Category Archives: Layout Construction

Easy Mountain Scenery for Appalachian Layouts

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Easy Mountain Scenery

At some point, nearly all Appalachian railroad modelers need to deal with creating flowing hills and valleys for their layouts. I use a method I adapted from Howard Zane’s “Paper Shell” scenery he detailed in the January 2007 Railroad Model Craftsman, and I couldn’t be happier with how easy, flexible, cheap and good looking this method is for creating basic scenery forms. My layout is open grid benchwork with cookie cutter sub-roadbed which is great for this kind of scenery, but it would also work for any open benchwork method (e.g., L-girder, spline sub-roadbed, etc.) where there’s some backdrop and fascia to frame the scene.

Tools needed:

  • Scissors
  • Utility knife
  • Straightedge
  • Hot glue gun
  • Plastic putty knife
  • Old washcloth

    • … Read more →

Double Pinwheel Helix

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Double Pinwheel Helix 6

Lots of track plans need a helix, especially if you’re trying to build a double-deck layout to capture your favorite mountain railroad. Ever wonder why I draw most of my helices on Appalachian Railroad Modeling track plans as octagons? Here’s why…

I’ve never heard any model railroader talk about how much fun it was to build a helix, but I know plenty who dread this step in their construction. Building a helix is daunting because it’s a whole lot of track and subroadbed crammed into a vertical circle, and it’s usually hidden, so its construction needs to be bulletproof. My layout requires not one helix but two, so I wanted to find a way to make them in the most … Read more →