On Mar 13, 2019, at 3:26 PM, Tim O'Connor <timboconnor@comcast.net> wrote:

Tom

Thanks for the great web page link! I now see that my Dad built the whole series #1 except
for the caboose and the stock car.

I was crazy about John Allen as a teen. Not just his modeling, but because his railroad was a business.
He created a narrative to explain the operations and the trains served a purpose. That was a revelation
on a par with the Delta Lines. I know my Dad was deeply influenced by the Delta Lines and I still have
his elaborate layout plans for a never-built layout he drew based on Frank Ellison's work to fit our basement.

Tim O'

On 3/13/2019 5:09 PM, Tom Madden via Groups.Io wrote:

Here's a link to a useful listing of all the Ambroid 1 of 5000 kits:
http://www.trainweb.org/ambroidkits/trains/woodkits/Ambroid_5-Cars.htm

I lusted after them and bought each as they were released. Built all of the first series but gave up buying them after #4 of the second series as it seemed they were really reaching for prototypes. Plus I was deeply into Colorado narrow gauge by then and ended up selling all my '50s era standard gauge models and kits except for my first locomotive, a Mantua Shifter 0-4-0. Still have it. Also still have a small drawer full of Mantua and Comet paper freight car sides. Mostly reefers.

Like many modelers of the time I was greatly influenced by John Allen's articles and Varney ads. Hard to believe he's been gone for over 46 years. I know in some circles his work is no longer greeted with acclaim because he wasn't a prototype modeler and, like Malcolm Furlow's modeling, it seems to lean heavily towards caricature. But the G&D seemed credible and real to me at the time.....

Tom Madden

--
*Tim O'Connor*
*Sterling, Massachusetts*