A Treasure Trove of Works by John Allen

John Allen will go in the annals of history, with the likes of E. L. Moore and Earl Smallshaw as those master craftsmen who did their best to further the hobby of model railroading. The other day I uncovered a vast treasure trove of Allen’s articles where he went on to describe dozens of his projects.

Allen built and wrote for several decades for the HO Monthly, Model Railroader, Railroad Model Craftsman, NMRA Bulletin, Narrow Gauge & Short Line Gazette, TMS (Japanese magazine), and several other miscellaneous publications. His first recorded article was back in 1948 for the HO Monthly.

To say that he was a prolific writer would be an understatement. If he was gifted, there is no doubt. I would say John Allen was passionate about the craft and also getting the word out to his fellow model railroaders.

Changing the Perspective with Mirrors

I was paging through my Model Railroad Handbook # 35: “Detailing Tips and Techniques” and I came across two articles that mentioned making use of mirrors on one’s layout. The first article is “Mirror Magic” by Charles Laman. The author uses two first-surface mirrors from Edmund Scientific ¹ set at 90’ angles of one another at the end of a street to force the perspective of a street continuing off in the distance.

The author found that he had to experiment with the placement of his vehicle’s and signs in order to avoid the typical signs that read backwards or his vehicles seeming to be on the wrong side of the street.

In the second article, Urban Scenery, by Earl Smallshaw, which is a rather extensive article, there is a paragraph describing how the author used the same mirror type on several locations on his layout. He built them to his backgrounds extending the view of the scene.

Smallshaw references two other Model Railroader authors use of mirrors:

• John Allen: “The Art of Using Mirrors”, December 1981, Model Railroader
• Malcolm Furlow: “Sheridan Colorado: 1927”, July 1981, Model Railroader

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¹ These mirrors are still available from Edmunds.