Landscaping

The last few weeks of railroad work sessions have focused on building the hill and mountain formations spanning two modules. I like large imposing landscapes with small trains running through them. But I do want the terrain to look realistic like it was there before someone decided to put a railroad through it. 

I've made the land formations out of extruded foam, cutting and shaping it with a craft knife. A hot wire foam cutter would have been useful but I got to where I wanted to go with the knife. The terrain functions as a view block between the town and yard from the rest of the modules. As the line exits the tunnel, it crosses a deep ravine that has been carved out by a river. I've purposefully tried to make the scene deeper than it is by making the river turn behind the hill. As always, a painted backdrop will help. This ravine will require quite a few rock castings. I also have to settle on the design of the bridge for the gap. I'll another post looking at different options. 

The next step is to add a thin layer of earth-coloured plaster over the hill, to fill out any humps and bumps, and then I can get to work applying scenery. 

The hill formation separating the yard and town from the rest of the layout.

I've made a section removable for access to the tunnel. 

...with the access hatch removed.

The deep ravine module on the other side of the tunnel.

Now I have to decide what sort of bridge to build here...

The river winds its way around the corner, hopefully adding some intrigue.