Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime & FREE Returns

FREE delivery July 19 - 21 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Or fastest delivery July 16 - 18

Usually ships within 3 to 5 days.

[{"displayPrice":"$21.95","priceAmount":21.95,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"21","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"95","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"56iNahzvO3H7Msu6vDIsi66WXrYk5pCZGpGt7BJour62L5kXSiyDGc8mHYC4VFeHmhxUG7sUN9aFpeGrsOPVy%2BUkDfCnfqd6ACauHZhV57HYovnS833dM2rbL2sIIHF8c6TCZeYCF6I%3D","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"NEW"},{"displayPrice":"$11.48","priceAmount":11.48,"currencySymbol":"$","integerValue":"11","decimalSeparator":".","fractionalValue":"48","symbolPosition":"left","hasSpace":false,"showFractionalPartIfEmpty":true,"offerListingId":"mhhyKHFi5W1at%2FerwdtL5901W70RpGSgy5i8trpJjSJYRp%2BRV1KPi5BaUaJyEkRs0oJ3xjgtTsHYh3FYpC52sR9HnGWyJyKm9OSADtuJ6XO5YLoylsL9whmZXkPbiPnwBPATjfX692QODu9GbgvEMK%2BTvCSBjKSz3%2BrXih%2FG8II%2F3K%2B5j%2Bxz06nbgrdlCUbM","locale":"en-US","buyingOptionType":"USED"}]

$$21.95 () Includes selected options. Includes initial monthly payment and selected options. Details

Secure transaction

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Details

Ships from

Amazon.com

Sold by

Amazon.com

Return policy: Eligible for Return, Refund or Replacement within 30 days of receipt

Add a gift receipt for easy returns

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Thursday, July 14 if you spend $25 on items shipped by Amazon

Or fastest delivery Sunday, July 10. Order within 8 hrs 28 mins

Select delivery location

Used: Good | Details

Sold by Angelaium

Fulfilled by Amazon

Add to List

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

Share

Have one to sell?

Sell on Amazon

Other Sellers on Amazon

Added

Not added

$14.49
+ $3.99 shipping

Sold by: SuperBookDeals---

Added

Not added

$23.40
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: Winkie's Toys & Hobby

Added

Not added

$30.28
& FREE Shipping

Sold by: Books Unplugged

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

Follow the Author

John H. Armstrong

Track Planning for Realistic Operation: Prototype Railroad Concepts for Your Model Railroad (Model Railroader)(3rd Edition) Paperback – Illustrated, January 29, 2018

by John Armstrong (Author)

198 ratings

See all formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Paperback, Illustrated

"Please retry"

$21.95

$14.49

$7.65

Paperback
$21.95

22 Used from $7.65 9 New from $14.49

Enhance your purchase

Provides step-by-step design techniques and track planning tips to save model railroaders time, money, and headaches. This must-have book also covers aspects of prototype freight and passenger operations, route design, and contemporary railroading.

Print length

146 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Kalmbach Publishing Company
Publication date

January 29, 2018
Reading age

14 years and up
Dimensions

8.26 x 0.22 x 10.72 inches
ISBN-10

0890242275
ISBN-13

978-0890242278
See all details

Frequently bought together

+
+

Total price:

To see our price, add these items to your cart.

Some of these items ship sooner than the others.

Show details Hide details

Choose items to buy together.

by John Armstrong Paperback
$21.95
FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
Usually ships within 3 to 5 days.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
by Associate Professor of Religious Studies and East Asian Studies Jeff Wilson Paperback
$19.95
Get it as soon as Tuesday, Jul 12 FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.
by Jeff Wilson Paperback
$15.16
Get it as soon as Tuesday, Jul 12 FREE Shipping on orders over $25 shipped by Amazon
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com.

Products related to this item
Sponsored Hide feedback

Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Kalmbach Publishing Company; 3rd ed. edition (January 29, 2018)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 146 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0890242275
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0890242278
Reading age ‏ : ‎ 14 years and up
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8.26 x 0.22 x 10.72 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #592,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #107 in Model Trains

Customer Reviews:
198 ratings

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Help others learn more about this product by uploading a video!

Upload video

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

John H. Armstrong

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Products related to this item
Sponsored Hide feedback

Page 1 of 1Start overPage 1 of 1

Customer reviews

5 star		75%
4 star		15%
3 star		8%
2 star		1%
1 star		1%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

KY Hylbilly

Learn about RR? Start here!

Reviewed in the United States on February 1, 2021

Verified Purchase

I’m new to model railroading. After almost a year of reading and studying some dozen or so of the many topical books and manuals, I still couldn’t sketch up a track layout that made any practical or interesting sense—and do so within my limited space constraints. I stumbled on this book early on, but it sat on my shelf until I was about to give up on designing any track layout that would justify the large commitment of time and expense that I knew was necessary. Recently I pulled this book off the shelf. It didn’t take much reading to realize that THIS was the missing source for how and why real trains operate and how best to model them.

The only real downside, as mentioned by another reviewer here, is the terrible formatting of the manual itself. A large share of the real “meat” is in the sidebars and graphics which are almost obscured by dark blue background and tiny, all-caps print. You truly need bright light and magnifying glass to read it. What a disservice by the publisher to such an otherwise excellent book. I’ll still give the author a five star; the publisher a one star.

3 people found this helpful

Helpful

John Bellavich

A Must Read for First-time Layout Design

Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2019

Verified Purchase

I purchased this book to gain an understanding of track layout design. This book encouraged me to continue my pursuit but more importantly, I learned about the many pitfalls in planning and how to avoid those through patients and skill development. This will be my second layout but first to design myself; I found this book very challenging. I had to brush up on high school geometry and learn the vocabulary of model railroad track layout design. I have read several chapters two or times and expect to read them again. It is well worth the effort, I have gain significant insight on the knowledge and skills I will need to design and build a satisfying layout for train operations.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

bigjimleo

For those who want to plan track with a purpose.

Reviewed in the United States on February 17, 2014

Verified Purchase

This book isn't terribly huge, but it manages to cover a lot of ground. If you're expecting a book that will tell you how to plan benchwork, how to throw track down, or anything that is only "skills" related, this doesn't cover it. This is also not a catalog of track plans. Go elsewhere for those, there's plenty of books dedicated to those subjects.

If you want a good overview of problems real railroads face and then how to solve those problems or model those problems in a model, this IS what you are looking for. This all about how to design a layout that can then support a simulation of real movements of trains. The first half of the book is mostly describing real life train movements and track work (from a perspective of studying it for modeling purposes only) with a scattering of "here's how to adapt it". The second half of the book really buttons down and focuses on layout design. He presents not only some rules of thumb, but a planning system that is not only abstracts away scale, but also the radius by figuring a size of square based on minimum radius and then using those squares to manage your dimensions. He also explains in detail radii and easements and a fair bit on taking real railroad lines and adapting them to a model.

A good book, but do realize what you're getting. This isn't "the one book that teaches you everything", but a good set of techniques to add to your arsenal. And yes, there's probably not anything here you can't glean from internet sources, this is just a compact way to get at it.

28 people found this helpful

Helpful

Amazon Jams

Excellent textbook for the modeler

Reviewed in the United States on June 28, 2016

Verified Purchase

This classic is outstanding for understanding why prototypical layouts work from the operational standpoint. It is possible to model layouts, or work (as I do) with virtual layouts in simulators such as Trainz for years without truly appreciating the "whys" and "wherefores" of the actual design and consists. This textbook has the answers. I say "textbook" because it reads like one. Packed with overwhelming amounts of information, this book can be daunting on the first pass. I find it best to skim through, and then read the material again for better understanding.

Yes, I plan on using this information to prepare routes in Trainz: A New Era. This outstanding modeling environment provides excellent tools to create model railroad layouts similar to those shown in this book, but without a lot of the space constraints that plague the modeler. This is a great resource to provide the details needed to understand how railroads really operate.

5 people found this helpful

Helpful

Knee slapper

Excellent in every respect, worth every penny!

Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2010

Verified Purchase

This is a really fine book! I wish I'd encountered it when I first started in the hobby. Our first layout is okay, but had we had this guide we would have done so many things differently. There are many books on track layouts, but they generally just present someone's ideas for a layout and tell you how to build it. This book, on the other hand, tells you WHY things are certain way and HOW to make things for this or that track activity. It makes total sense and our next layout will be much better because of this book.

The book has two major parts. The first part of the book describes basic railroad operations, such as loading and unloading, assembling cars into trains, moving trains, etc. The second part looks at how to design a practical model, what standards to use, minimal curves, layout shapes, etc. It has a lot of great ideas, with many pictures and schematics to satisfy both advance and novice modelers. Great book!

8 people found this helpful

Helpful

Thomas Aquinas

The author is very widely experienced in model railway matters and gives a great deal of practical advice

Reviewed in the United States on January 11, 2018

Verified Purchase

It is very well written and interesting in itself . The author is very widely experienced in model railway matters and gives a great deal of practical advice.It is very stimulating in it itself and will be read with great pleasure by any railway modeller. His diagrams are also most helpful. and provide remarkable insights. An "armchair modeller" will find it very enjoyable but it is somewhat ambitious in its scope but only a modeller who is prepared to expend a good deal of time and money will be able to realise the wonderful plans suggested. Nevertheless there are excellent descriptions of the problems involved in the hobby and salutary warnings which could be very useful. There is no doubt that this book will be found very entertaining by anyone interested in model railways.

4 people found this helpful

Helpful

Top reviews from other countries

Translate all reviews to English

LocoLazers

A 'Must-have', for any Modeler of USA Rail-Roads

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 19, 2019

Verified Purchase

'Track Planning for Realistic Operation' gives a fascinating insight & explanation of USA Railroads and how to model them. From how the multitude of different Companies and types of Railroad interact with each other, in order to deliver the the goods and people - to how # Switches are determined - to achieving the best Track-plan that is right for you. 100% recommended, whether you are an experienced Modeler or just starting-out building a Model Railroad.

Amazon Customer

Planning book right on track

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 24, 2017

Verified Purchase

Superb book for planning an American model railway layout

Paul Taylor

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on December 21, 2014

Verified Purchase

excellent book lots of good information

alberto

massimi sistemi

Reviewed in Italy on March 13, 2021

Verified Purchase

...parla di linee doppio binario, singolo binario, scali, depositi, interconnessioni, sorpassi; ma lo vedo molto come stesura accademica per riempire pagine di argomenti triti e ri-triti. Poca attinenza e spunti per il modellismo ferroviario.
Più che track planning for realistic operations potevano chiamarlo: "principi generali dell'esercizio ferroviario".
NON lo ricomprerei affatto.

Translate review to English

josapdz

Bien

Reviewed in Spain on December 12, 2016

Verified Purchase

Buen libro, aunque conviene advertir que sólo resultará útil a los modelistas más expertos, no a los principiantes. Son técnicas avanzadas, no ideales para pequeñas maquetas, en donde serían innecesarias.

Translate review to English

See all reviews

Buy new: $21.95$21.95 FREE delivery: July 19 - 21 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon. Ships from: Amazon.com Sold by: Amazon.com

Buy used: $11.48

Sorry, there was a problem.

Sorry, there was a problem.

Other Sellers on Amazon

Follow the Author

Track Planning for Realistic Operation: Prototype Railroad Concepts for Your Model Railroad (Model Railroader)(3rd Edition) Paperback – Illustrated, January 29, 2018

Enhance your purchase

Frequently bought together

Product details

Videos

About the author

John H. Armstrong

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Top reviews from other countries

Buy new:

$21.95

FREE delivery: July 19 - 21 on orders over $25.00 shipped by Amazon.

Ships from: Amazon.com

Sold by: Amazon.com

Buy used:

$11.48