How to Run a Railroad: Everything You Need to Know about Model Trains

I bought this book on a 6th grade field trip to the Museum of Science and Industry, after gawking at their giant model train layout, and thinking I needed to do more with the oval of HO-gauge track I had packed away in a closet. Weiss does a great job of starting with the basics of trains and expanding the standard toy setup into a real layout, with scratch-built buildings and scenery on a big piece of plywood foundation. It goes over the pros and cons of each piece of expansion, eventually building an interesting (if congested) fictional town. Aside from the building, there's also some brief instruction on how to run your railroad, for example how trains have to move from point A to B, dropping off cars and picking up freight for fictional industries. One of the best things about this book is that it's aimed at the kid, and not the adult hobbyist who has the cash to go buy premade and computerized everything for a huge layout. It talks about making trees, mountains, bridges, and houses from things you might find around the house or in the garage. It's very motivational with no frustration and many ideas for young minds. Another great aspect of the book is the impressive photography, also by the author. This book isn't for the serious hobbyist by any means. Many instructions for buildings are wildly out of scale, and the demo layout features highly unrealistic tight curves and a somewhat laughable trolley line of flex-track. But it's not about ultra photo realistic results; this book is about having fun with trains and not spending a ton of money. I have many fond memories of this book, and I'm guessing I'm not the only one. Thank you, Mr. Weiss, for a great little book that's a time machine straight back to 20 years ago when I was gluing down green sawdust and hacking cardboard boxes into my own grand central station. Great stuff.

I have many fond memories of model railroading from my childhood. I remember having trains as a child, and just playing with them. I remember going to model railroad functions and learning about real model railroading. I have always been a curious person, and I have always been a writer. Mr. Weiss's books spurred me to not only read them and do the projects containd within them, but to ask more of my teachers. To ask why this does that... Why X always equals Y. Model railroading is a dying hobby, because the family no longer participates in group projects as often. This book, and those like it serve to show us how as a family group we can become stronger, just by interacting with each other on a common goal. I would highly recommend this book as a father son, father daughter, mother, daughter or son project. The lessons that can be learned from a model railroad go far beyond, share with your sister. I am the author of several books, my interest in learning started because of books just like this one.

This book gives a very detailed description along with detailed instructions and hints in order for any person to begin constructing a model railroad. Very interesting to read, never thought this subject could interest me, but after reading it I would like to build a model railroad as a hobby. Captivates you with all the little extra fun things you can do when building a railroad and make it so realistic. Very interesting book. If you're thinking of building a model railroad or have ever thought of building one you must first read this book.