When setting out to build an HO-scale layout, a modeler typically chooses one of two paths: 1) create a fictional railroad or 2) model a “real,” or prototype, railroad. Given the range of products available today, the second path is the most common, but there are a number of considerations the modeler must take into account. This how-to book takes readers through all of these: 1) choosing the railroad that fits your time and your interests; 2) choosing an era to model that suits you and your layout, and how to model three or more eras on the same layout; 3) how to best use space; 4) determining the geography and infrastructure that define the railroad and era; 5) choosing locomotives and rolling stock for your railroad and era; and 6) integrating passenger services. The book is illustrated throughout with magnificent macro photography that accentuates the level of realism achievable today.
