Richard Hendrickson wrote:

(John) Allen then adopted advanced decrepitude and
made it fashionable because his modeling was inclined more to
quaintness and caricature than to realism (and in that respect I think
he set the hobby back at least twenty years).

Tony Thompson wrote:

One can still regret, of course, that some modelers took (John) Allen literally.

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My response,

John Allen brought fun into model railroading, (Something wrong with that?), with his hand-made track-crews in sombreros, pigeons (and their droppings) on the roof, sway-belly cars and much more. But he also was a general fine-craftsman who said that he really preferred the big-steam, but for space-considerations had to down-size his RR ambitions, as many of us have to. He also had plenty of "authentic" cars, engines and scenery.

I personally saw John's G&D in Monterey, CA, and was nicely impressed. It was one of the best railroads in existence at the time.

John Allen is one of this hobby's great "patriarchs" and legends. I don't care WHAT'S said of his work!! I think he was spectacular. His being one of the great innovators has lead most of us to where we are today,....better-than-ever, all-time "pros"!!

Paul Hillman

Paul,

I have to agree with your assessment of John Allen, without intending any disrespect to Richard or Tony. He was an innovator, and a pioneer of many important techniques that we take for granted now: weathering and mirrors are two that come to mind immediately. True, his railroads were cartoonish, and I don't particularly care for that style, but he inspired many of us to do better. We can all learn something from his work.

Now back to freight cars.

Kind regards,


Garth G. Groff


Paul Hillman wrote:

Garth Groff wrote:

I have to agree with your assessment of John Allen, without intending
any disrespect to Richard or Tony.

I have considerable respect for John Allen, who did a great deal for the hobby. Anyone doubting it needs to review the kind of construction articles and layout photos which were appearing in MR in the 1950s. Garth and Paul have misunderstood me if they think I was putting Allen's modeling down. But there is no question that his layout overall was a caricature, and at least some of his modeling was the same (the Varney ads did not usually represent his personal standards, as his "straight" layout photos show). It is respecting this latter sense in which I agree with Richard that some of Allen's influence was not positive. Too many have picked up on (and followed) the caricature and not seen the underlying serious operations and modeling skills.

Tony Thompson Editor, Signature Press, Berkeley, CA
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