Using a step-by-step photographic approach, this book offers proven, easy to follow techniques for installing of sturdy trackwork, including fitting the roadbed, laying sectional or flexible track, and finishing the track with lineside details. Also covers installing turnouts, cleaning and maintaining trackwork, and other special techniques suitable for a layout of any size or scale.
This is an outstanding reference book on how to design and lay tracks for model railroading. I wish I had bought it 2 years ago, before I started building my layout, instead of waiting until after it was done and after I had already made a whole bunch of mistakes. But I will definitely be able to use its advice for my next layout, which I plan to start after I buy a house.
Probably the greatest strength of this book is that it is a photo-based guide. Everything Wilson describes verbally, he also shows with step-by-step photographs. It's all here. How to select the right track for you. How to paint and weather your track. How to lay road bed. How to attach the track. How to ballast and detail it to make it look realistic. Wilson covers all the major brands of track -- Atlas, Peco, Micro-Engineering, Bachmman, Walthers, Kato. He covers sectional track, flex track, and even has sidebars on specialty topics like super-elevated curves and hand-laid track. And at the end he has a set of reference tables to help you decide what size and brand track to use.
Overall, this is an excellent book, and I would highly recommend reading it before starting out in the hobby. It's also a good reference for those who, like me, are not 100% happy with their "flying blind" results and want to see how they could do better in the future.