My wife grew up down the street from Gene Allen. She knew him as "the train guy". I met him a few times over the years. He was very kind and enjoyed "talking trains". The past few years, I've been learning about what a legend he was / is in the steam community. Thank you for sharing this video!
Gene did beautiful amazing work. He and my father were the same age and both served in the army and were at the battle of the bulge. They possibly knew each other. They were part of the greatest generation. So glad I came across this video.
This is a little late to add to the video, but I only found out about it recently. Gene Allen was born in April 1921 and died April 2016 (at age 95). I only meet him briefly while working at the Goleta Train Depot in Goleta, California. Quite a remarkable man considering he was drafted in 1942 and served during WW II in the Army in the European campaign. Gene took part in the Battle of the Bulge and was awarded the Bronze Star for heroic action during the crossing of the Rhine River near Rhens, Germany. He will be remembered for many examples of a businessman, Charity to others, and community leader. I hope this video will be of lasting remembrance of his contributions to America.One last note: I recommend watching the movie the SAND PEBBLES starting Steve McQueen (best picture 1966) which the Sand Pebbles ship engine (model) was built by Gene Allen.
I'm a huge fan of "Pebbles", being a former ships engineer on a steaming destroyer, I do wish the audio portion of that segment was better, I could not make out near 90% of what he was saying and that's too bad because he had first- hand knowledge of the film's production.
Thank you for your comments Jesse and Bob3519 below. It rewarding to see new folks discover some of Gene Allen works after several years on RU-vid. I just wonder how many young folks will take the time to discover the art of building steam engine models from scratch.
