Building Model Train Scenery

One of the enjoyable aspects of model trains is getting to put up the landscape, the model train scenery. If you have grown tired of setting up your model railroad trains during the holidays just to take them apart and put them away afterward, you may want to consider building a more permanent set up.

A benchwork provides the platform for your model trains. Train enthusiasts can purchase a benchwork that has already been constructed, or they can build themselves one. Purchasing a benchwork kit offers more than a few benefits. The kits are previously cut and drilled. They are also stronger and more durable than plywood that has been laid across a couple of sawhorses. The kit also makes it possible for you to take it apart for moving your set to another part of the house or to train shows.

Building a model train benchwork for yourself is more time consuming and challenging, of course, but it gives you the chance to build the setting you’ve always envisioned for your trains. Developing a plan for your benchmark is the first step of the process. You must determine the size you want your layout to be. Are you going to want to expand on to it at some point in the future? What do you have in the way of space for a model train layout in your home? Do you have a particular configuration in mind for your benchwork? You can make it circular, square, oval, or rectangular. Twenty-eight inches is the usual length for the table legs, but this can be modified to whatever your design calls for. The most significant requirement of the benchwork you build is that it is sturdy and can hold the load you want to put on it. Three-eighths to a half-inch is an ample thickness for the plywood that will become your platform. For a more portable benchwork, the plywood can be cut into smaller pieces before your benchwork is assembled.

Maintain a certain mental perspective during the construction of your model train scenery. Ideally, you want your layout to seem bigger than it actually is, and represent realistic model railroad scenery at that. Multiple levels of scenery may help you to achieve this appearance, which can be enhanced by the placement of bigger trees in the front of your platform and dotting the mountain tops in the “distance” with tiny trees. Decide on a theme for your layout and choose your scenery so that it is consistent with that theme. For example, if your railroad line includes a logging train, you will want it to run through rugged looking mountains that are covered with trees. A lumberyard or a sawmill could be situated nearby.

You can get creative with your scenery for model railroads and include tunnels, rocky formations, fields, grassy meadows, bridges, and roads. You can create villages or towns with an assortment of buildings and houses. Attention to fine detail should be observed to increase the impact of your illusion. Underbrush, fences, flowers, bushes, telephone poles, signs, animals, and people provide your setting with attractive detail. Including streams, ponds, rivers, or waterfalls can give your layout a nice touch.