Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION 4
small (under 140 square feet)
1 Canton Railroad — HO
switching a soap factory 6
2 American Can — HO or N
modeling a full-sized industry 8
3 Free-mo Steel — HO
a heavy industry on a modular layout 10
4 Bear Island Paper Mill — N
a paper mill served by CSX 12
5 Mower Lumber — N
a West Virgina lumber railroad 14
6 Warrenton — HO
a British-style layout of a stub terminal 16
7 First Steel — HO
a steel mill railroad that can grow 18
8 Keystone Viaduct — N
Ntrak modules for home or show 20
9 Brooke Yard — HO
a pocket terminal in a tricky space 22
10 Overland Route — HO
a tribute to the transcontinental railroad 24
11 Menil-La-Tour — On30 or O14
running a WWI narrow gauge railroad 26
12 WWII Stateside Port — HO
loading naval convoys from trains 28
13 Fort Miles — HO
modeling U.S. coastal railway artillery in WWII 30
14 Cape Canaveral — HO
a model railroad that launches rockets 32
15 Victoria Crater Railway — Sn30
a mining railroad on Mars 34
medium (140 to 300 square feet)
16 Cowan Country — N
mainline operation with helpers on three decks 36
17 West Bottoms — O
early MoPac steam in Kansas City 38
18 NYC High Line — HO
Manhattan’s elevated industrial line 40
19 SNE Air Line — HO
modeling the SNE in Providence 42
20 Trans-Andes Railway — HO
Peruvian railroading at 15,000 feet 44
21 Alnwick Branch — OO
from the English coast to castle 46
22 Alexandria Waterfront — O
urban switching during the Civil War 48
23 Trans-Iranian Railway — HO
Lend Lease over the Persian Corridor 50
24 EMD Progress Rail — HO
modeling a locomotive factory 52
25 Ballard Terminal Railroad — HO
a Seattle shore-front short line 54
26 Sunon Motors — HO
switching auto trains during a shift change 56
27 Powder River Basin — N or Z
a BNSF-UP joint coal line 58
28 DaniCa Forest Products — HO
a southeastern chemical paper mill 60
29 Rockport & Weak — On30
a Maine narrow gauge freight hauler 62
30 Soldier Summit — N
running three railroads over the Wasatch 64
large (over 300 square feet)
31 Winding Gulf — HO
modeling two coal railroads in one valley 66
32 Wiscasset — On30
the WW&F, past and present 68
33 Everett Street Station — HO
Milwaukee Road’s Hiawatha at home 70
34 Chili Line — HO and HOn3
narrow gauge action in a double-deck mushroom 72
35 Riverside — HO
a citrus-based industrial hot spot 74
36 Handley Yard — N
moving coal loads in two directions 76
37 Montgomery — HO
BNSF mainline running and local switching 78
38 White River Junction — HO
modeling four live routes 80
39 Maryland Midland — N
a oNetrak shortline layout 82
40 Horseshoe Curve — N
a subdivision for an Ntrak club 84
41 Sunset Route — HO
modern freight action in Arizona 86
42 Tennessee Pass — O
Rio Grande steam across the Rockies 88
43 Tehachapi Loop — N
running long trains over an iconic location 90
44 Carrington Subdivision — S
North Dakota’s Soo Line in the transition era 92
45 Lampasas Subdivision — HO
BNSF deep in the heart of Texas 94
Reviews
By:
Sean Hadfield (railroadmodeling.kitmaker.net)
Intro
Kalmbach Books gives us a compilation of layout ideas and plans by Bernard Kempinski. From the About the Author, "Bernard Kempinski is a freelance writer who has written more than 40 magazine articles and several books on model railroading, many of them on layout planning. He is an active model railroader and has built many models on commission."
The cover suggests this is part of a series of Model Railroad Books: Layout Design and Planning.
Format
The book is composed of 45 separate layout ideas, in a broad variety of scales, sizes, settings, and eras-- ranging from Alexandria, Virginia, during the U.S. Civil War to Mars in 2100. They are ordered from the smallest switching layout to the largest full-basement layout. Each layout is presented on two pages, with one or more relevant prototype photos or renderings, a half-page discussion of the concept, and a table of details and dimensions.
The scales include the popular Z, N, HO, and O, but also a British OO layout and several narrow gauge (Hon3, Sn30, On30, and O14). Some are suggested in more than one scale. Each layout is mapped on a grid, for use in actual construction and to illustrate the dimensions and how they can apply in your situation. A hypothetical room is shown for illustration of the larger room-sized layouts, where doors and bump-outs could occur, and how they are incorporated in the layout shape.
Additional details are provided for some layouts, such as a coastal gun detail necessary to model Fort Miles in WW II, or an eye-level section to explain forefront details and backdrop height. Some include multiple levels and others have multiple configuration options. There are modular layout plans too.
The write-up for each layout includes concept prototype information and suggestions for construction and operation. It is written in a welcoming, informative style, very pleasant to read. These layouts are conceptual and not overly specific, as each reader is invited to adapt the plans to their available room and their particular interests. As such, there are no step-by-step construction instructions.
Summary
This book covers one of my favorite parts of the hobby—the planning, and it’s done very well. Many considerations for each plan are touched on, so that little is overlooked when planning your own railroad.