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Kalmbach Library

Library Publications

The Library has produced several reprints and original works which are available for sale. NMRA members receive discount prices. The prices listed do not include postage, so please contact us for a grand total prior to mailing any check or money order. You may also order through the NMRA Online Store.

Originals and Reprints

The History, Making and Modeling of Steel

Sold Out.
9 x 12", 165 pages, hardbound. The NMRA® is meeting the strong resurgence in heavy industrial model railroading by giving you a second chance! William K. Walthers has granted the NMRA® permission to reprint Dean Freytag's classic book: The History, Making and Modeling of Steel. Out of print for a few years, only 750 identical reprints of the original 165-pg. hardcover will be produced. However, these second editions feature a brand new foreword by Dean himself, one of the foremost steel mill modelers in the country. Don't miss your second chance at a modeling classic. Buy The History, Making and Modeling of Steel from the NMRA® today!

The Postwar Freight Car Fleet (2nd printing)

$49.95 members, $64.95 non-members.
8½ x 11", 240 pages, hardbound. Now in its Second Printing, this book features over 350 B/W photos from the library's Robert W. Charles Collection, covering built dates from 1898 to 1947 (most photos taken in 1947). The book contains eight chapters, each dealing with a different car type (box, reefer, stock, hopper, covered hopper, gondola, flat, and tank car). Each chapter begins with background, statistical and other pertinent information, in addition to the data in each photo's caption. Written by freight car historians Larry Klein and Ted Culotta, with a foreword by Tony Thompson.

Modeling Open Loads

Sold Out.
8½ x 11", 110 pages, softbound. This book is a compilation of the popular, long running series from the NMRA Bulletin, now Scale Rails. Unusual freight car loads are among the most eye-cathcing subjects of any model railroad. The book feature many great ideas for your flat cars, gondolas and hopper cars, a photo of prototype loads and reprints of the American Association of Railroads rules and diagrams for loading and blocking open top cars.

Railway Track and Maintenance

Sold Out.
6 x 9", 512 pages, hardbound. The NMRA has reprinted the 1926 edition of E.E. Russell Tratman's milestone book on railroad maintenance. Originally published in 1897 and designed for railroad engineers, this extraordinary vintage book was rewritten several times as U.S. rail systems were updated. The last edition in 1926 includes detailed information on track design and maintenance, equipment, material, appliances, and methods used by individual railways.

Freight Terminals and Trains

$19.95 members (was $39.95), $26.95 non-members (was $44.95).
6 x 9", 567 pages, softbound. Originally written in 1925 by John Droege, this reprint of Freight Terminals and Trains brings an understanding for why yards and terminals were designed a certain way and provides many prototype examples. This edition features a special introduction by John H. Armstrong, and contains many operating ideas, structures and layout designs which can be adapted for model railroad layouts.

Steam on the Feather River Route

$32.95 members (was $49.95), $59.95 non-members.
11 x 8½", 192 pages, hardbound. This is a hardcover edition of rare and unique photographs from the Kalmbach Memorial Library's Harold Miller Collection featuring Western Pacific steam in its prime. This volume features over 300 photographs and a complete roster of Western Pacific steam power.

Porter Steam Locomotives: Light and Heavy

$14.95 members, $14.95 non-members.
8½ x 11", 301 pages, softbound. This book contains an historical introduction surveying the company history and its locomotives, over 25 photographs from the John Kentlein collection of the Kalmbach Memorial Library, a reprint of the Thirteenth Edition Porter catalog containing technical information and photographs of over 695 locomotives, and a roster of the Porter locomotives.

1943 Official Railway Equipment Register

Softbound: $26.95 members, $36.95 non-members.
Hardbound: $34.95 members, $44.95 non-members
8½ x 11", 1086 pages. These reprints from the originals in the Library's collection provide listings of freight cars for each railroad during that year. The size of a telephone book, these volumes provide a wealth of information. Some railroads also provided maps of the areas the road traveled.

1953 Official Railway Equipment Register

Softbound: $26.95 members, $36.95 non-members.
Hardbound: Sold Out
8½ x 11", 826 pages.These reprints from the originals in the Library's collection provide listings of freight cars for each railroad during that year. The size of a telephone book, these volumes provide a wealth of information. Some railroads also provided maps of the areas the road traveled.