If this book has been the subject of a recent post then - my appologies please for re-hashing it again.
I’ve seen this book on eBay and it looks pretty interesting expecially since it covers post war up until the mid- fifties - I do enjoy model railroads set in this era. At $69.95 it’s not cheap and neither will be the shipping. I’ve never heard of Howard Zane and I’m wondering if his work is influencial - in a good way or not.
Before I wrestle with the death addar coiled up at the bottom my pocket for the cash I need to buy this book I thought it prudent to ask for some opintions here on this forum to see if I can get from you guys an idea as to whether or not this book is full of the stuff most of us like to read about or is it a coffee table book for grand- dad on his birthday with just more of the same that we’ve all seen else where in the past.
Some comments and objective opinions would be helpful.
Bruce - I know Howard personally and I can assure you his work is first rate and the Piermont Division is simply overwhelming in its scope. The book is very nice ( I have a copy myself) and worth the cost. There is a website http://www.zanestrains.com/ about the book, videos and the railroad. Explore that before deciding for yourself, but I think you will be pleased. Some of the techniques Howard talks about in the book are interesting and I’ve adopted the glue shell scenery technique myself - easy, cheap and very forgiving.
I have this book and it’s quite a good read with plenty of pictures of Howard’s work. Check out his website he actually has a preview of his book and for the same price you can buy directly from the author.
Also if you’re located near the Baltimore MD area you can purchase the book directly from him if you ever visit the Great Scale Model Train Show in Timonium.
I recently bought the book and enjoyed it thoroughly. Howard seems like a great guy with a very special perspective on trains and life. My only disappointment with the book was the photo reproduction. It really needed a better quality coated paper to enhance the photo contrast. Other than that I thought it was very worthwhile especially at the $55 delivered price from Ron’s Books.
Also knowing Howard personally I found the book that much more enjoyable and absolutely worth every single penny. I have read the book from cover to cover at least five times. For me this is a milestone ebeing I usually don’t make it half way through the Sunday paper without nodding off. It’s a book not only about the life of a model railroader but for model railroaders. He puts things in a more down to earth perspective which is indicitive of his personality. I doubt there is not one person who has met him that won’t agree that they don’t come more down to earth then Howard Zane.
On a little different note I would employ you to go to his website www.zanestrains.com and purchase your copy directly from him where as you can get it autographed rather then by purchasing it from soem fortune hunter on ebay.
I have to agree with everyone else. I thoroughly enjoyed Howard’s Book. I can’t remember when a book had me laughing out loud so many times. That’s because Howard is a great writer and storyteller, not to mention a fabulous modeler. I can’t imagine anyone not finding something to like about this book.
Thanks for the fine comments about my book. Some background behind the production if anyone is interested…
In 2002 I married a full college professor who has written quite a bit besides having to “publish or perish” so often. Being retired since 1987, and just playing with my toy trains on a daily basis, I felt I had to do something a bit more intellectual just to keep up with Sandy. I was beginning to think she was seeing me as “unliterate”., and when I came up from the basement to relax on the divan, I was lovingly called…“Howard the Horizontal”. So a book on my model railroad seemed like a natural. Once I got into it, I found that I loved writing and especially teaching myself to type again. My good friend and fellow modeler (now in On30) Geren Mortensen is a top notch photographer, so I talked him in to taking the photos. He did a magnificent job as I’m sure those who have read or seen the book will agree.
My wife Sandy did the editing and a fellow in my old timey music band, Fred Cherney designed the book. Fred is a first rate graphic artist and quite fluent in modern high tech design and computer graphics. We were going to have it printed stateside, but the printer and his business went south just before I was about to write the check. As you can guess, I self published. I did submit my original copy to several publishers…all wanting to not only redesign the book, but me as well.
Originally I wanted to print 2000 books and that was agreed upon by the stateside printer, After he shut his doors we found a printer in China (yeah…I know…balance of trade and such!) who offered to print 5000 copies for less than I was going to pay the original printer. Seemed like a great deal and it was…but how do you sell 5000 books to very small market? Actually 4200 + have already been sold to date.
Your number of copies sold is off by one because I just bought a copy. [swg] I also bought and Allan Keller video to go with it.
I can’t wait to get it. I’ve seen the book advertised but I never got a chnace to order until now. It’s going to go next to my copy of Model Railorading with John Allen when I am done reading it.
I know something about self publishing as I’ve dabled in it myself.
What a great book! I haven’t finished it yet but all I can say is WOW!!!
I had been away from model railroading for 21 years until I came back in June 2008 and what a change. I can’t believe all this new stuff now makes model railroading so much more fun. Now I’ve got your book and I am bit overwhelmed but I am not intimidated one bit.
Well, maybe just a bit since my layout is under construction and after 10 months I still don’t have any track down. I model in N-Scale and once my son’s wedding is over I am going to go to work on it as much as possible.
I do have some comments on some of the stuff you wrote in your book but I’ll send them to you by private message. I love your sense of humor and I know exactly where it came from: John Allen. I see alot of his influence in your work.
Well, the smart-alec answer is to read the book, but I suspect your wanting to know is who is he on a scale of the “MRR Greats”, and a summary of what the book says,yes no?
The other smart-alec is he’s the guy who posted a couple above you.