O Scale Trains

Motorbooks certainly pulled out the stops when they produced Brian Solomon’s latest book, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway. The 288 oversize (12 by 11-inch) pages contain some of the best-printed and interesting photographs of railroad history.

In text and photographs, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway traces the development of the numerous individual railroads that were combined into, first, the Burlington Northern, and then, the “super” consolidation, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe.

Adding interest to Brian Solomon’s always-perfectly-exposed documentary and action color photographs are equally-striking black and white photographs from a “who’s who” of other noted railroad photographers, notably Jim Shaughnessy. John Gruber, William D. Middleton, and Fred Matthews. The overall affect of great photographs, reproduced large and reproduced well, is—at times—breathtaking, such as when one photograph extends across two of the over-sized pages.

Numerous photographs combine the impact of color with the subtlety of a limited color range, such as Brian Solomon’s photographs of railroad tracks during lightning storms, or the haunting view of the Burlington Northern at sunset at Sandpoint, ID, with the lake in the background. There are also silhouette shots of trains against sunsets and numerous winter photographs that take full advantage of subtle tonalities.

During my second, or was it my third, reading of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, I began to realize how much I didn’t know—or hadn’t remembered—about the formation of the line. The text cleared up several misconceptions I had and enhanced my appreciation for the photographs.

This is a “First Class—all the way” book that does the publisher proud.

I continue to be impressed by the quality and variety of modeling opportunities offered in W. W. Norton’s Library of Congress Visual Sourcebooks in Architecture, Design, and Engineering. Each volume addresses a particular category of buildings found throughout the United States. Previous volumes have been devoted to Theaters, Barns, Canals, Bridges, and Lighthouses.

The latest volume, Public Markets, by Helen Tangires, opens up an entire new category of urban modeling opportunities. It’s amazing that this has been overlooked for so long. Consider the following advantages of adding a public market to your layout:

Variety. Public Markets varied in size from small to large. Many were among their cities most visited and best recognized buildings.

Traffic potential. Many markets, especially the wholesale markets, were served by railroad. They often received daily shipments of fresh vegetables and meats.

Detail possibilities. Many public markets included outside stalls, offering possibilities for foreground models with plenty of colorful details.

As always, W. W. Norton, the publisher, has done a spectacularly good job of producing a beautiful and highly readable volume. The book’s large size and quality printing on glossy paper enhances the reader’s ability to learn from the photographs. Best of all, as in other Library of Congress Visual Sourcebooks in the series, the volume contains a CD-ROM containing the files for all of the drawings and photographs in the book, making this book a serious research tool for modelers researching the details of America’s urban past.
Public Markets is organized into chapters such as open-air markets, street markets, markets in public buildings (like Boston’s Faneuil Hall), market sheds, and whole terminal markets. All in all, Public Markets is another major visual contribution to American architectural and social history.

Although I usually visit www.alibris.com when I’m looking for out-of-print railroad books, I recently discovered www.tomfolio.com which is impressively categorized.

For example, here’s a link to books about electric railroads.

The site is an excellent choice because you can browse by category, if you don’t know the specific titles you want. Just select Transportation Railroads, for example, and choose from 33 different categories of pre-owned railroad books.

Many of the best books of recent years have been assembled by Brian Solomon and printed by Voyageur Press. I haven’t encountered a dud in the series yet. The books are uniformly and excellently conceived, produced, and printed. They contain enough words to provide the context needed to understand and better-appreciate the photographs, yet they’re not so detailed you feel you’re back in college studying for a midterm. Their large size and careful layout results in photos large enough to be studied and enjoyed. Best of all, the series are an excellent value, so you don’t feel guilty indulging yourself.

Working on the Railroad just may be the best of the series in terms of theme and historic relevance. Instead of focusing on a specific railroad or train, Working on the Railroad is a photographic essay—often in the words of the workers themselves—that describes the working environment and responsibilities of several classes of employees: brakemen, conductors, engineers and firemen, tower operators and dispatchers, and maintenance workers.

Having spent several pleasurable hours with this book on two separate occasions, I think that one of the best aspects of this volume is the way many of the photographs are taken just after the trains have arrived—or just before they department. Thus, in contrast to photographs of engineers at speed, there are numerous photographs of engineers walking to the cab carrying their lunch bucket, or—my favorites—several photographs of a help curve on the Norfolk & Western eating lunch at a picnic table and relaxing, while their articular helper engine simmers in the background.

In addition to Brian Solomon’s own photographs, there are dozens of both day and nighttime photos by Jim Shaughnessy, as well as John Gruber and William Middleton.

What emerges from so many of the photographs is the size disparity of the trains and the men who worked on, and around, them, as well as respect for the working conditions they endured.

Another takeaway from this book for me was a better understanding of the geographic scope of Jim Shaughnessy’s photograph. Until Working on the Railroad, I thought he primarily convinced his activities to Vermont or upper New York State, but I now find examples of his work at Hoboken Terminal, the south, the midwest.

I’m always interested in arousing the interest of the next generation of railroad lovers. Working on the Railroad might not only provide Gramps with many pleasurable hours himself, but it could arouse a lifelong love of railroading among grandchildren of both sexes.

Visit www.voyageurpress.com.

Once again, Arcadia Publishing has assembled an impressive combination of over 200 high quality photographs for the latest title in its Images of Rail series, David J. Mrozek’s Railroad Depots of Michigan: 1910-1920. The stations displayed range from huge urban terminals, important junctions, and extends to the stations that served resorts located in remotest reaches of Michigan where trainloads of urban residents spent their summers.

The stations shown include a variety of sizes, building materials, and architectural styles. The range of photographs emphasize the diversity of styles used to accommodate the various station’s functions. Photographs are clear enough for scratch-builders to model from. Also, the photographs provide the context in which the stations were built, showing the stations’ relationships to adjacent buildings. There are years worth of scratch-building inspiration to be found in this aggressively-priced guide.

My favorite photograph (bottom, page 64), shows the Grand Rapids & Indiana Depot, Lake Street, Petoskey. The station was built to accommodate suburban service. Trains allowed wealthy tourists to dine, shop, and explore the various lakes around Little Traverse Bay, Walloon Lake, and Crooked Lake. The building and track design combines both through and stub-end tracks adjacent to a local highway. Although built for a steam railroad, it’s track plan would be ideal for an electric line, or the end of electrified service on a railroad that operated express service further behind steam or diesel.

The relevance of this book extends beyond just Michigan: Railroad Depots of Michigan, 1910-1920 is a valuable resource for modelers of a wide range of northern and midwestern railroads who are looking for photographs showing the variety and stylistic design accents used for railroad stations serving a wide range of traffic needs.

Railroad Depots of Michigan: 1910-1920, $19.99. Arcadia Publishing. Available at local retailers, online bookstores,or through Arcadia Publishing at or (888) 313-2665.

At this weekend’s Boston Trolley Meet, I picked up John Spivak’s slim volume published in conjunction with the 1907-2007 Centennial of the Market Street Elevated Passenger Railway.

This full-color, horizontal format, color publication contains numerous vintage photographs, hand-tinted postcards, architectural drawings of elevated stations, and cut-away drawings of the subway portion. Numerous newspaper headlines are included, as well as a menu of food served the day before the line opened to those who walked the new line.

The publication captures the civic excitement and the scale of the project. Several of the drawings and detail photos will help readers better model aspects of the line, including the line’s 69th Street terminal.

The New York City Model Transit Association & The Shore Line Trolley Museum invite you to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Subway Service to Brooklyn. Event details:

When: Saturday, October 4th, 2008
Where: Rutgers Gymnasium, 130 College Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ
Why: Gain inspiration and run your equipment on numerous operating layouts, locate needed supplies from numerous trolley, rapid transit, dealers (models, books, videos, photographs), attend informative model clinics, enter your favorite models in a contest, and learn from lectures by transit historians, modelers, and collectors.

For details, visit the NYC Model Transit Association website, or call 860-620-9118.

In the real world it’s hard to get from here to there without roads and streets of some kind. Since they are such a visible element of the landscape, roads deserve the same careful modeling given to the rest of the scene. There are lots of methods for building roads and streets ranging from styrene to plaster. Commercial products such as brick sheets and the road building system from Woodland Scenics are other options. (more…)

Volume 1, the San Diego & Arizona Railway—”The Impossible Railroad,”—is the first volume in Charles M. O’Herin’s Prototypes for Modelers series, and it’s an excellent execution of a very exciting idea. As described at the author’s website, www.railroadprototypes.com, this 136-page book explores railroads from a modeler’s perspective. (more…)

New books that break new ground are doubly satisfying. Any new book, of course, is fun, since it gives you opportunity to gain a new perspective on a topic. But, when the topic has never been adequately covered before in book form, the pleasure is even greater. (more…)