Mike:
Glad to here you're about to jump in; if the wife get's the basement cleared out and we get the basement mitigated for Radon(I always jump at the chance to bring this up on the forum when I get the chance--big issue here in Ohio)I hope to be joining you soon.
The two Kalmbach books are: Basic Model Railroad Benchwork, by Jeff Wilson, and How to Build Model Railroad Benchwork by Linn Wescott. If you have some experience in doing benchwork, the Wilson book might be more basic than you need; since I'm a newbie, I found both valuable--but Wescott's book is a must, going into great detail about a variety of techniques(L-girder, open grid, etc.).
The Kalmaback trackwork book I have is Basic Trackwork for Model Railroaders by Jeff Wilson. I think you'll find it quite basic, but still some helpful hints--I 've found threads over on the layout building forum more helpful in several areas in track laying.
You might try Amazon as you might get a better price on some of these, though Kalmach has free shipping going on for their books at the moment.
Jim
Kalmbach has a good book on the topic that's been around awhile.
My thoughts on the topic: I've moved numerous times and therefore have had to dismantle (destroy is more like it) several layouts. I do not want to wreck any more layouts again. Now I'm building a sectional layout similar to "domino" construction for benchwork. If I have to move again, I can cut tracks, wires, and scenery at the joint of each section. Then I can move the sections and repair the joints. My track plan is not true "domino", and I would have to keep the sections in the same sequence.
GARRY
HEARTLAND DIVISION, CB&Q RR
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