I have a friend (British, like me) who has basically a OO British outline trainset - pretty much an oval with a couple of sidings. He is now talking about getting into N gauge, so he could have a bit more layout. So last weekend I took him to our local NMRA meet to see some actual N (which just happened to be American ) and talk to 'N' people (I'm HO though I did British N some years back). He was impressed by a Kato SD90 (who wouldn't be ) and is now thinking of going American. But his problem is that he knows nothing about US railroading and doesn't want to make spectacularly silly purchases. So, what I want to find is a sort of "Guide to the history and equipment of US railroading" to jump-start his knowledge. Of course it needs to be in one small paperback volume, fully illustrated and priced really low . Seriously though, has anyone any suggestions for a book (or even video) that could help this guy - don't want to let a potential convert slip through the net.
Railroading on this side of the pond started with the Delaware and Hudson (TRUE) with the first engine being the Stourbridge Lion. There are a great deal of reference material information that can be found on my website. From there you can find more D&H sites to branch out for more information. Welcome abord my train.
I think a good beginner's book is this one: Guide to North American N Scale However, this book is now somewhat dated when it comes to products. If he wants to know what products are out there and what's available, a visit to Walthers site would be good. Eric
