Recommended Reading

From time to time I will be sharing what I have used to help me along this process of model railroading. I will post some reference books, how-to books and publications which I feel are of great value. I will also try to include articles from magazines which I find useful as well. One thing I should have done was research things before jumping into them. That is one piece of advice I'd like to pass on. In today's age books, coupled with the internet and other online references, have launched our hobby into a new arena!

A few weeks ago I placed an order for a magazine from Model Railroader. I know some people I know have let their subscriptions run out because it seems all they (Model Railroader) cater to is the Steam Era folks. Nothing against those guys because everyone is entitled to do their own thing for modeling, but sometimes it'd be nice for us modern era folks to get some spotlight. Well now insert this special publication.

IF you are just starting out with the modern era, or you want to spruce up what you have, I would suggest getting this. It highlights articles from past Model Railroader editions. Some of the articles are also included in some of the book I have purchased as well. 

This covers the article done about Lance Mindheim's Downtown Miami layout (track plan included). There is an article about the Utah Belt. (A layout which I just love, but the motive power paint scheme looks fantastic).

One of the best articles, in my opinion, covers how you can take a basic Atlas Trainman GP 38-2 and turn it into a nice model with just using some basic paint and detail parts.

In the freight cars section, they cover how adding some Hazardous Materials (HAZMAT) placards to your tank cars adds some realism to them. The decal sets can be picked up from Microscale Industries. Another article covers how to re-letter without repainting. Some other articles are adding custom graffiti and weathering a box car.  

There is an awesome article about adding a modern Corn Syrup terminal to your layout. The photos were great, as was the information.