If you have been involved in the model railroading scene in the past few years, the name Iain Rice should sound familiar. He has authored several articles in Model Railroader magazine, as well as written a previous book, Small, Smart and Practical Track Plans. A native of the United Kingdom, Rice is well known for his many plans and ideas that revolve around small size model railroads. Some of his plans use space-saving concepts, which were developed by modelers who reside in England, where layout space is at a premium. In his new book Mid-sized and Manageable Track Plans, he has shied away from using such concepts, and has stuck with what some call "conventional layout design," thus casting off the stigma that he can only design layouts based on British space-saving ideas.

Rice's wide-ranging interest in model railroads has resulted in a succession of layouts covering British, European, and American themes. He has worked for many years in the British model railroad hobby being responsible for the design and mastering of many kits as well as contributing widely to the hobby press. He has authored eleven modeling handbooks in the United Kingdom and two for the United States. Now 55, Rice is busy writing more books as well as designing and building model railroads professionally. He is best known as a pioneer of fine scale modeling in 4mm and HO scales, and for developing a number of ideas relating to small layout design.

The book itself is presented in three sections, a preface, three chapters long, Section One, which covers smaller mid-sized schemes, and Section Two, which covers larger mid-sized schemes. The preface covers many topics such as what can be achieved in model railroading, and the hurdles that you may encounter along the way. There is also a discussion of what is considered "Mid-sized," and opinions of several different prominent modelers are offered.

Probably the most helpful part of the preface is chapter three: "Planning and Managing a Layout Project." This isn't a few paragraphs of the "basic tools you need," commonly found in several earlier Kalmbach books. It is an exploration into what you should expect building a model railroad of this scope will involve, and discusses ideas about time, organization, and project management as well as a segment on how to budget your money.

Sections One and Two are centered around layout design, much like you would get in the Kalmbach annual issue of Model Railroad Planning. Various layout design elements and practices are discussed, and the fourteen layouts offered to the reader are about as diverse as can be. Though some layouts are centered around a prototype like in chapter six, "The Convoluted Coal-hauler" (modeling the Montour Railroad), many are centered more around a specific theme than a prototype like chapter thirteen, "Coventry, Alabama: A Southern Meeting Place" (capturing the flavor of railroading deep in the South). The periods of modeling are also widely varied, covering early steam to modern unit trains.

On the surface, Rice doesn’t write anything different regarding design than most other people. The book reads like an issue of Model Railroad Planning, less all the advertisements, and editorials. Most of the chapters on the layout ideas themselves are about four pages.

Looking deeper, Rice's style of writing has always included vague descriptions of ways to help develop the new layout. He makes suggestions, but he never goes into an exact list of items needed to model the layout to the exact design given. This is nothing new from Rice. Looking clearly at his drawings, you can tell that a tower is a tower and that stations are stations. It is assumed the modeler either knows of a kit or two for each item needed or will scratchbuild the item on his own.

Someone compared Rice to legendary layout designer John Armstrong. While both are enthusiastic writers, Rice's style of writing is different than Armstrong's. I don't recall Armstrong making short little jokes about other hobbyists in his books. "Producing enough structures to make a small township ring true is one thing; building a complete city is quite another (unless your name is Selios, apparently)". This reference to George Selios and the famed cityscapes on his Franklin & South Manchester made me chuckle.

Also, Rice isn't a fan of large basement empires like John Armstrong was. He stresses this opinion in the segment "Milestone or Millstone" in Chapter 1 of the book (which starts the preface) "Achievability in Model Railroading". He explains how the great pioneering layouts of the late 1970s and 1980s have all but gone the way of the dinosaur. Rice wants you to understand that happiness does not always come from a large system that not only requires years to complete, but can also be a huge drain on the wallet.

Much of Rice's writing reflects his visits to America. He doesn’t go into any detail about the frequency of his visits, though he does make mention of his railfanning experience and how it shaped the idea and design for Chapter 12, "Ayer Junction, Mass.". About half the article is about railfanning the area, and how much he liked it. He goes into a bit of play by play of the day's events. The other half is about mixed between his "sightings" and how to model the area discussed.

The prototype photos are ones I haven't seen before. Some of the model photos I instantly recognized as "repeats" from other articles, either in MR, or from previous books, while other photos from this genre are photos taken during a layout visit for an article, but haven't been published before.

The layouts themselves are the classic Iain Rice style watercolor drawings, while other diagrams depicting prototype trackage alignment for instance, are of the computer-generated origin.

Overall the book has been produced very well, with eighty-eight pages worth of content, many of which also have color photos and diagrams. It is definitely geared toward the modeler who has already built a couple small layouts, and it doesn't discuss topics such as benchwork and layout wiring. It is surely going to be a welcome addition to any model railroader's library.

About the Author
Joseph Fisher is 27 years old, and has been interested in railroads, both model and prototype since 5 years old when given a Tyco train set from his mother for his birthday. He has worked for a shortline railroad, volunteered some time on the Pine Creek Railroad in Allaire, NJ, and is currently a member of the Erie Lackawanna Historical Society.

Mid-sized & Manageable Track Plans By Iain Rice $18.95 list price Perfect-bound softcover; 88 pages ; Dimensions (in inches): 0.15 x 10.82 x 8.28 Kalmbach Publishing Co. 21027 Crossroads Circle P.O. Box 1612 Waukesha, WI 53187-1612 800-533-6644