scenery ideas for a small layout?

[sp4449lover]

hi guys, i finally got a layout table built and i got a track plan together, but i cant figure out what i want for scenery. i dont have too much space since im fitting two tracks in a small area. heres an image of my trackplan (used anyrail), the size is 2.5 x 5 feet, anyone have any good ideas for scenery? btw this is n scale

[NarrowMinded]

Is it steam, Diesel? do you haul freight? Logs? mining? consider why your railroad exists, that will help you decide what sort of buildings or scenery.

I will make a suggestion to connect the inside and outside loops, also add a tunnel, mountain or hills, somthing that blocks your view of the train at some point, it will make the layout more interestion to watch the trains go around.

maybe add a little curve to one of the inside loop straights so you get to see the cars wind their way through the curves.

NM

PS try this site for ideas. http://www.carendt.com/scrapbook/linkindex/index.html

[OldTimer]

One of the best things you can do for a small, island style layout is to put some sort of view-block down the center so you can't see the whole layout at once.  The view-block can be part of the scenery, hills for example, or it can be something like a sheet of masonite with backdrop  painted on it.  Extruded foam will work, too.   Building your benchwork high (mid-chest) also helps increase the apparent size.
OldTimer 

[Jim Banner]

I like OldTimer's suggestion if you plan to be able to walk around the layout.  But  I visualize your layout as sitting against a wall, or maybe even sitting in the corner of a room, in which case a view block is out.  That leaves a big problem - a two track main line to nowhere.  I am afraid you will get bored with it pretty quickly.  So let's see what you could do a bit differently.

Firstly, you could separate those two tracks.  There is no room to do it horizontally so do it vertically.  If you raise the inside oval 3 or 4 inches, you can shove it back into the left rear corner, right over top of the lower oval.  Then you can turn the other end towards the right front corner.  The vertical separation and non parallel tracks will immediately make your layout two separate tracks.

Two separate tracks suggests two separate services.  These could be passenger service on the lower track and freight on the upper track.  With the upper track moved, there should be some space between the tracks in the lower right corner to build a passenger station, maybe a two story one where the passengers enter and leave on the second story.

That lower track would have to run in a tunnel under the upper track but that is easy to do.  A 4' x 8' sheet of bead board styrofoam 1-1/2" thick will cover your complete table in two layers, giving 3" of vertical separation.  Then you can temporarily lay your lower, outside oval on top of the styrofoam and mark where you need to cut out to let the track down to the table top.  Don't forget that you need clearance on each side of your track - about 1" on both sides of the track centerline should do it.  You can cut out the space for the track using a sharp knife or a hack saw blade taped at one end to make a handle.  I like the taped hack saw blade for this job.  It is a bit messier but a whole lot safer.  (After 60 years of model railroading, I can still count to ten ... on my fingers!)  Now is a good time to glue down the large, inside pieces of styrofoam (but not the pieces outside the lower oval.)  You can use white glue and weight the pieces down overnight or PL Premium construction adhesive which is quicker, does not need weights, but is smelly.

When the glue is dry,  place your upper, smaller oval on top of the styrofoam and mark where it goes, including the clearance on both sides of the track.  Where the upper track is above the lower track, you will need something over top of the tunnel to support the upper track.  Whatever you use, it needs to be thin, strong, stiff and something that does not soften up if it gets wet.  Popsicle sticks from a craft store or old CD's that are no longer useful come to mind.  Where the upper track does not run over the lower track, you can remove the styrofoam  between the lower track and the edge of the table.  Where you need that outer styrofoam to support the the tunnel roof, you can now glue it in place.  While waiting for the glue to dry, you can slope the styrofoam next to the lower oval so that it is not quite so straight up and down but be careful not to remove any that will be needed to support the upper oval.

When the glue is dry on all the pieces of styrofoam needed to support the tunnel roof, there is one last thing to do before gluing on the tunnel roof.  That is to make sure you can get you hand far enough into the tunnel to clean the track.  If necessary, cut the tunnel wider.  If that will not work, then you will have to make the tunnel roof and the track on top of it removable - not that hard, but a nuisance.

Well, that's a whole lot of words, but not much about what to use for scenery.  Some suggestion would be a town or at least a part of a town on the upper part.  A turnout or two for sidings to serve a couple of industries would give the railroad purpose.  I think I would show just the "railroady" part of the town in the front right corner and perhaps use the left over styrofoam to build a mountain is the left rear corner, something high enough to put that corner of the upper oval in a tunnel as well.  A coat of flat latex "earth colour" over the styrofoam does wonders - look for tan to brown mis tints at your local paint store.  When the paint is dry, glue down some grass - Woodland Scenics is good or make your own from sieved and coloured sawdust.  Use lots of grass on the flat, some on the mountain, and almost none at all on the steep slope down to the lower track.  The mountain could also use some trees, either from the hobby shop, the craft store, or best of all, home made out of round tooth picks and furnace filter.  But that is another story for another time.  Hopefully, some of this will be helpful to you and if not, will at least give you some ideas to explore.

Jim   

[Terry Toenges]

I like Jim's idea.

[jsmvmd]

Dear Old,

Hal Minsky did your idea with his On30 conversion several years ago, mentioned here and referred to his web site.  It was nicely done, and a good idear on your part.

Dear Jim,

Great idea !  One that I may use some day.

Best Wishes,

Jack

[Terry Toenges]

Jim - After re-reading your post, why would you want to use bead board instead of pink or blue board? Bead board is so messy.

[NarrowMinded]

Bead board though messy is cheap or free, you can find tons of it in all shapes and sizes behind most large furniture stores, for the price of asking nicely, I asked at one store and they saved me several  flat pieces that were 4'x 6' x 1.75 out of headboard boxes.

I think its more annoying then messy, cleans up easy with a vacuum.

I will concede that Blue and pink has its advantages depends on how your going to use it.

NM

[sp4449lover]

thanks for the responses guys!

its a walkaround layout and i'm modeling modern day class 1's (ns and csx) so its all diesel power unless i want a class j hauling excursions lol

[Jim Banner]

Jim - After re-reading your post, why would you want to use bead board instead of pink or blue board? Bead board is so messy.

I made a wild guess about sp4449lover's age and thought he might be a youngster who was not overloaded with coin.  I tend to use both myself and find they both have their advantages.  Bead board scarifies quite nicely and make quick and easy tunnel liners.  It also makes good straight or curved supports if you want hollow hills.  On the other hand, if you have large, unsupported flat areas, extruded Styrofoam has more strength and the extra cost is often balanced by the savings on the underpinning.

Other than that, I would say they are both messy when you run them through a band saw or carve humps and hollows.  But paraphrasing NarrowMinded, that is what vacuum cleaners are for.  When I am in a hurry to contour a landscape, I sometimes work with two hands holding a body grinder fitted with a wire brush and one of those hands also holding the vacuum cleaner hose.  It works, but I would not recommend it to anyone who does not have considerable experience with body grinders.  They are heavy, awkward, and the kick start can run you through 4 inches of Styrofoam is less than an eye blink.  This process creates a mess, even with the vacuum cleaner running, but nothing that cannot be cleaned up.  If you don't have a vacuum cleaner available, try lightly spraying the detritus with Windex which will kill the static attraction dead.  Then it is easy to sweep up, at least until it dries.  A safer way of carving humps and hollows is to use a length of old bandsaw blade or even a hacksaw blade.  As an added attraction, this results in larger, easier to sweep up pieces.  The rough surface can be painted with earth colour latex paint and then dry brushed with a green of your choice.  I am not suggesting this a finished scenery but is a lot more acceptable than pink, blue or white and provides a good base for finished scenery once you get around to it.

Jim

She: "I see you are building a little girl railroad."
He: "Why do you say that?"
She: " Pink Styrofoam!" 

[Terry Toenges]

My thoughts were that it seems harder to get a straight edge with bead board since the little beads tend to "fall" off.
I've never used power tools when working with foam - Just a variety of drywall tools, knives, spoons, rasps, saw blades, cheese graters, etc.
I like the idea of using Windex. Never heard of that.

[jbsmith]

Here is a great link for any model RR,,greenhorn or oldtimer,,especially greenhorns,,,very informative videos well worthwhile, all lessons can be easily applied to N scale.
a step by step how to build a layout tutorial

http://www.greatesthobby.com/

If nothing else it will at least get your imagination going. There be after all,,more than one way to build a hill in MRR'ing!

What are YOU interested in?  
Big City scene?  Heavy industrail?  Portside,,from the container ship to train or vice versa?
Somehwhere along the way just passing thru?  A small RR T-town?   Rural eastern USA? Mountains? Hills? Plains? bit of a mix?  A forest?  Farmland? Orchards?  perhaps something like what you saw in the above videos?

One cool thing about the WGH track plan, as mentioned in the video,,is that it does NOT follow the countour of the table,but is still a loop for continous running,,and in N scale you can do Alot with even a 2.5 x 5 foot layout.