Industry News...
Book Review: How to Design and Build Your Garden Railroad
By Jon DeKeles
Jul 1, 2006, 17:28

If you have read Garden Railways magazine for any length of time you are already familiar with Jack Verducci and his skill as a designer and builder of Garden Railroads. He has had a wonderful series of articles in the magazine helping people learn how to create and improve their Garden Railway. I have known Jack for several years now and have had the privilege of going to his home and seeing his railroad in full operation. There really is nothing like it.

If you are a member of LSOL.com you can see pictures of Jack and his railroad from the last West Coast Regional Meet -- HERE. We will get to go there again this year at the National Convention in the San Jose/Santa Clara area and will post more pictures this week. Just a few weeks ago at the Big Train Show in Long Beach I got one of the first copies of his new book, “How to Design and Build Your Garden Railroad” and had a chance to speak in person with the author Jack Verducci and editor Rene Schweitzer about the book. Both Jack and Rene were very pleased with how the book turned out. It is not an easy task to take separately written articles and weave them together into a tapestry of information that will be helpful to the beginner as well as the experienced user. Rene said that they took extra steps to make sure the information was updated and current. They did not just cut and paste the information from the magazine into the book. This is not intended to be a step-by-step book that covers every aspect of Garden Railroads. It is, however, a very helpful guide to the different areas that compose a Garden Railroad. It provides good detail without getting caught in the step-by-step tedium that comes from some authors. Chapters: 1) Choosing the perfect place 2) Start working 3) Groundwork 4) Laying track 5) Dealing with dilemmas 6) Adding drama 7) Structures 8) Water feature design 9) Maintaining your railway. A) Suppliers If you have followed Jack’s articles in Garden Railways magazine you could be a nit-picker and be disappointed that some of the articles did not make the cut into the book. Based on my discussion with Rene, the editor of the book, I think that the selections of articles in the book were appropriate. It was not an easy decision on what would make it and what would not. After talking to Rene I was able to understand their editorial decisions on the way in which the book was created. With the wealth of information Jack has produced and will continue to produce there could easily be a “Part II” someday. If our market continues to grow it would be great to see an individual book, from Jack, on each of these topics in this book covered in detail. One thing I like about this book is that it is “All Jack.” This is how “he” does Garden Railroads. You are not getting several opinions from different people and then trying to figure out which one you think is right. If you were lucky enough to go out to dinner with Mr. Verducci the last thing you would want to know is how other people build their Garden Railroads. You would want to glean every ounce of knowledge from him, about his ideas and personal experiences. So, for less than $15.00, at Amazon, you are getting the expertise of one of the most sought after railroad designers in the country. You are getting his years of experience condensed into a 96 page book with over 185 pictures and diagrams. You are getting Jack’s approach to building a Garden Railroad. It looks to me, based on seeing Jack’s railroad in person and several of the railroads he has designed and installed, his way is something that we can all learn from. Interesting Topics: Creating a three-dimensional railroad on a flat site. Climbing loops & switchbacks. Tips on painting backdrops. Miniature landscaping with natural materials. Landscaping with model structures. Designing water features. I have been doing Garden Railroading for over 12 years. This year, because we moved, I get to start all over. Although not a beginner in this hobby, I know that I will use many of the ideas that are found in this book to help build the new B.I.G.D. railroad. It will useful to have them in one book and not have to search through my back issues to find articles that have not been updated as these have. The book is on its way to Amazon and should ship very soon. You can order yours using the link below and get it when it first arrives. This is the best price we could find and even lower than if we tried to sell it direct. We have had very good customer service with Amazon and you can get free shipping if you order more than one book. © Copyright 1995-2008 (LSOL.com) Large Scale Online