the U.S. entered the war, Andrew joined the military and John offered his services as a photo analyst. Allen came to Monterey, California, to visit his brother, and decided to stay. He opened a new photography shop on the main street with partner Weston Booth, and did a brisk business photographing servicemen. In 1946, John sold his business, invested the money and retired. He said that he got into model railroading just before the end of the war. Due to a limited supply of hobby materials, he began building things from scratch. He spent a lot of time studying and observing railroads in operation, and how prototype equipment was built. Allen built models, then meticulously arranged and photographed them. In July 1946, he published the first of many photographs to appear in Model Railroader magazine. Gorre & Daphetid Early version He moved into a house in 1946 and began construction of the first version of the Gorre & Daphetid (G&D) model railroad in HO scale. (The name is a play on words; pronounced "Gory and Defeated.") In 1953 he needed more space, and decided to move. He offered a railroad for sale, with free house. When no one was interested in buying the house with the railroad, he dismantled it. The original by G&D was saved and incorporated into the final version, while other parts were given to friends. Final version John Allen moved to his final house, chosen for its unfinished basement. He excavated the basement, poured a concrete floor and prepared it for construction of the final layout. He allocated about half the to the layout, with the remainder used as workshop and storage. Allen built a scale model of the house to aid in planning, in addition to models of the layout he planned to build. His planning was very thorough. Early plans included the use of real water in scale rivers and lakes. Construction began in January 1954. One feature of the layout was Devil's Gulch, a part of the basement not excavated, but shaped, with concrete poured over it. Allen constructed the layout almost completely by himself. He devoted the next 20 years to this project. During this period Allen revolutionized model railroading with realistic operations, lighting (including night lighting), and weathering of models. He used forced perspective to enhance the illusion of realism, and only allowed photography under his conditions. Death and aftermath John