Good references (books or magazines) for a newbie?


Dave in the basement

Dave in the basement

New Member
Hello all,

What sort of books or magazines would you recommend for a newbie? I am leaning towards HO scale, but would appreciate any suggestions you have even if they are a different scale. No idea if I'll go DCC or not, since I haven't even begun to research that.

I love the internet to research things, but I also like being able to crack open a good book or magazine when I get a little down time. :)

As always, thanks in advance for taking the time to reply!

Dave
 
Magazines: Model Railroader
Model Railroad Hobbyist (free) http://model-railroad-hobbyist.com/

Read my "Beginner's Guide to Layout Design" (below)

Books: The ABC's of Model Railroading
Mid-Sized and Manageable Track Plans, by Iain Rice
Eventually: Track Planning for Realistic Operation by John Armstrong


There's no point in not going DCC. It's like comparing a calculator to an abacus.
 
"There's no point in not going DCC. It's like comparing a calculator to an abacus."

+1

On my O scale portion, I'm upgrading to TMCC. It isn't DCC like HO DCC, but it's more than just running a powerpack.

I like several of the Kalmbach books. Most of the information in them has come from years of Model Railroader magazine, but puts it in small place.

There is a Karsten or Carsten book on DCC that I'm currently going through now.
 
I'll second Chips' choices. Really, there is no reason not to go DCC. The cumulative cost of DC will be about the same as DCC with none of the benefits. The first cost will be higher but, believe me, it will be the single best decision you've ever made in model railroading.
 
I like Tony Koester's books, particularly Realistic Model Railroad Design, he tends to get a little philosophical at times but its still a good read and has loads of useful hints.
 
Hello, and thank you for the suggestions you have passed along.

Besides knowing what the acronym stands for, I embarrassed to admit that I don't know what DCC really is. (I will soon, though!) My only model railroad knowledge is based on foggy memories from about 30 years ago, when my dad set up our old Santa Fe engine around the Christmas tree. :eek:

It looks like I found a great learning environment, though, and I appreciate the help you have provided so far. :)

Dave
 
LOL, Dave, don't feel bad. I got back into the hobby about three years ago now and, except for a chance visit to a hobby shop a year earlier, I wouldn't have had any idea about DCC either except it sounded too complicated. :) It's really not, even for an electrical klutz like me, and makes running your trains so much easier. There's a really good article that explains DCC in reasonably plain English at http://www.tonystrainexchange.com/tonystips/dccprimer/index.htm.
 
Add my vote to the "DCC now" column, I learned the hard way - i.e. I wired my entire layout for regular DC with isolated blocks, lots of DPDT switches - and it was a major pain in the butt! Could have avoided much of the pain if I'd installed my command station in the beginning.

Here's a book I wish I had read before I started drawing up my track plan:
Track Planning for Realistic Operation by the late John Armstrong. Many modelers consider it the "bible" of layout design.
 
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