|
Complete Handbook Of Model Railroading Buehner Soft Cover
The Complete Handbook Of Model Railroading By Jim Buehner Soft Cover FIrst Edition, Second printing 1976, 1975 1976 Everything you need to know including planning, construction, operation, maintenance, repair, landscaping, electrical / electronic wiring, building from kits or from scratch plus a dictionary of railroad terms.
Whatever new legends may appear on the American scene none will diminish the lore of railroading. The adventures of railroad men from magnate to section hand spans our history and our continent from pre-Civil War days through Indian wars, from Baltimore to San Francisco and all points to the north and south and in between, enduring down to the present day despite development of automobiles, airplanes, and spacecraft. This fact is confirmed by the increasing number of model railroaders among young and old from all occupations. They are students, servicemen, technicians, accountants, doctors, teachers, supermarket clerks, trainmen, cooks, salesmen, and a hundred or so other things. Their common denominator is their fascination with building and operating realistic layouts.
Miniaturization of railroad equipment is almost as old as railroading itself, although initially it wasn't intended to be a hobby. More by coincidence than by intent, Matthias Baldwin, founder of the Baldwin Locomotive Works, became the father of model railroading when, in the 1830s he built a small steam locomotive capable of hauling six or eight passengers around a circle of track laid on the floor of his plant. That model gave birth to the 5-ton Old Ironsides, which was bought by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
Baldwin built more miniatures smaller than the first. They were an economical way to prove his designs before going into production on full-sized locomotives. Then they became sales aids, and before many years, predictably began to appear as show pieces in offices of railroad executives. For model railroading as we know it, it was to be a long infancy. since only the wealthy could afford a live steam miniature, which had to be built by watchmakers and expert machinists, so fine were the tolerances of their working parts.
As the railroads expanded through tunnels blasted out of the solid rock of mountains and bluffs and spanned broad rivers and deep gorges reaching out to newborn towns across the land, the stories of the men who built them and of the men who ran the trains spread with them. At the turn of the century toy manufacturers decided to cash in on the legends. Their first efforts for the mass market were spring-driven locomotives stamped out of thin sheet metal, and sometimes solid wood cars. Some were fairly good replicas of prototypes, others barely recognizable by their shapes and by the fact that they ran on rails. But they were a start and they sold well.
Then in the 1930s, with the advent of miniature motors which could be mass produced and the general availability of electric power model railroading began gaining momentum. Toy manufacturers improved both the quality and scale detail of their products, and model manufacturers specializing in fine craftsmanship combined with economical production methods entered the field.
Today model railroaders are unhampered by the restrictions which plagued their counterparts of a half-century ago whose desire to share in the railroad adventure could only be satisfied by trying to hire out on the real thing and sitting for years on the extra board before holding a regular job. or by laboriously trying to build from scratch, oftentimes with materials and machine tools beyond the reach of their pocketbooks or just not available at all. In our time, in the United States alone, there are over a quarter of a million people seriously involved in the hobby and at least another half-million whose enthusiasm is great enough to rate them as model railroaders on an occasional basis.
As technology advanced and specialization increased in other fields, they did also in model railroading. Many model railroaders become specialists without losing their overall enjoyment of the hobby. Some are period buffs, building layouts and running equipment of a particular moment of history: others confine their operations to some specific transportation need like bringing ore down from a mine or hauling logs out of the forests. Many are content to build locomotives and cars with a master's touch, perhaps never building a layout for large-scale operations but just enough to bring out the beauty of their creations. Some find electronic adaptations an exciting challenge and have made many contributions which improve speed control, signal synchronization, and other devices for the benefit of all. There are scenery specialists who delight in building a short length of track then add such details of structure vegetation and other elements as to make them museum pieces.
To serve the desires of all the different specialists or even of an old timer in model railroading would require a library full of books on subjects from architecture to zoology. To draw a few sketches and add a few pictures and words saying "This is the way to build a railroad" would be about as informative as an instruction booklet for a train set. This book is intended to be somewhere between those extremes: a basic guide to good model railroading offering some of the tried and proved layout and construction methods and operational procedures together with parallels from prototype railroads and enough of the flavor of both to make the hobby more enjoyable for those who see the adventure in it.
All pictures are of the actual item. If this is a railroad item, this material is obsolete and no longer in use by the railroad. Please email with questions. Publishers of Train Shed Cyclopedias and Stephans Railroad Directories. Large inventory of railroad books and magazines. Thank you for buying from us.
Shipping charges
Postage rates quoted are for shipments to the US only. Ebay Global shipping charges are shown. These items are shipped to Kentucky and then ebay ships them to you. Ebay collects the shipping and customs / import fees. For direct postage rates to these countries, send me an email. Shipping to Canada and other countries varies by weight.
Payment options
Payment must be received within 10 days. Paypal is accepted.
Terms and conditions
All sales are final. Returns accepted if item is not as described. Contact us first. No warranty is stated or implied. Please e-mail us with any questions before bidding.
Thanks for looking at our items.
| 
