What was your first model railroad book?

Not counting Lionel catalogs, my first model railroad book was Model Railroading by Lionel and published by Bantam Books. My father bought me the book in the mid 50's. I still have that book. 

I never had and don't have one. 

Jim

Same here Vic. And I still have mine too..............Paul

I will second Mr. Graser's post above--The Boy's Book of Model Railroading by R.F. Yates.  My copy is still in my bookcase.

I used to regularly borrow the Boy's Book of Model Railroading from our public library.
Also some books by Hertz.

Scenery for Model Railroads By Bill McLanahan, Published by Kalmbach. It was more geared to HO, of course, but scenery is still scenery in any scale.

John Graser posted:

My first model railroad book was:

Boys' Book of Model Railroading by Raymond F. Yates

which I still have.

Same for me.  I somehow have two copies now. 

My first train book was Don Ball's "America's Colorful Railroads".  Broke the binding on that and have second copy of that as well now!

So far as I recall, mine was also the Lionel/Bantam "Model Railroading" paperback - I still look at it every so often. I have a couple of buildings on my layout from that book - that I scratch built from balsa and the like as an adult. They still look pretty good. I should photograph.

I bought the reprint of my 1958 edition (my original was falling apart; I bagged it) offered by Lionel 20(?) years ago, and was disappointed that the reproduction (essentially a photocopy process, it seems) was not properly focused, and all those sharp B/W photos are fuzzy. A shame, and unnecessary. Offered again, properly done, I'd buy one.

My first may have been, technically, the American Flyer version of the same idea. I had them both (still do), but I do not recall which was bought first. The AF book was less elaborate, but it really made me appreciate AF steam locomotive realism. (AF diesels were always homely; never wanted one.)

John Graser posted:

My first model railroad book was:

Boys' Book of Model Railroading by Raymond F. Yates

which I still have.

That is the first anything  I ever bought over the internet. I had access to a copy at my elementary school library in the 1960's and bought one version just like that old book and another edition that is somewhat different, as well as his followup book "How To Improve Your Model Railroad".

I wrote to his son many years ago about any books about trains by his father I might not have, I will have to look at his written response to it to refresh my memory. I do remember he invited me up to the Homestead to see his trophy room and the trains from his father's collection that he had saved, but work & family intervened and I was never able to make the connection despite several trips we made to Wyoming over those years...

Sadly, he passed away this past fall due to Alzheimer's complications.

My own personal first book was a Christmas gift from my grandparents in 1969 or 1970:

ADCX Rob posted:

John Graser posted:

My first model railroad book was:

Boys' Book of Model Railroading by Raymond F. Yates

which I still have.

That is the first anything  I ever bought over the internet. I had access to a copy at my elementary school library in the 1960's and bought one version just like that old book and another edition that is somewhat different, as well as his followup book "How To Improve Your Model Railroad".

I wrote to his son many years ago about any books about trains by his father I might not have, I will have to look at his written response to it to refresh my memory. I do remember he invited me up to the Homestead to see his trophy room and the trains from his father's collection that he had saved, but work & family intervened and I was never able to make the connection despite several trips we made to Wyoming over those years...

Sadly, he passed away this past fall due to Alzheimer's complications.

My own personal first book was a Christmas gift from my grandparents in 1969 or 1970:

I have The Complete book of Model Railroading also, great book.

"101 Track Plans for Model Railroaders" by Linn H. Wescott.  

Didn't realize all the way back then the track configurations are a small fraction of a much larger story.  Live and learn.

John C. posted:

"101 Track Plans for Model Railroaders" by Linn H. Wescott.  

Didn't realize all the way back then the track configurations are a small fraction of a much larger story.  Live and learn.

I do remember that my first model railroading book was one that had track plans. I don't recall which one, but wondered about the Linn Wescott, so I googled and saw that it was published in 1956. I had a couple track plan books to help me design my first actual layout. It was HO. My O-gauge just didn't look realistic, so around 1960 I had my grandfather help me make a 4' x 8' plywood sheet on legs.

So it is possible that I had the Wescott book. But that was quite a while ago to be certain of anything.

"Model Railroading" by Lionel. I wore out three editions. That's where I first discovered "Madison" cars, in a small B&W photo. I was amazed that something that cool had even been made, and disappointed, of course, that the caption said "no longer available."

I asked Uncle Lou if he had any for sale, and in his usual manner he said "Get away kid, you're bothering me." or something similar. Then Uncle Carl said in a kindly voice, "You couldn't afford them even if we had them for sale."

A strange thing happened in 1985. I was waiting for an Amtrak train in Penn Station, and wandered into a bookstore on the main level that had lots of train books. I picked up a copy of Ron Hollander's "All Aboard" and it rekindled my interest in Lionel. Through that book I discovered York, and the rest is history.

Another book I have is: Model railroading: A family guide

I had two different Bantam books. They fell apart after a couple years. My first model railroad book is the one on the right. Lots of scale O gauge and Lionel. You can see they were well used. Both were Fawcett books. The one on the right was edited by A.C. Kalmback. Don

I agree with Vic.  I have the remnants of two that I wore out.

I have an early copy of Scenery for Model Railroads, that advocates using asbestos for scenery.

Model railroading by Lionel. Spent many a summer nite lying in bed reading the book while The Katy local was going through our farm on the way to the coal company to pick up and drop cars. We were rich and didn't know it.

My first was the BSA Railroading Merit Badge Book.  Still have it, too.

John Graser posted:

My first model railroad book was:

Boys' Book of Model Railroading by Raymond F. Yates

which I still have.

YES!

Great thread.

The library in my town had two Model RR books when I was growing up:

• Model Railroading, by Harry Zarchy (posted by PLCPROF above); and
  
  
• The Boys' Book of Model Railroading by Raymond F. Yates.
  
  

I borrowed both as often as I could.  I can still hear my mother's voice in my young boy's ears saying, "Don't you think you might like to get something else for a change?"

When I was a teenager, probably 14-15, I asked the librarian if she could help me locate a copy that I might buy.  I remember being ecstatic when she told me she had talked to someone, and they had located a new copy, and I bought it.  A scan of the cover of that copy is shown here:

I also vividly remember that his plan for building gasoline storage tanks had a defect.  The side view of the tanks showed six tanks, but a different view showed instructions for cutting a tank holder with seven  slots for tanks.  I think I checked it and counted the tanks every single time I opened the book (including just now...page 97) to make sure I wasn't the victim of some optical illusion.

Thanks for bringing back a nice memory.

Steven J. Serenska

Another vote for "The Bantam Book of Model Railroading - Sixth Big Edition - Newly Updated by Lionel Experts with a special introduction by Joshua L. Cowan". 

Still have it, still read it, and it's held together with rubber bands. This is the edition with the Super '0' photos.

This little handbook (1961 edition) and the 15 pages devoted to model railroading within led to my first interest, at around age 9 along with B.S.A.'s magazine Boy's Life with its model rring guide.

My first copies of MR and RMC would come along in 1972.

The HO railroad that grows!

Got it as a kid when I was messing around with a HO.

That was a great book!   

artyoung posted:

Another vote for "The Bantam Book of Model Railroading - Sixth Big Edition - Newly Updated by Lionel Experts with a special introduction by Joshua L. Cowan". 

Still have it, still read it, and it's held together with rubber bands. This is the edition with the Super '0' photos.

I had an earlier edition, don't remember which one. 

Of such things dreams were made of.

Rusty

I don't remember the title, unfortunately. I checked it out of the public library. I remember following plans to build a locomotive sanding tower out of bits of wood and a toilet paper tube. Still have that sanding tower, too

Yates and Suttons books were my first love.  I checked them out of my school library so often that the librarian eventually just gave them to me.  I did not discover the Lionel/Bantam book until I was in my 30s and in of all places in Australia!  Since then I have added many, many railroad books to my collection.

Rolland

Marshall McClintock's book came packed with some American Flyer trains in the 50s.

At the time I could only dream of what I saw in that book.

An HO Railroad that Grows by Linn Wescott. It was a great concept to build your railroad in stages. 

Still enjoy reading it. 

Linn Westcott's HO Railroad That Grows along with the Boy Scout merit badge Railroading book already listed. 

Tom 

When I was a kid we had a set of 1938 World Book Encyclopedias. We still have this set, it is still fun to look up topics and read about the world back in 1938.  There are a lot of related topics, this is a small sample; Air Brakes, Common Carrier, Diesel Engine, Electric Railway, Interstate Commerce Act, Locomotive, Steam Power, Monorail Railroad and Transportation.

The Cover

Title Page

12 Pages under RAILROAD

Gary

'HO Railroad That Grows', softcover, also at the same time, I think it was called '6 Railroads You Can Build' or something like that, memory fails me!

I hat to admit it, but....

The small layout books by Atlas for N and HO layouts. A lot of good information there, I read them over and over, I still have them.

J Daddy posted:

I use to fall asleep with this book in my hands every night as a kid.

Hi J Daddy  •  This book is on sale, check it out.........

Gary

rrvics posted:

Not counting Lionel catalogs, my first model railroad book was Model Railroading by Lionel and published by Bantam Books. My father bought me the book in the mid 50's. I still have that book. 

Hey that was my first book and my dad bought it for me also.  It was in the early 50's and I still have mine somewhere packed away.  I'm sure it's the same book by Bantam Books.

scale rail posted:

My first one was the one on the left in Scale Rail's photo.  My dad bought it for me at the drug store when I was about 8 or 9.

When I lived in another town in Jersey as a Kindergartener, my local library had this book by Tom McComas in it (along with the first 4 Toy Train Revue VHS').

Would you believe I wanted every train photographed in said book?

Not much by today's standards but I was pretty impressed at the time.