If you only buy one Model Railroading book this year... this has to be it. The photographs on page 14 through to 18 are some of the best I have seen in any model railroad publication, in fact all photos of this layout are worth the price of admission alone...
Pelle Soeborg explains his reasoning and desire to recreate his Daneville layout in this second incarnation, and he does so very well. He starts with the usual location selection (desert California) and then goes about that including benchwork and track laying, to wiring, roads, telephone poles, bridges, scenery and structures to layout completion in a chronological order. If you follow his advise on the discipline of construction and his techniques, you could save yourself a lot of time and frustration building your own layout. His use of foam as a scenery construction methodology is second to none.
His chapter on photo backdrops is the best of any current publication. Whilst some of the advanced techniques are not covered as thoroughly as most modellers would like (which would make this a rather large volume indeed), you could always get his book Essential Model Railroad Scenery (Model Railroader's How-to Guide) to fill in the details.
Even if you do not model desert scenery, you will gain a leviathan level of insight in the reasoning as to what you should do and what to avoid, as Mr Soeborg quiet candidly highlights the road crossing on the old layout was troublesome (listen up... Pelle Soeborg has made the mistake so you do not have too!)
Something not obvious though is that his track plan is simple, and that is the very key fact why his layout works and looks as good as it does... it is not a spaghetti bowl of track and allows for railfanning whilst operational potential is not compromised.
This is so complete in regards to the construction process and the modern techniques used (photo backdrops and sound deadening especially), any modeller, new or old hands, would benefit from reading it. I certainly did, thoroughly enjoyable, I still flick through sections, after having read it numerous times.
I can not wait for the Duolith extension to be completed... (hint ... hint...)