Model Railroad Bridges & Trestles: A Guide to Designing and Building Bridges for Your Layout (Model Railroad Handbook) (Paperback)

~ (Editor) "An eastbound Erie Lackawanna passenger train crossing the Starrucca Viaduct in May of 1972..." (more)
Key Phrases: Central Valley, Stoney Creek, Southern Pacific (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Teaches how to build sturdy model bridges and trestles of stunning realism. Includes construction plans, prototype phtographs, and over 20 sets of scale drawings for scratchbuilding, kitbashing, or modifying commercial bridge kits.

Product Details

• Paperback: 152 pages
• Publisher: Kalmbach Publishing Company (March 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0890241287
• ISBN-13: 978-0890241288
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.1 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #438,438 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not great for beginners, February 2, 2001

By A Customer

This item is perfect if you have been in the hobby of model railroading for some time, or are good at building models from a book of blueprints. However, I have just started and found it really confusing. For someone who is good at this stuff I would give it a five, but if you're a beginner I do not recommend it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Wonderful Collection, December 27, 2006

By	John A Lee III "jal3" (San Antonio, TX) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Speaking as one who was formerly a civil engineer, this compendium is a wonderful collection of articles on building bridges for model railroads. It is not a book by a single author. Instead, it is a collection of reprints of articles from Model Railroader magazine. As such, some are better than others but all are good.

Particularly worthy of note is the first series of articles which is a survey of different types of bridges and their design. It is technically correct and conveys enough information to the modeler to do a creditable job but it is yet simple enough to understand for those without an engineering background.

Most of the later articles deal with the construction of particular bridges instead of general principles but they too are well written and adaptable to other situations. Since this work is intended for modelers and not engineers, much of the emphasis is on the aesthetics. This is as it should be as it is the information vital to the modeler.

All in all, this is a great collection.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Building Railraod Bridges? Then this book is for you!, November 8, 2006

By	Ryan Boudreaux (Wake Forest, NC) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is a collection of articles that have previously appeared in past issues of Model Railroader Magazine. While the articles are informative and insightful, the format that Kalmbach uses to copy the various original bridge and trestle articles and paste them into a book is not very slick. It would have been nice if they would have updated some of the information and added more color photographs. Books in this format appear to be another way for Kalmbach to re-hash old articles of a similar topic, put them under one cover and generate more sales from already published material. This book has become reference material for my library. I however would recommend the Kalmbach book "The Model Railroader's Guide To BRIDGES, TRESTLES & TUNNELS" by Jeff Wilson, this book is fresh, better organized, and a useful tool for modeling railroad bridges.