How about...

Dear ???

You might want to check out the books by Lance Mindheim

https://www.amazon.com/Realistic-Track-Plans-Spare-Room/dp/1448612993/ref=pd_sim_14_3

https://kalmbachhobbystore.com/product/book/12827

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1449505643/ref=s9_simh_gw_g14_i1_r
(I know it says "Small" layouts, but the concepts are worth getting grounded in, and can be extrapolated to larger spaces once they're familiar)

and those by Iain Rice

https://www.amazon.com/Mid-Sized-Manageable-Track-Plans-Railroader/dp/0890246238/ref=sr_1_1

https://www.amazon.com/Small-Smart-Practical-Track-Railroading/dp/0890244162

Happy Modelling,
Aim to Improve,
Prof Klyzlr

Buy him Joe's Run Like A Dream series

I'd suggest buying him Joe Fugate's Run Like A Dream series.  If he's at the designing stage, the Trackwork book will help him avoid some problems as he completes his design and starts to build it.  The Rolling Stock book can be used to help him tune his cars while he's getting ready to build it, and the sneak peeks at the Loco book indicate it is going to be just as worthwhile.  I like the ebook format because I can bring it up on my tablet at the workbench or layout, and I can bring it up on my PC when I want to sit and re-read it.  Desired pages can be printed out as well for whenever a hardcopy is needed.  In my opinion, these three are the biggest bang for the buck currently available.

I've got many of the Kalmbach books, and they are all good for background.  Have Lance Mindheim's How to Design a Model Railroad and Tony Koester's Time-Saving Techniques for Building Model Railroads on order as we speak, and a lot of the Kalmback industry-specific books are great sources for information on such things as meat-packing, express shipments, mining, port operations, and such.  Very handy once a theme of the layout has been chosen (or in influencing such choices).

Janet N.

Books

Lance Mindheim’s “ How to Build a Switching Layout” covers everything from start to finish, including backdrops, roads, ballast, grass, etc.  It seems like a good approach for those of us with plywood pacific tendencies.

Lance Mindheim’s “ How to Design a Model Railroad” goes into more detail on the designing end of it.  How to get from what your goals are to a good build able plan that will achieve them.  It’s an excellent read

All great suggestions

And here is another, Realistic Model Railroad Building Blocks:  https://amzn.to/3m1jaGL

A few other suggestions

This one might be a little tongue-in-cheek but it's a brand new book:

Building the Right-Sized Layout by Thomas Klimoski.  I'm reading through it right now and it focuses on keeping a layout both manageable and properly investing time into the project.

Another suggestion from Iain Rice is Shelf Layouts for Model Railroads.  This one describes how to efficiently use space in a model train room. 24x36 is quite large but having a layout around the perimeter of the room typically uses space better than a massive table in the center.

A reprinted version of John Armstrong's Track Planning for Realistic Operation would be another good option, especially as it seems your brother is more of a traditionalist.  He may respect Armstrong's opinions.

Bernard Kempinski's Mid-Size Track Plans for Realistic Layouts would be especially relevant for your brother since it specializes in layouts from the size of a bedroom to about the size of a garage. The book introduces these track plans in several different scales in a variety of locals and eras.

Those are some of the Kalmbach offerings that haven't been suggested yet.

For MRH suggestions, I would give him a year's subscription to the Running extra version of MRH.  Over the course of a year, all of those downloadable issues will be worth way more to him than one book.

While not a book, MRH also has a bunch of videos for purchase and download.  Your brother might appreciate the layout tours videos.  The Building a Modular Home Layout with TOMA video would be of particular interest as it approaches the home train layout from a different perspective.  If your brother built his layout piece by piece instead of all at once he might see a lot more progress and get more satisfaction.

Books

Any of Lance Mindheim’s books as well as anything Tony Koester has written

TomO

Thanks so much everyone,

Thanks so much everyone, tonnes of great ideas in there.  The Klimoski books look very interesting in that they seem to try and steer people away from unrealistic dreams, towards something achievable.  Joe's series is also excellent, I have it already, I will try and get some hard copies for my brother.

Best Model Railroading Book ever Written

https://www.ebay.com/itm/284554235562?hash=item4240c10eaa:g:yVgAAOSwEQthqnr0

Model Railroading with John Allen...  

Randy

Being one of the resident

Being one of the resident John Allen nuts here I would agree with that. Judging by the description of your brother having built several Plywood Pacifics, maybe that (if you can find it) and some other scenery type books would be in order. I always go with the classics. Although some of the stuff in the older books is dated there is still other information that is just as true now as it was then.

Folks have spoken of Lance Mindheim too but one  I'm not sure I have seen mentioned is his book "Model Railroading as Art" I haven't had the chance to read it yet myself but their was some discussion and good reviews here on the forums a few months back.

The value of a vision

  The "Desire" to create something after seeing another modelers work is very often how people find their way to this hobby.    And this desire is the kind of passion that will keep a person working toward the goal of realizing a vision through to its completion.  This is important. There are many more abandoned model railroads than successful ones.  The fun of discovering you have some talent and the fun in teaching yourself new skills.... this process of becoming a better modeler provides great satisfaction and is a big part of the magic of model railroading.   Much of this is lost on the Plug & Play and RTR world of today.   

 My suggestion of the John Allen book is just a good way to find that spark, that vision, that can drive you to dig deeper and reach some level of finished success in this hobby.  But there are many ways to find this.       

It is the vision and desire to create.. that is important.   John Allen is simply one of the most influential modelers and he still influences the hobby and will for many more years. Seems a good choice. 

  For many of us it is the pursuit of "realism" that drives us to achieve.    But do not let anyone tell you that only one specific style of modeling is capable of achieving realism.   Modelers who offer this kind of advice are misguided and do a great disservice to the modeling community.   Good luck.  there's a gigantic number of books on every aspect of this hobby out there.             

Randy   

A different take

Jan,

I would suggest helping your brother to connect with some other modelers. Some of issues you describe can come from trying to build in a vacuum.

I might see if there are other modelers in the area (contact nmra or lhs) and instead of getting him a book, arrange a mini layout tour. You call and make the contacts and then take him on a tour of some local layouts. Of course this might not be possible, but I think it might be more valuable than a book, in terms of getting some perspective, some inspiration and possibly meeting some people that can help with the process.

Just a thought,

Guy

The real best model railroading book...

Someone posted an incorrect link to the best model railroading book.  Here's the corrected link:

https://www.amazon.com/V-Story-W-Allen-McClelland/dp/B00IDDELU6

I kid.  But seriously.  

That might be a great source of inspiration for him and get him started down a good path.  Another great book is John Armstrong's  "The Railroad: What it is, What it does".  It is about the prototype, but all good modeling begins with the prototype.  

Randy