Trackside Tips Book Launch!

Break open the bubbles! It's time to launch my new book Model Railway Trackside Tips.

September has been a great month! Some long awaited models have arrived, and now I'm proud to say that my second model railway book, Model Railway Trackside Tips, is finally available both instore and online. Between the covers there are 72 pages crammed with helpful chapters to help you advance beyond basic track laying skills, and yield a rewarding layout that both looks good and runs great.

Out now for September 2022!

Trackwork is the one area I have improved the most over the 40 plus years I have been involved in the hobby. Most of the things I learnt along the way were the results of my own mistakes, before having to seek advice, rip up track and start over. I wrote this book with the mindset of wanting to send it back in time to give to my twenty-year-old self! There's a lifetime of experience laid-out inside, with more than 70 colour photos and enough informative text that will keep you coming back for a second, third and fourth read-through.

I've always championed the saying that track is a model too! Good track starts at the bottom, which is where many people overlook things such as surface preparation and adding elevation, two areas that are impossible to address once you have laid track. Radius, diameter and clearance are also areas where modellers can easily get confused, so after showing you the basics involved to get your track laid correctly and running reliably, inside you'll find that half the book is devoted to making your model railway track resemble the real thing. We're talking grime, brake dust and oil spills on the way to ballasting like a pro! There's also plenty of short cuts for adding trackside details such as lineside fences, abandoned sidings and modelling rails that are set in concrete, none of which are going to break your bank account!

I held back on announcing the release of this book until all of the hobby shops I had contacted had received their copies from the publisher. The official launch has also been timed to coincide with Will James' monthly instalment of Australian Model Railway News which will be aired on YouTube at the end of September, so watch out for a free giveaway in the coming week!

This book also marked my return to full-time writing, something which I haven't been in the position to do since my last novel was released back in 2011. Now unless you're an author on the scale of James Patterson, these windows only open for a short period due to a combination of timing, circumstances and needing the necessary finances to fall back on while you pursue a string of projects with the hope of recouping the money once the book is released. All of my past 12 railway related books have been produced while also running a small business over the past 7 years. It required the wise use of all of my spare time combined with rationing sleep, as there were simply not enough hours in the day to simultaneously pursue two careers. If you think that sounds like a hard task, as a full-time writer, I'm writing this blog post after spending the past 96 hours or 4 days solid, overseeing another new book from blank page to its place in the queue with the publisher. I think I've caught 20 hours sleep over the past 5 days, and that has just been from editing, laying out the book and designing the covers. Not the actual process of writing which was composed previously over a period of years.

Writing yields a terrible return on the cost-per-hour that you dedicate to it. But as someone who has been writing professionally for the past 15 years, it's been the longest position I've ever held! I have definite plans to produce another 2 Philden Model Railway Presents books, but I've also set myself the deadline of this Christmas to gauge their profitability, release some other new material plus return all 4 of my novels to print. Model Railway Trackside Tips marks my 18th book release across multiple genres, and I'll also have news of a 19th book release, (non-train related), over on my Phillip Overton blog in the coming month. The best I can ask for in people's support, is to consider buying a copy and also supporting the stores who in turn have supported me.

So I'm going to stop now, catch some extra sleep tonight, and celebrate the launch of Trackside Tips tomorrow by popping the bottle at the top of this post with my wife Denise, and maybe running some trains over the weekend! Hopefully I'll have another update on all things Philden at the end of next month. I'm thoroughly enjoying being this busy, combining my two passions and doing what I love most!

Model Railway Trackside Tips is available now both instore and online, through Australian Modeller in Sydney, Train World in Melbourne and instore at Modeller's Warehouse in Brisbane, Apple's iBooks Store plus direct from the publisher at Blurb.

Available now from