Hello to all, My name is Boyd Wirkkala and my lifelong dream of building a model railroad is coming to fruition....and the railroad I have wanted to build is a re-creation of John Allen's Gorre & Daphetid. My pike is called the Gorre Northern, a Gorre & Daphetid Revival because of its association with the Northern Pacific and the Great Northern, much as these great roads controlled the SP&S, and is set in the Cascade Mountains and Puget Sound of the Northwest in Washington state where I make my home. My goal is to run trains on the G&D and to that end all of the trackplan of John's layout will be recreated on my layout which is being built in a 16x40 foot outbuilding at my home. I have almost no modeling experience but since my start in December of 2017 the benchwork is all done and 2/3 of the track is laid. Most of my motive power will run under the NP and GN heralds but the scenery and structures will be all G&D as best as I can make it, with some changes for personal taste and a NW twist to the terrain. I will be modeling the transition era and I can't imagine any pike without a beautiful orange and green GN F7. Good to be part of the group. My build has been chronicled on the Gorre & Daphetid facebook page for the last year and the current issue of the online magazine O Scale Resource there is a profile about my work in Jim Kellow's New Tracks column. Steams up, let's roll! Boyd
Welcome to TrainBoard! This sounds like a great project. I'm originally from the Snoqualmie Valley, (back in GN and NP times), so might just be familiar with areas you are adapting. Thus I am quite curious to see what you create!
Hi Boyd, welcome. Glad to have you on board. I fell in love with the G&D every time John Allen had an article in MR during the early 1950s, maybe even the late 1940s, and wished I could build something like that. I am really looking forward to what you create.
Thanks to all, I have been posting photos of my build on the Gorre&Daphetid Facebook page for the last year. For those familiar with the G&D you will notice that my plan is based on a reverse image of John Allen's plan...just fit better in my room that way. Boyd
