What do you read?

iis612

Member
Since I got hurt (as an aside, I know that I keep mentioning that. I am not whining about it, but rather dwelling on it as it has come to infiltrate every aspect of my life) I have re-read every one of my MRR mags, and all of my MR related books at least once.
Aside from MRR, what do you read (relating to our hobby)? Be it periodicals, books, reference, catalogs, etc. etc.
I am hoping to find more reading materials.

Thanks,
Matt
 

Nomad

Active Member
Matt, I have to sit a lot also, but I don,t have much in the way of mrr reading material, so I spend my sitting time cruising the net. It is amazing the amount of information that is available. Want to look at trackplans? There's dozens to look at. Need to know how to build scenery? It,s all there. Wire in a dcc decoder. All you have to do is google. Or just look at home or club layouts.

Loren
 

FiatFan

Member
I read MR and Model Railroad news. I also like to read science fiction and mystery books. One of my favorite spy books was the Matt Helm series written by Donald Hamilton. Also like to read computer magazines to keep up with what's going on. Also starting to read more about photography so as to improve my picture taking ability.

Tom
 

MasonJar

It's not rocket surgery
I am currently reading/browsing Ian Wilson's Steam Over Palmerston and I also like to read/collect other railroad related books as reference for modelling. I have a number of Canadian National publications as well as the 1931 Royal Commission report on the State of Railways and Transportation in the Dominion. Despite the name, it is a facinating document.

So try your local historical society, or some "prototype" documentation as a change from the modelling mags. Sometimes it helps to mix things up... ;)

Andrew
 

nkp174

Active Member
My favorite hobby related reading list:
The Mineral Belt (a 3 vol set focused on the C&S/DSP&P/CC family)
Mac Poor's Denver, South Park, & Pacific (classic)
Silver San Juan (Ferrell's RGS book...classic)
White's the American Railroad Passenger Car
Nickel Plate Passenger Service Vol. 1...the post-war years
Not quite reading, but...Color Photography for the Nickel Plate Road (V1-3)
The Pictorial Supplement for Mac Poor's book
Ron Rudnick's DSP&P, CC, and DL&G/UPD&G modeling guides with plans for all of their freight cars

various others that I've loved in the past:
The Colorado Rail Annuals
Lucius Beebe's books
The Pullman Palace Car book
Books covering private cars
Books covering local railroad items...the Barney & Smith Car Co, the DT&I, etc...
Streamlined passenger train books
The Lima Locomotive Works (a book)
The Nickel Plate Story
Ok, I'm done...I could go on for a while...
 

60103

Pooh Bah
My most re-read railroad book is LTC Rolt's Red for Danger. This is an account of 150 years of British railway accidents, their causes and the lessons leaned or ignored. Wonderful storytelling as incident piles on incident until the disaster becomes inevitable.
I have MR and RMC and Trains going back to about 1969 (well 1959, but that's in rough shape) plus 4 or 5 Brit magazines a month, a complete set of Canadian Railway Modeller. My railway is held down by the library, but it's not all railway books.
My favourite magazine is British Railways Illustrated; wonderful coverage of the days when the whole world was still black and white and shades of grey.
 

myltlpny

Member
I have several books about passenger travel in the first half of the 20th century, particularly about the NYC, but there are similar books for almost any railroad. A more generic book that's a pretty hefty read is The trains We Rode By Lucius Beebe & Charles Clegg. It's a great read, with many interesting photos to go along with it.
There are also many novels set either in railroads, or where railroads are featured prominently, like Murder on the Orient Express.
 

Jim Krause

Active Member
In no particular order--- Model Railroader, Railroad Model Craftsman, Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette, Northern Pacific Historical Society Magazine, Fine Scale Railroader (no longer published except for an annual), Trains Magazine.
Books---- Mostly non fiction. Try The White Cascade by Gary Krist, The Milwaukee Road Revisited by Stanley Johnson. Since I'm a retired avaition person, I also do a lot of reading on that subject.
 

myltlpny

Member
In no particular order--- Model Railroader, Railroad Model Craftsman, Narrow Gauge and Short Line Gazette, Northern Pacific Historical Society Magazine, Fine Scale Railroader (no longer published except for an annual), Trains Magazine.
Books---- Mostly non fiction. Try The White Cascade by Gary Krist, The Milwaukee Road Revisited by Stanley Johnson. Since I'm a retired avaition person, I also do a lot of reading on that subject.
I hadn't realized Fine Scale Railroader went out of print, although now that you mention it, I haven't seen it in a while.
 

tetters

Rail Spiking Fool!
What do I read? Anything about trains or model railroading I read on line or in magazines.

I used to read a lot of sci fi and fantasy. Now I mostly read non fiction. For some reason I get a kick out of learning about the real world when I sit down to read books. Mostly books about different fields of science, research and the cosmos.

I use the library a lot too. I only purchase a book these days if I really like it or want to support the author for their effort.
 

CCT70

Member
Maxim Magazine. Cracks me up some of the stuff the editors come up with. Some beautiful women too.

Other than that, I read a lot of techincal stuff for work, yes guys, railroad reading CAN be VERY boring. Especially the CFR49. I'll also pick up TIME and read it on an airplane or something, and ANYTHING to do with NHRA Drag Racing. I'm hard pressed to find a copy of Model Railroader here in town unless I go to Harding Way book store which is way too close to the gun store for me (as an Old West reenactor, I end up spending WAY too much money everytime I set foot in the gun store) or a trip to Lodi (ditto on the train store), so I usually read my brothers if his is sitting around the office, but then I don't get any work done.

Tom
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
Lots of magazines. In addition to MR, I read Canadian Railway Modeller, a small but very useful magazine especially for the Canadian scene.

For British trains, I like Heritage Railway and Steam Railways -- these follow the current steam preservation movement's news in the UK.

I used to read a few British modelling magazines but these have all been upstaged by the new Hornby Magazine (HM). I can't say enough good things about HM, it's just perfect for me. :mrgreen: It focuses on 00 scale (similar to our HO) and on the steam era as well. It's full of excellent ideas and really inspires me to try out new things on my layout. A North American HO modeller could still get many good ideas from it and adapt them to the North American scene. It's a bit focussed on the beginner (but is not dumbed-down at all!) and so it has some basic "starting-out" articles. There are several other good British mags out there but I think I'll mainly get this one for now! It's now monthly and is so full of good content, I struggle to get through it all.

I also like to read and study railway historical books -- especially railway photo albums from the 1950s and '60s. Then I use these ideas for my layout. There's a really good North American series (many Canadian ones are by Kevin J. Holland) that is an excellent resource.

Cheers,
Rob
 

nkp174

Active Member
Rob...
Heritage Railway is top notch! Sadly, Steam Railway has dropped its US circulation.

Kevin J. Holland is great. My NKP passenger book is by him...Folio sheets for nearly all of their coaches and all sorts of other goodies.
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
I've been trying to add fictional and nonfictional accounts of railroading to my reading list. I haven't been as successful at the library as I'd hoped. I did find a selection of short stories from the Depression era that was interesting. I heard about a novel called "Foamers" that I believe is a mystery set with railroading in the background, and I have read a facinating yet disturbing book called "The Drift" about a guy riding the rails after he has a psychotic breakdown. That one is gritty but it painted a pretty satisfying portrait of the modern day railrider.

Anyone have suggestions for books written by railroaders?
Ralph
 

RobertInOntario

Active Member
Rob...
Heritage Railway is top notch! Sadly, Steam Railway has dropped its US circulation.

Kevin J. Holland is great. My NKP passenger book is by him...Folio sheets for nearly all of their coaches and all sorts of other goodies.

Yes, I try to get Heritage Railway when I can. I'm sorry to hear that Steam Railway has stopped its US circulation. Fortunately, my family & I are planning to spend Christmas in my wife's native England :mrgreen:, so I hope to pick up lots of UK mags on our trip!

I also agree about the Kevin J. Holland books -- they're a wealth of information. I spend hours studying the pics and then try to translate that to my layout. I also try to obtain similar British books as well.

Rob
 
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