect for the Hanrahan design and not painted reefer yellow. A pity!
Item: Santa Fe also rostered Hanrahan's and CM's were probably found on their roster due to the fact AT&SF controlled CM during the 1890s.
Trinity River Bottoms Boomer To carry the question a step further, has anybody considered building a large scale railway, indoors or in the garden, based on John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid? Beautiful mountain scenery, various bridge designs (John loved bridges), prototype operation, etc. In the Lynn Westcott book, Model Railroading with John Allen, originally published by Kalmbach, John mentions that the closest prototype railroad that came close to the GD Lines, was the celebrated standard gauge Colorado Midland! Though gone for almost 100 years, the CM still has many dedicated fans. Their unusual Hanrahan reefers were unique with center ice loading bunkers and a beautiful color scheme which included a full sized Ute Indian on the car sides. LGB released a CM reefer in two colors. Both are incorrect for the Hanrahan design and not painted reefer yellow. A pity! Item: Santa Fe also rostered Hanrahan's and CM's were probably found on their roster due to the fact AT&SF controlled CM during the 1890s.
Although I don't believe he was trying to copy John Allen, I think Norm Grant's South Park and San Juan was very evocative of the Gorre & Daphetid. Also, as I mentioned above, I think Peter Jones' Compton Down Railway was also evocative John Allen's style to the point I;d consider it the "Gorre & Daphetid of garden railways."
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