It's Always Bugged Me
To the dismay of some modelers, I've always been one to notice picky little things. Like the industry that has no access road. Or the bridge that has no abutments. In the case of the Gorre & Daphetid, it's always bothered me that there was no outlet for the stream coming from the lake. There's a culvert beside the old mill, but where's the other end of the culvert?
Granted, in its original form, the outlet could have been "off stage"—in other words, beyond the edge of the layout. Yet, as John expanded the G&D, an outlet was never built; the layout kept growing forward, always on the level.
Now, there could have been any number of reasons for this. John was renowned for his wry wit; anyone who includes a dinosaur as a "locomotive" on his layout has an obvious—if singular—sense of humor. Then there was his subway station, where one would occasionally hear the clatter of an approaching train, but it never arrived.
And so, this may have been one of John's little jokes: the stream with nowhere to go—except perhaps the center of the Earth. Yet somehow I don't think this was the case. He was a logical and detail-oriented modeler, so I doubt it escaped his attention, either. Perhaps he simply concluded that people wouldn't notice.
Trouble is, I noticed. Even back in 1965, when I first came to know of his legendary layout, I wondered about it. And it's bugged me ever since. So, when I conceived of the G&D in Z, I decided I'd take the opportunity to do something about it.
I had the perfect solution, too: just to the left of the control panel, there's a little empty triangular space along the edge of the layout that was perfect for a culvert. Anxious for something visual to do, I started by notching the benchwork to create a depressed space.
Next, I broke out my Chooch N Scale scenic details. Ever since Chooch discontinued their first-generation stone wall and portal series, I've been stockpiling them, because I've always liked them, particularly their random stone items. They made a great little culvert that was the perfect size for this application. No matter that it's N Scale; stone size is all relative, and smallish stones in N are just biggish stones in Z.
With several of the culverts on hand, I combined two of them to make a shape to suit the space; I also doubled the depth of the opening by sandwiching another arch on the back. Then I set about painting it.
Fortunately there are plenty of color photos of the original G&D (as it appeared in the final version), so I was able to determine the appropriate color palette to use. I started by painting the whole culvert Floquil Earth, then highlighted individual random stones with Mud, Concrete and Antique White. Then I applied a light India ink wash. Before installing it on the layout, I faded the inside back of the arch with flat black, and also painted the interior of the notch in the Gatorfoam black.
I never met John Allen, although I sincerely wish I had. In fact, as a high school senior, I made the decision to save up my pennies and fly to California to meet the Wizard of Monterey. Sadly, he died the year I was planning my trip. The news of his death hit me as though it was a family relative who had passed. So all I know of him is based on what he's written, and what others have said about him.
All of this is to say that, for this project, I hope to do things that would have been met with his approval.