9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent thought piece, November 26, 2000
By A Customer
This review is from: Small, Smart, & Practical Track Plans (Model Railroader) (Paperback)
This book presents some basic thoughts at the beginning discussing the advantages and disadvantages of small layouts, then offers several layouts which vary from simple "L"'s to whole bedroom layouts. The focus is primarily on shelf and waterwing layouts. The plans are well thought out, and the author does a nice job of drawing out his vision of how the structures should be sited, how to treat the backdrop for different scenes, etc. The only thing about this book that bothers me is that on at least two layouts, the binding of the book blocks part of the track plan - a definite negative if you should decide to build one of these plans.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Good intro to UK compact layout methods in USA RR settings, September 1, 2003
This review is from: Small, Smart, & Practical Track Plans (Model Railroader) (Paperback)
"Small, Smart & Practical Track Plans" was my first introduction to Iain Rice's excellent illustrations and his explanations of compact layout techniques.
I recognized seeing many of the ideas -- such as sector plates, fiddle yards, and train cassettes -- in some UK model railway magazines. Soon enough, I found some of Mr. Rice's books published in the UK. (Some of which can be readily found on the Amazon.com's British site at www.amazon.co.uk if they can't be found ion the Amazon.com site.)
This book does a decent job of translating those British small layout ideas into USA railroad settings. For many model railroaders, this is be an eye-opener, making us think of creative ways to work in small spaces. For anybody who wanted to build a model railroad layout but has been discouraged by lack of space, this book may be the catalyst to pursue the dream.
One caution, not to deteract from the book's value, the illustrations are wonderfully captivating but they are suggestions for the scenic possibilities. They are not scale blueprints. So for some of the plans, not everything shown in the drawings will easily fit into the space, especially if one doesn't custom hand-lay the track. Not a major flaw; there are ways to adjust the plans or make compromises.
Even if one can and will build a larger space railroad layout, the book is a wonderful inspiration. Some of the train handling concepts, such as train cassettes, can be used in any size layout.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Deceptive Title, March 22, 2004
By A Customer
This review is from: Small, Smart, & Practical Track Plans (Model Railroader) (Paperback)
Nice track plans and concepts, but there only a couple of SMALL track plans in this book. If you really want SMALL track plans, check out the other track plan books such as the Atlas #6 and #7 books if you want N scale or the HO versions. Much less expensive and small, although nowhere near the nice concepts in this book.
101 Track Plans is also good.
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