Model Railroad Scenery | Foam Scenic Base and Initial Track Layout Part 2

Here, I've carved what will become the central valley where I plan to create a meadow and a small lake.

The blade in the cheapo pink cutter snapped and flew dangerously toward me as I was carving a section.



Blue foam was used as the basic foundation for The Sunny Model Railroad. For safety's sake, always wear eye protection when cutting foam with a blade cutters!

Note to self: Always wear eye protection when cutting any type of foam!



3M Painter's Tape and Cling Wrap were used to protect the Fleischmann track before plaster was applied.

In the next pic I've covered the track with 3M blue painter's tape. It doesn't leave a sticky residue on the track like regular masking tape. Never use duct tape which will leave a sticky residue that will have to be cleaned off later!

Note that I've also placed the tunnel portals in place. These tunnel portals are by Faller.

As an added precaution, I've used Cling Wrap is to protect the track further when wet plaster cloth is draped over wadded newspaper that will form the basis for the mountain.



This wad of newspaper and masking tape will become a hill once covered with plaster and ground cover!

Model Railroad | Initial Track Layout

The first two pics below are of the bare baseboard with joined track laid loosely on it. Made up of two independent loops, the irregular oval and the modified dogbone are laid one on top of the other so that I can get a visual of how they will overlap once the dogbone is elevated above the oval.

The baseboard measures 6 '3" long and 3 '6" wide. A little crammy for a HO scale model railroad, which is why I decided to go with two independent loops.

Bear in mind that I have never constructed a model railroad before, but if my measurements and track layout are correct, everything will, hopefully, turn out fine!

Fleischmann Profi-Track laid out on the baseboard, one on top of the other. Not a complicated layout but a challenge nonetheless, squeezing all that track onto a very small space. 

All track is pre-ballasted nickel-silver Fleischmann Profi-track.

I decided to go with pure nickel-silver track because of the reputation steel tracks have for rusting and developing dead spots if they are not constantly maintained.

I'm reminded of the huge Scalextric slot car race track I owned in the mid-80s that started rusting very quickly despite being nickel-plated. Once the nickel plating started to wear through, rust started to develop quickly. After reviving the track several times with sandpaper and WD40 to remove the rust, I eventually ended up throwing the whole set into the garbage!

Needless to say that I was determined not to have that happen with my model railway. Pure nickel-silver does not rust and needs only occasional maintenance to clean off dust and oxidization

All Fleischmann track rails are made out of solid nickel-silver.

The pic below shows how I laid layers of dense blue construction foam to elevate the dogbone above the oval. I could have used common white styrofoam I suppose, but the blue provides a much more rigid foundation. I had to use two layers of foam to achieve the necessary height for the second level.

Pieces of blue foam form the foundation of the second level of track. 

Instead of wasting a gallon of glue to hold the two layers together, I used bamboo skewers, more commonly used for barbequing shrimp, instead! The skewers work pretty well to stop the foam layers from shifting against each other.

I didn't glue the foam to the baseboard in case I needed to make minor adjustments later.

It doesn't have to be pretty since it will all be covered in plaster and ground cover later.



View of the right side of the foundation.

The Sunny Model Railroad In HO Scale

The Sunny Model Railroad is a layout I built in the tiny backroom of my apartment. Based on the Fleischmann HO Profi-Track system, the entire layout measure 6' 3" by 3' 6". The baseboard is 3/4" plywood with a 2" wooden frame all around, with lateral bracing under the board for extra rigidity.

The main feature of this model railroad is that it consists of two separate and independent track loops, laid out in a split-level. The two track loops are on separate controllers, enabling independent control of the trains on each track.



Overview of The Sunny Model Railroad in its earlier stage. There is still much left to be done!

I got this brilliant idea from a Japanese N scale train magazine DVD that illustrated this concept so perfectly-- talk about squeezing maximum train action into a minimum amount of space!

I initially set up my little single loop and sidings on a temporary, unbraced 6' by 3' piece of plywood that I place on top of a couple of cardboard boxes. Considering the size of the room that was about the maximum amount of real estate I had to work with! And there wasn't much HO scale track one could fit onto that.

Frustrated, I all but left my little layout largely abandoned in the back room. Peering in to the room now and then, I lamented having spent several hundred dollars on tracks and trains just to see them lay there on the bare baseboard. I didn't even bother to attempt any landscaping or scenery.

And then came the turning point.

Before a gig -- I'm a musician playing at a local blues-rock club -- I was browsing at a Kinokuniya bookstore when I spied, on a solitary display rack, a magazine and DVD pack about N scale model trains -- in Japanese!

Bearing in mind, that at this point, I had more or less lost all interest in the hobby.

On impulse, I bought the magazine anyway, telling myself that since it came with a DVD it must be worth the 40 bucks. Right?

Let me just say, it was the best $40 I could have spent on this hobby!

Now, I had done my fair share of research on the internet -- several hundred hours worth -- and bought many issues of every US and UK model train magazine publication I could find. I was hungry for layout and scenery ideas and track designs for small spaces. I wanted to know how to create realistic looking rock-faces and mountains. Some of the information was good but most of it was useable only if you had some 20 square feet of space to dedicate to a model railway.

And I found answers to every one of my burning questions in that little Japanese mag -- and then some!



The Japanese model railroad magazine in question. If you can find it, buy it!

The DVD that came with the magazine became my regular late night viewing before bed.  I watched it several times over, browsing through the various chapters, remembering what I had watched the night before, and going back to it the next night to watch it again. I learned something new every time I put that DVD on -- that's how much of a revelation it was!

Starting with a bare 6' by 3' board, the two Japanese men hosting the show brought me from a single loop with one siding on a bare plywood baseboard to designing a split level layout that incorporated tunnels and bridges with realistic looking rocks, mountains and trees.

And to this day, I don't even know the title of the magazine because it's in Japanese!

Needless to say my enthusiasm and imagination were piqued. Within two weeks I had laid the foundation for what you see today -- split-level track design, landscaping and scenery.

This was my very first attempt at landscaping a model railroad, so if you like what you see, bear in mind that you can do it too!