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Setting the Stage for Your Railroad

A model railroad is like the theatre, the trains are the actors, and the scenery is the stage, creating the atmosphere, which is required for the story to unfold. Making the scenery is an artistic endeavor. You use it to paint a picture of the country through which your railroad runs. You can use illusions, forced perspective, and selective compression of spaces and buildings, to create the feeling of vast areas of the countryside.

The substructure of the model railroad has to support the trackage and create a base for the details you will be adding. Some idea of the topography, or surface structure, of the area you are modelling is required before you start. Are you creating rolling hills, mountainous country or flat plains with vast farms all around you? Let us look at rolling country, as this requires most of the techniques that we will be discussing. Rolling country includes rivers and streams that run below the track level, hills and wood lots that provide a backdrop, and communities with industries that provide a purpose for the railway.

The easiest way for today’s model railroader to build the substructure of the scenery is with Woodland Scenics’ Subterrain System. This replaces the earlier practice called the ‘cookie cutter method’.

First, determine the track plan you wish to have by laying out track, or photocopies of track pieces, on a flat shelf or table When you have a track plan that you like draw a line along both edges of the track to indicate where it will eventually be placed. If you have specific buildings that you wish to use now is a good time to plan for them by drawing in their ‘footprint’. Now remove the track.

Next, you use the Woodland Scenics’ flexible risers. Risers come in five heights ranging from ½” to 4”. We recommend using 2” high risers for most trackage as this size will allow you to drop scenery below track level without having to modify your base. Lay the risers along the lines that you drew previously, pinning them in place temporarily as you go with Woodland Scenics’ foam pins. Special risers, known as starter inclines or incline sets, allow you to build in grades without having to use a calculator every two minutes. Inclines come preformed in 2%, 3%, and 4% grades. Just pin them on top of your other risers when you wish the track to change elevation. When you have all the risers pinned in place, take a good look at what you have created. Now is the time to make any changes. Once the lines of the layout look good, use a low temperature glue gun to attach the risers to your base and each other. The pins can be removed and used over again. Space for your buildings and communities can be added using sheet styrofoam to build up flat areas.

Now, we move on to the edge of the table or shelf. In creating our section of the countryside we have taken a slice out of the ground. Woodland Scenics’ profile boards are used to create the outline of this slice that we have taken. Glue the profile boards along the edge of your table or layout, and then trim them down using the hot wire cutter. In this way we can create the edges of the hills and valleys that border the railroad.

Using crumpled up newspapers and tape to hold it in place, fill in the spaces between the profile boards and the risers. This creates an approximation of the surface of your world. Dip 10 to 14 inch lengths of Woodland Scenics’ plaster cloth in water to activate the plaster, and cover the newspapers, risers, and the top edge of the profile boards. Each piece of plaster cloth should overlap the previous one by one third to one half of its width. With wet fingers smooth out the plaster, filling in any holes that remain. You can form gullies or streambeds into the wet plaster cloth as you go, creating as complex a topography, or surface, as you like. You can stop the plaster cloth at the edge of your track risers, or carry it right over the risers if you wish.

Adding the soil and plants to your miniature world is like an artist painting a picture. You start with a basic background and you add layers of paint and texture until you have completed the picture. Like an artist you have to observe the landscape that you wish to model, in person if possible, or through reference books about the railway you have chosen to model.

First decide if you wish to have any rock outcroppings. These can be shaped by hand using a slow setting compound like ‘Polyfilla’ or they can be made using Woodland Scenics’ rock molds. These are flexible rubber molds, taken from actual rock surfaces that you fill with plaster. When hardened they are removed from the molds and applied to the scenery using additional plaster to hold them in place.

Painting the rocks is not hard; you use three of the paint pigments offered by ‘Woodland Scenics’, Black, Burnt Sienna, which is reddish, and Burnt Umber which is dark brown. Thin out the pigments with water until you have a translucent wash of color. Apply these liberally with a brush letting the pigment run over the rock. Start with a good base of the Burnt Sienna, add the Burnt Umber to the upper surfaces of the rock outcrops, and finally let the black collect in any spaces or crevices in the rock. Do not worry if the rock still looks too light in color, you can always go over it another time to darken it up.

‘Woodland Scenics’ has an entire line of products to represent turf, weeds, shrubs and trees. Each type of product is added on top of the previous layer ultimately creating the scruffy unkempt look that Mother Nature likes so much.

Start by painting over your plaster base with latex paint, available from any hardware store. Choose a color to represent the earth in your area, as the earth may show through in places. Please note - earth tones can vary, so pick one that suits the area you are modelling. While the paint is still wet, sprinkle on the first layer of turf, the paint will hold it in place. Add coarse turf to represent weeds, clump foliage for shrubs, and finally trees. It is important to use mixed colors of these products to represent the randomness of nature. Each layer is held in place by an over spray of ‘Scenic Cement’. You do not have to wait for the previous layer to dry, as this process is all water based and can all be done at the same time.

Don’t worry if your scenery doesn’t look exactly right, you can always change it or rip it all out and start over. Just have fun doing it.

The Credit Valley Railway Company carries a large selection of “How To” books and reference books on specific railroad related topics. These include books on layout design, prototype operations, how to build and detail structures and many other topics related to creating realistic looking model railroads. Our staff has had many years of model railroad experiences, and is always willing to provide you with specific information, advice and answer any of your questions! You can also email your questions to us at query@cvrco.com