Plans

There are three major plans for the Gorre & Daphetid.  The first one by John Allen features the turntable on the right side.  The second is his revision in which he moved the turntable outside the original plan and substituted some industries.  This is the one I am attempting to copy.  The third plan was a revision by Lynn Wescott, in which he smoothed out the curves.  I printed all of them in ¼ scale and the only real difference in the Wescott version is the smoothing of the far right curve to Daphetid.  Other changes are in the different elevation points, which I will be covering in Part 4 of my blog. 

Following along

John’s layouts were an inspiration for me to become involved in the hobby and I look forward to reading how you may recreate a piece of history for your own entertainment. 

15" radius curves?

John must have only run very small equipment on that layout.

Might I suggest using it as an inspiration but widening it out to 4x8 in order to get a larger curve radius for your equipment?

Atlas 15"

Atlas sells a package of six 15 inch code 83 radius snap track.  When put together, it does make a very small circle, but I'll be running small locos and freight cars, not modern passenger or container cars.  It may look small by itself on a piece of wood, but I hope when everything is sceniced (sp?) it will look better.

MR Feb.2011

There was an article on a CSX layout that was based on the Gorre & Daphetid track plan expanded to a 4' x 8' in the February 2011 issue of Model Railroader.  I saw the layout at a train show in Fort Wayne, IN several years before the article. The scenery was very nicely done but the plan requires at least one curve of less than 18" radius. 

I have successfully removed the Code 83 rail on Atlas 15" radius curves and replaced it with Code 70 rail so that it would match ME code 70 track.  With tight curves it's easy to kink flex track. Atlas sectional Code 83 track is often quite inexpensive at a train show. 

Robert

Atlas vs Micro Engineering

I'm getting ahead of myself and into other blogs, but these are the two flex tracks I have been considering.  Atlas is nice and flexible, but Micro Engineering appears to hold its shape better.

Hi Gary!

I can fully understand your fascination with John's work! His work could stir the imagination, indeed.

You'll get all kinds of input... and typically the input has to do with revising your plan, technique suggestions, preferred materials, et al. In my opinion, all tasteful input is worthwhile, even if it doesn't apply to your one's layout/equipment goals. One typically glean tidbits from varying opinions.

However, you'll learn what works for you as you move along and experiment.

As for the tight curves:

My layout that I'll be starting soon is based in the 1880s in Colorado. (And I will not mind if it ends up looking "John Allen-ish".) I will be using some 15" radius in some applications. Experiments have indicated that 47' passenger cars with body mounted Kadee small head HO couplers will negotiate 15" radius fine and dandy. In fact, the cars will couple on the curve unassisted. So, be encouraged: With the small equipment you will be using, 15" will work.

All fer now!

Andre

TOMA

It would be interesting to twist this project and try to fit in in the TOMA spirit / design.

Because "why not"? For example for ease of storage/transport, the plan could be split in two 2x4 modules for the sides and two 2x3 modules for the middle. However it may fail for the "one module" spirit, as I imagine one would probably want to lay all the track first then cut it at the modules junctions given the complexity of the curves & grades involved. It has the drawback the modules cannot work independently -- can't just stick a staging temporary extension on one side and call it a day till the next module. 

Keep us posted. Looking forward to that "real slow" progress

...

The original G&D is a TOMA all by itself as one piece.

And in Nscale, a nice layout on 4x8.....

See some times ago a GD layout in N scale but the owner as used a 4x8 as the base, this give a layout with lot of space and broad curves; he had also modeled the big red mountain on the left corner like John Allen build one to hide a column on the expanded GD.

Even here in Europe, his work has influenced a lot of modelers and the book about the GD lines published by Kalmbach years ago was translated in French.

Gorre & Daphetid

Gary,

I noticed that Kalmbach in their Classic Toy Trains LIONEL FASTRACK book did a 5 x 9 O scale Lionel version of the Gorre and Dephetid. What would you  recommend for someone thinking of the line for On30 like Bachmann's rolling stock, locomotives and such? I have a 4 x 8 table originally intended for a copy of John Olson's Jerome and Southwestern, but as we know what governs On30 is not the track arrangement, but the size of O scale buildings even the smaller ones and clearance elevations. What suggestions would you have on adapting a plan like the Gorre and Dephetid?

Doug

adapting a plan like the Gorre and Dephetid?

   By the math , 3' 7" by 6' 8" in HO works out to just about 6 1/2 feet wide by 12 feet long in O scale. Do it in S scale and a 5 ft by 9 foot ping pong table would be just about perfect.....DaveB

Doug

You could do it with the table size DaveB states, but you are going to want pop ups in the table to reach the center area for everything from track laying to scenery to maintaince.

Jack

I once used Atlas Right Track

I once used Atlas Right Track software to investigate a design of the original G&D in 4X8 but alas the file is long gone now. It can be done though. These days I use SCARM and could probably whip it up pretty quickly again. John is the reason I'm in this hobby and the original G&D is one of my favorite small track plans of all time.