Building Railways and Scenery For Your Model Trains

The hobby of collecting model trains or locomotives includes building railroads and the scenery. Many people find it stressful and a lot of work but it actually is a lot of fun. Building the railroad and the scenery for your train set is a perfect chance to let out your creative juices

Using Noch Ground Cover in Your Model Train Layout Scenery

Noch is a German company that specializes in manufacturing modeling supplies for model railroad scenery for all scales. Noch makes a variety of ground cover material to simulate everything from short ground cover to tall grass. Proper use of the material depends on which type you are adding to your scenery.

Mailbox Color for Your Era

You’re about to add scenic detail to your layout. Perhaps a few lamp posts, fire hydrants and a mailbox on the street corner. But what color should that mailbox be?

Tree Construction Technique

Use anything that looks like a miniature tree of the scale, height, and species you want to model. I prefer sage brush twigs for larger deciduous trees like mature oaks and cottonwoods. For birches and smaller deciduous trees, I use pieces from a decorative broom I bought at a Ben Franklin craft store. You can, of course, use anything that looks like a tree, from yarrow and goldenrod weeds; to herb and tree roots; to manufactured cast metal and plastic armatures.

Building A Trestle Span

Recently, I decided to add a new canyon to my N-scale layout. The plan was to build three separate trestle spans across my new canyon, after I build my new canyon of course! This was my opportunity to create a steel sub-girder trestle 280 feet long and 75 feet tall, plus two main line trestle spans, 200 feet long and 50 feet tall! Not to mention the possibility of some deep-water scenery and maybe a chance to model a boat.