Gorre & Daphetid

The Gorre & Daphetid ([ˈɡɔːri], [dɪˈfiːtɪd]) model railroad was a notable HO-scale layout built by John Whitby Allen in Monterey, 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 in Model Railroader, the NMRA's Scale Rails and Railroad 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 (a 4-10-0 that John kitbashed from parts), resided in the office of the late former Model Railroader magazine executive editor Andy 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 of Model 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 the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California.

Kalmbach Publishing published several editions of a book entitled Model 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 in Waukesha, Wisconsin. Some of the boxes were singed by the flames of the fire that destroyed the G&D.

References

Model Railroading With John Allen: The Story of the Fabulous HO Scale Gorre & Daphetid Railroad (Paperback) Linn H. Westcott Kalmbach Pub Co.(July 1981) ISBN 978-0-89024-559-0
Model Railroading With John Allen: The Story of the Fabulous HO Scale Gorre & Daphetid Railroad (Paperback) Linn H. Westcott Kalmbach Pub Co.(1982) ASIN B0032AW8BE
Model Railroading With John Allen: The Story of the Fabulous HO Scale Gorre & Daphetid Railroad (Hardcover) Linn H. Westcott Kalmbach Pub Co.(July 1996) ISBN 978-0-89024-298-8
Model Railroading With John Allen: Expanded Edition (Hardcover) Linn H. Westcott Benchmark Publications (2011) ASIN B004L18IN0
YouTube preview of the only published film of the layout