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Realistic Model Railroad Operation: How to Run Your Trains Like the Real Thing
Make your railroad more true to life and interesting, by adopting realistic operation principles. Covers the history, practice, terminology, and benefits of operating realistically. Guides you through the steps leading to realistic operation, and includes pictorial examples of working model railroads and realistic operating sessions.
96 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2002
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
September 7, 2024
A solid introduction to model railroad operations, but I would have preferred more detail on several aspects. Now-a-days all this and more can be found on the internet.
June 24, 2012
This is a good reference book aimed at people who want to introduce more realism to their model train layouts than just having their trains endlessly, automatically, running without interruption along a loop of track. And it does a fairly good job of accomplishing that goal.
I thought the book was well written overall, and informative in many spots. However, I also thought it was aimed at a very specific audience. Although the author starts out writing to the beginner and has a "quick-start" chapter that shows you how to introduce simple operations into a standard "door" layout (one built atop an extra hollow core door, about 3x8 feet in size), most of the book is aimed at the modeler with the massive full-basement-sized layout including dozen-track yards, multiple industries, and several "towns" along the route. If all you have is a double-loop door layout with maybe a small 3-track yard and a pair of industries, you won't be able to implement just about any of what the book discusses after chapter two. This was becoming apparent by the end, when it is finally made explicit, as the author describes an operating session on his "Allegheny Midland" Railroad -- a railroad large enough to accommodate up to twelve operators. Looking back over his discussions of how to control and operate trains, it's clear that he has a layout that size in mind throughout the book. You won't be able to do most of what he talks about if you have a small layout the size of a bookshelf.
Another issue I have with the book is the lack of real explanation. Koester (the author, not sure why it's listed as "Strang" here on Goodreads) has a terrible propensity to take fairly straight-forward concepts, and after a page of explanation, leave you still unclear about what he's trying to say. For example, he spends a couple of pages trying to explain the difference between a "staging yard" and a "fiddle yard," and after re-reading that section twice, I'm still not clear on the difference. He also spends too much time explaining how real railroads operate, and not nearly enough time explaining how one could translate that into model operations. For example, he gives us a whole chapter about signals, but how to run the signals on an actual model railroad is relegated to one figure and a sidebar. He seems to assume that if we understand how real railroads did things, we can, without his assistance, translate that into model operations. I'm not sure I'd have needed his book if that were the case.
Finally, I take issue with Koester's attitude in the book, which seems to disparage the idea that model railroading, as a hobby, ought to be fun. He even says near the end of the book, that many people ask him if he ever just runs his trains for fun (without strict operating rules, waybills, and all of that), and that he generally doesn't. I understand that what he means is, to him "operating" is more fun than "just running trains," but he also makes it seem like he and his fellow operators are so hell-bent on simulating real trains as much as possible that they suck the fun out of the whole experience.
Overall the book was interesting and informative, and on my small "door sized layout" I will certainly incorporate a few of his ideas. But I think that even when I get a house and build a "room sized" layout, although I will try to operate it as realistically as I can and still have fun, my priority will be to have fun, not to mimic reality. And it would have been better, perhaps, if this book had been written from that perspective instead.
I thought the book was well written overall, and informative in many spots. However, I also thought it was aimed at a very specific audience. Although the author starts out writing to the beginner and has a "quick-start" chapter that shows you how to introduce simple operations into a standard "door" layout (one built atop an extra hollow core door, about 3x8 feet in size), most of the book is aimed at the modeler with the massive full-basement-sized layout including dozen-track yards, multiple industries, and several "towns" along the route. If all you have is a double-loop door layout with maybe a small 3-track yard and a pair of industries, you won't be able to implement just about any of what the book discusses after chapter two. This was becoming apparent by the end, when it is finally made explicit, as the author describes an operating session on his "Allegheny Midland" Railroad -- a railroad large enough to accommodate up to twelve operators. Looking back over his discussions of how to control and operate trains, it's clear that he has a layout that size in mind throughout the book. You won't be able to do most of what he talks about if you have a small layout the size of a bookshelf.
Another issue I have with the book is the lack of real explanation. Koester (the author, not sure why it's listed as "Strang" here on Goodreads) has a terrible propensity to take fairly straight-forward concepts, and after a page of explanation, leave you still unclear about what he's trying to say. For example, he spends a couple of pages trying to explain the difference between a "staging yard" and a "fiddle yard," and after re-reading that section twice, I'm still not clear on the difference. He also spends too much time explaining how real railroads operate, and not nearly enough time explaining how one could translate that into model operations. For example, he gives us a whole chapter about signals, but how to run the signals on an actual model railroad is relegated to one figure and a sidebar. He seems to assume that if we understand how real railroads did things, we can, without his assistance, translate that into model operations. I'm not sure I'd have needed his book if that were the case.
Finally, I take issue with Koester's attitude in the book, which seems to disparage the idea that model railroading, as a hobby, ought to be fun. He even says near the end of the book, that many people ask him if he ever just runs his trains for fun (without strict operating rules, waybills, and all of that), and that he generally doesn't. I understand that what he means is, to him "operating" is more fun than "just running trains," but he also makes it seem like he and his fellow operators are so hell-bent on simulating real trains as much as possible that they suck the fun out of the whole experience.
Overall the book was interesting and informative, and on my small "door sized layout" I will certainly incorporate a few of his ideas. But I think that even when I get a house and build a "room sized" layout, although I will try to operate it as realistically as I can and still have fun, my priority will be to have fun, not to mimic reality. And it would have been better, perhaps, if this book had been written from that perspective instead.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews