Favourite Books #1- Building a Model Railroad Step by Step

Recently, my collection of books was finally liberated from plastic tubs in a closet to a proper bookshelf. With this I have started re-reading what is a fairly substantial collection acquired over the years since 2007 when I got back into the hobby.

I’ve also made something of a New Years resolution to be more selective with the digital content (blogs, forums and YouTube channels) I consume and spend more time re-reading my physical collection of books and magazines. 

The first book I pulled off the shelf is an absolute Kalmbach classic. Building a Model Railroad Step by Step by David Popp is exactly what the title says. If you were new to N Scale, you could likely forgo all magazines, blogs, video content and forums and just follow the steps laid out in this book. The result would probably be a very successful first layout.

Obviously, I love this book because the subject Naugatuck Valley is an N Scale railroad of modest proportions. Each chapter contains a series of short projects from everything to benchwork, tracklaying, wiring, scenery, structures and DCC. It is written well and has excellent illustrations.

Don’t let the New England subject matter put you off. The trackplan and various projects described in the book could be applied to any layout.

There are a few things in the book that I would do differently though. David Popp uses Peco Code 55 track on the Naugatuck Valley. Despite its bulletproof reliability, I just can’t get over the out of scale look of Peco Code 55 track for North American layouts (although I am using it in my hidden staging area). David’s use of hollow core doors is something I used to be a huge fan of but have moved away from on my current layout because I prefer a more organic flowing shape which is better achieved from L-Girder type construction.

Other than that, the book is hard to criticize and is an absolute joy to read. It is worth noting that I am reviewing the original edition, and an updated version has since been released which I believe has a bit more content relating to DCC and operations.