John Whitby Allen - World War II

World War II

Before the war, Allen and his brother visited an uncle living near Oakland, who had a model railroad. He became interested in working on it. When the US entered WWII, Allen's brother Andrew joined the military, and Allen offered his services as a photo analyst. Visiting his brother, Allen saw Monterey, he partnered with Weston Booth, opening a shop on the main street doing 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, began building things from scratch. He spent a lot of time studying and observing railroads in operation, and how the prototype is built. During this time Allen built models, then meticulously arranged and photographed them. In July 1946 the first of many photographs by Allen appeared in Model Railroader magazine.