Gorre & Daphetid Final Version
John Allen moved to his final house, chosen for its unfinished basement. He dug out the basement, placed a concrete floor, and prepared it for construction of the final layout. He allocated about half the 1,200 sq ft (110 m2) to the layout, the remainder for a 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 and then concrete was 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.
Read more about this topic: John Whitby Allen
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