Customer Reviews

The Model Railroader's Guide to Locomotive Servicing Terminals

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book was a quick read for me and it did have some good ideas for modeling locomotive servicing facilities. However, the focus is more on steam than diesel facilities, so I was left feeling a bit short changed. It gave some good prototype information, but then going to the train room or layout for actual model building was not enough for me. The last section on building the diesel terminal was good, but again, when I turned that last page expecting more, and then hit the supplier and manufacturer list. There were some good ideas that Marty McGuire did offer up, such as working a roundhouse into a backdrop. Overall it is a good book, but it just scrapes the surface and left me wanting more. I guess that's Kalmbach's plan, wanting you to buy another book.
The book would have gotten 5 stars from me if it had more in the way of modeling information.

I enjoy Kalmbach books overall and found this one to be interesting. However, it was lacking answers to a very BASIC question that you would expect to find in a book like this (for steam or diesel):

When a locomotive arrives at the yard, WHAT HAPPENS?

That is, what are the actual steps, from the point of arrival to the point of departure on its next duty assignment?

As I am mostly interested in steam, presumably step 1 is, dump the ashes.

But what happens after that? When do they refill the tender? When do they refill with water (right before leaving or NOW)? Does the answers depend on whether the train is due to go out right away again or will be going in for service or will be sitting around for a few days? Presumably they only take sand right before leaving, but again, that's an assumption. When the train IS in for servicing, what's basic service? What's a major service and when it is scheduled? What's a power house for? How many extra coal cars are generally kept around? One per locomotive? Per 2 days service? Per 100 miles of service since last coaling? How long would water last? etc., etc.

These are the kinds of questions you would expect to be answered in a book that discussed the servicing terminal, since many of the answers influence the actual operations at the terminal. All of that is absent.

And it's similarly lacking for diesel operations.

Maybe these are obvious things that every good model railroader should already know, but for me to give it a 5-star review, that's the kind of information I'd expect.

It's kind of like having a book on freight yard design describing in detail where all of the different classification tracks should go and what should be around them, without ever describing how the different freight classifications work and why certain cars would end up on certain tracks. One of my favorite publications is the Layout Design Journal's Special Freight Yards edition, and that's what is so great about it, they explain EVERYTHING and assume nothing. There's even a good walk-through of how a yard evolves. That's what this book is missing.

I still like this book, it's got some good modeling advice, but a future edition might want to consider answering those questions and that might help to fatten up the book up a little too.

Modeling trains allows the opportunity to put together a lot of fascinating machinery and buildings. People who like to build models tend to like to do that sort of thing and the instructions that come with the models are usually adequate. Unfortunately, that can leave a modeler with a really neat gizmo that he or she does not really understand in the great scheme of things. A nice sanding tower may be built but, once built, the modeler may have no idea about how it would be used in real life or where it would be most appropriate on a layout. This book explains things like that.

It does its explaining both in terms of steam and in terms of diesel equipment. It explains how real railroads operated to turn trains. Along the way, it also gives some good modeling tips.

This book is a invaluable reference and great "how to" guide for any model railroader who is planning to include a locomotive servicing and fueling facility on his layout. After presenting information on the procedures, equipment and structures actually used by the railroads to maintain their locomotives, the book goes on to show how models of this equipment and these structures can be constructed for a model railroad.

Some of the descriptions lack precision, but overall, it has lots of valuable information. Many good photos and drawings are found in this book. A rare book on a subject which is hard to find much material on.

As with most books of this type, this is an extremely useful guide. Photos are crisp and text is well-detailed. Any modeler interested in modeling a free-lance engine terminal will find this a valuable resource.