Being a beginner in building a model railroad can often be a daunting task. Here are some useful links to other websites, publications, and podcasts that are John-Gardiner-approved as exceptional sources of additional information and enjoyment. Please return the favor and tell them you were sent by BGTMRRING!
We're always looking for new model railroad podcasts to highlight and make fun of (because thats what sore losers do when they are the least-listened-to podcast in their category). If you know of any that are not listed here, please contact us, and the podcast will be proudly added.
A stupendous podcast with rave reviews that thoroughly explains the entire hobby and the only podcast you will ever need of any subject! Search engines assemble results by jumping through hyperlinks from site to site. In theory, a website with no links and linked to by no-one will never be displayed in search results. Thus, the button below will likely melt the internet.
Responsible for some of the best audio reporting (if not best reporting, outright) in the hobby, Nick Ozorak interviews luminaries from all forms of train obsession. Past subjects tackled include railroad computer simulators, model railroading, rail preservation and excursions, real railroad operations, passenger railroading, historical events, how to grow a scrumptious beard, and tips for dating a model railroader. I'm not even joking about that last one.
One of the original model railroad podcasts, started by the late Ryan Anderson, The Model Railcast Show (ir)regularly interviews various modelers at the forefront of the hobby, pursuing updates on some of the latest techniques and most fascinating projects in the hobby. The MRCS is where John Gardiner, of BGTMRRING, got his start. We all love MRCS. Please, help me pester Timothy to get the next episode out sooner. Because they come out every two to three nevers.
Model Rail Radio is a call-in show with episodes usually lasting eight hours and released every six minutes. During live recordings, listeners can call in to update the community on their modeling efforts or ask the extensive community for advice on how to proceed. Regular meet-ups and a strong Facebook group strengthen the community.
A ModelersLife, so named because someone submitted the podcast to iTunes with a typo and they just decided to run with it, is an excellent podcast where preeminent, award-winning modelers talk with each other about their life outside of their hobby. Because the last thing you want to hear about while listening to a model railroading podcast is model railroading.
Mike Rose and Scotty Mason decided to create a sequal to The Scotty Mason Show, the original model railroad podcast, by announcing it to no-one, leaving us all subscribed to the SMS podcast feed for two years thinking they had all died. I only discovered this while assembling this very list of links. I'm still sore.
I'm not going to make fun of anything here, because, unlike our podcasting brethren, these guys can afford lawyers. If you work for one of these magazines and want to give me permission for lampooning, please let me know. If you are Dana Kawala, I promise I am not stalking you. You're reading of this sentence is purely coincidental.
The hobby's first publication, Model Railroader Magazine Magazine is a great source for general information. Yearly "project railroads" and online videos serve to educate the modeler on a variety of techniques, and regular columns from leading experts in the hobby provide unique insights. Additional special issues and projects – such as Great Model Railroads, Model Railroad Planning, and Model Railroader Video Plus – and other features – like reader forums and track plan databases – all provide endless inspiration to the budding hobbyist.
Railroad Model Craftsman provides unique perspectives on model railroading, often covering subjects in detail, from technical to theoretical. White River Productions, the publishing company, is also responsible for producing a variety of other fine magazines on various subjects, including Model Railroad News, Railfan and Railroad, Passenger Train Journal, and The Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette. No matter your interest, you will always be kept up to date with these publications.
An online magazine, Model Railroad Hobbyist Magazine provides hundreds of pages of material each month free to download. Started by hobby veterans and supported by advertising, this publication provides many innovative techniques in great length to keep your model railroad always looking fresh.
While there are many different books devoted to single subjects in the hobby, and many magazines publishing up-to-the-minute technique recipes, nothing beats a good, old-fashioned, all-in-one beginner book for giving you a tour of all the topics in the hobby. My particular favorite is HO Railroad from start to finish, a book which I acquired when I was quite young. I have many fond memories of paging through it so much that the binding started to give way. I am highly confident in saying that this was the first book I ever read cover-to-cover. Wow, if you infer enough (reading train book instead of playing with peers, not reading until 8-9), you can get an embarrassingly accurate view of my socially inept childhood. Dear introductory paragraph turned diary...
Track planning is the most addictive element of the hobby. They prescribe all the work to eventually take place in the real world, act as puzzles most inextricably and creatively solved, and represent the infinite possibility of what we could do with our space; with such being the case, it is clear to understand why all modelers are enticed by the thought of a track plan.
Most books of track plans from reputable publishers will always be high-quality, but the best always come with descriptions of each plan, noting how they might be constructed and operated. My particular favorites are 48 Top-notch Track Plans and 101 More Track Plans for Model Railroaders.
Much like HO Railroad from Start to Finish, 48 Top-notch Track Plans was a book I had very early in life and which I paged through constantly. It wins many points for having very extensive treatises accompanying each plan, describing the design constraints and considerations, and the construction goals and techniques. Unlike its predecessor, 101 More Track Plans also has short accompanying blurbs of each plan, but is especially notable for having some of the most creative, rare, intriguing, and thought-provoking plans I have ever seen.
Honorable mentions include Small, Smart, and Practical Track Plans, which elucidates the art of fitting satisfying model railroads into dissatisfying spaces, and 45 Original Track Plans, which demonstrates some very creative takes on layout subject and good examples of modern planning technique.
For obvious reasons, closely related to Track Plans, Model Railroad Layout Design can involve a lot of theory, mostly centering around study of the prototype. The seminal work of the subject is John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation, which is on its third edition since 1963. Honorable mentions include the late Carl Arendt's Small Layout Scrapbook, which details many micro layouts in the quest to a layout for every space, no matter how small, and the classic collection from the Model Railroader article series Railroads You Can Model, which is a deep dive into several very famous prototype railroads and demonstrations of how to adapt them to track plan form.
Inspired by Listener Skyler, here is a list of resources for researching prototype railroads.
Wikipedia is always an excellent resource for starting your search for a prototype. While not guaranteeably comprehensive, its lists do cover nearly every single meaningful railroad that operated in each state and have pages with summaries for most of the major ones.
Many different resources are available for researching a specific railroad. Most often, you will need a combination of the following: local libraries; local, regional, and state historical societies; prototype-specific historical societies; University special collections; and the Library of Congress. Here are some sample resources, but don’t forget to seek out your own, as well.
Nearly every state at one point produced comprehensive maps of every major railroad in the state for purposes of transportational infrastructure, defense, or taxation valuation. These can usually be downloaded from various websites in gigabyte-sized files and are an excellent resource for understanding the regional rail networks at a specific point in time.
An excellent resource for higher-fidelity specific prototype information, this collection allows you to download all the historical maps ever produced by the USGS, searchable by location. These will usually reveal the exact alignments of railroads across time, and will also usually give rough sketches of track arrangements at various notable points along the line.
This is my personal favorite resource for railroad research, as it often is the most revealing.
If you’re modeling the modern era, you’re in luck, as vast platoons of railfans usually will do all your work for you. Various internet railroad photographic archives exist where users upload pictures of trains and make them searchable by locomotive, car, railroad, or rail line, making it very easy to track down specific information on particular pieces of railroad equipment. Don’t forget that google maps, earth, and street view can usually also fill in the gaps!
This particular resource was suggested by listener of the show Skyler. Many major cities will have short, hyperlinked articles explaining in brief their local railroad history, often assembled by local historical societies, tourism boards, or history enthusiasts. These usually make excellent starting points for researching specific locales.
For those less familiar with real railroad dynamics or for those whom wish to protofreelance, there are many articles on the internet that give a general history of railroading. Understanding the basic elements of how and why railroads were created and became a dominant form of transportation will always help you build a better model railroad, and you may just find an interesting prototype or two along the way.
The single best source for general information is usually always a library. Local libraries will usually have good selections of general history books to brief you on the full history of a railroads in the nation, and they will usually also always have a few more specific books on local railroading history. If you live near the region you wish to model, visiting a local library and flipping through the books is a great way to start.
The NRHS is a powerful organization with many chapters devoted to the preservation of railroad history in their regions. The NRHS usually doe a good job of giving you railroad-agnostic histories of specific areas and can also point you in the direction of additional historical societies. They also do railroad education and history outreach.
The RLHS is a historical organization more devoted to specific prototypes and artifacts. It’s the oldest organization dedicated to its subject, and, while it may not have literature covering your specific prototype, if it does, the literature is almost guaranteed to be marvelously comprehensive.
The single best resource for researching if you have decided on a specific prototype is that of historical societies covering the region the railroad ran through. Quite often, they are the recipients of surviving document archives and will usually have extensive photograph collections covering both the railroad and the region in the time you’re looking for.
Large universities (and some large historical societies) will usually have Special Collections departments within their libraries. These will usually house on any particular prototype everything from historic maps to financial records, along with select photographs. These are very good resources to find some of the more obscure artifacts, such as car count reports, purchase orders, or meeting notes, in addition to the more canonical maps, blueprints, diagrams, and photographs.
The largest and most comprehensive “other” category, the LOC holds nearly every book of relevance to all American railroad history. If you’re looking for a really, really obscure book that isn’t found in local, university, or historical society libraries, this is the place to find it. Granted, it’s not very easily accessible for some people living farther away, but if you’re within a day’s drive or there on business, set aside a day or weekend to pay them a visit.
If you choose to model a larger railroad (or a portion thereof), they may have their own historical society. These organizations usually also have access to more obscure but more useful records, such as track alignment diagrams. They may also have modeling-specific resources, such as lists of accurate production models or instructions for kitbashing specific types of equipment.
When it comes down to it, you will have to break ground eventually. Each phase of construction is deeply involved, and has its own devoted faction of the hobby. Each of these books are very good disquisitions on their respective subjects, so if you find yourself struggling in a particular area, check one of these out.
A fascinating sub-hobby in its own right, Toy Train collecting is for those whom want to get in touch with their younger self, running trains around the Hanukkah Bush after a day of opening presents, paging through a manufacturer's catalogue and drooling over all the fancy accessories, or (for the younger generation) clicking through youtube videos of big and beautiful train layouts.
Alternatively, many collectors are intrigued by the history of toy trains, how they led to model railroading, how the companies fought for market dominance, and how the toy train shaped the larger cultural ethos at the time. For these people, treatises on the history of the hobby and manufacturers are must-haves.
Toy Train layouts are often very action- and operating accessory-heavy utopias of toy cities. Less emphasis is placed on realism, but you do, occasionally get Hi-Rail layouts that make all the same efforts as normal model railroads, just with toy trains running through the landscapes. If you want to finally do your train set of days past some justice for all the fine hours it put in for you on the living room floor, these are the books for you.
The hobby of model railroading has a rich and fascinating 100-year history. While some things change, many of the motivations stay the same, and many of the better techniques may have been lost to time. You can usually find some old books available very cheaply from museums or bookstores, and they might just offer some new old insights. Here are some out-of-print works from throughout the history of the hobby. Two very notable works are Classic Articles from Model Railroader Magazine, which reprints articles describing in real time the start and early development of the hobby, and Model Railroading with John Allen, which modelographically biographies the most famous model railroader in the entire history of the hobby.
These fine works all deserve special note for their uniqueness. One is a pseudo-autobiography on the motivation of modelers, one is a fictitious murder mystery, and one is a retrospective on one of the most famous model railroads in the hobby. Each one is well worth a read.
Retired NASCAR driver Sam Posey wrote the seminal work explaining why people play with trains, exploring his own adventures building a model railroad with his children and then traveling the world to speak with fellow modelers. This book is not just a must-have for every modeler, I would venture that its writing style, innocence, and profundity make it one of the best books ever written.
A marvelous romp through the life of model railroader Tom McCloud when he stumbles upon a fellow hobbyist murdered in cold blood, this fiction novel does an excellent job of covering the human side of the hobby and all the different motivations people might have for pursuing model railroading. Written by Debra Schiff an employee of Bachmann trains.
The name of Tony Koester sits alongside those of Allen McClelland and Frank Ellison, the sacred trinity of modelers whom completely redefined the purpose of the hobby, shifting the focus towards realism and operations. The AM was Koester's first great model railroad, built while he worked at Railroad Model Craftsman Magazine, and was one of the most influential model railroads ever built. This book serves both as an autobiography and as a look back at the changes the hobby has been through.
This podcast has many fine listeners, and here are some more resources for information regarding this wonderful hobby that they have suggested. Thank you all for listening and contributing!
https://www.topviewnyc.com/packages/brief-history-of-new-york-city-transportation
https://www.titlemax.com/model-railroads-and-freight-cars/
https://www.partsgeek.com/mmparts/a_guide_to_collecting_toy_cars_by_partsgeek.html
Proto-Future is attempting to do something which has never been done in model railroading before. I am here to ruffle feathers, seed ideas, get rusty gears turning, and help the hobby escape the transition-era worshiping rut we’ve been in for 30+ years, thereby better appealing to younger generations and improving the world around us along the way. If you have any thoughts at all – good or bad – pause for a second, think them through, make sure they’re logical, then email me, and we’ll see where it goes.
While the podcast is transitioning to Proto-Future, I still happily accept beginner questions and will address them on-air every now and then. Feel free to email me via the contact form, and I’ll do my best to help you in your quest.
