I love looking at photos and videos posted by fellow model railroaders. I have learned a great deal about scenery by watching others do what they do best.

I recently discovered I’ve been making a mistake. When I go into my train room, I tend to look at my whole layout from one end to the other. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed because there is still so much to do, and I lose sight of the best part of this great hobby. The work is really never done!

The secret I uncovered is that expert modelers often just work on a small part of the layout at a time. They take a small scene, like the one above on my layout under Three Tower Bridge, and create a masterpiece.

Just in this photo I can see several things that need more work:

1. The base of the little shed needs to be blended with the surrounding ground cover.
2. The foliage material around the first tower is too big.
3. Obviously, this is a section of track that is awaiting ballast.
4. The towers and the deck could use some weathering. Maybe some weathing powder would be good.

What I should do is focus on this piece of the layout, as if it were a module. For me, it might be a good idea to lay some plastic over the surrounding area so this part is all I see. I probably won’t do that.

Ballasting is an ongoing project. None of it has been glued in place yet. I’m still using my clear plastic ballast spreader and I’m running out of material, so I’ll have to make another trip to the hobby shop. Yesss!

This track section is the line that carries passengers on The Old General from Uptown to Maple Valley. Maple Valley is a popular tourist destination which is also the focus of a scandal that began over a year ago. A local resident, Sylvia Meisner, disappeared. Her burned car was found under Three Tower Bridge. The caboose on the right is almost directly above where the wreck was discovered. (You can read “Scandal at Maple Valley” on my blog – just click on the menu.)

Getting back to scenery progress, the freight dock on the left is terribly bare. I want to get a static grass applicator, or make one. The dock needs weeds, stacks of stuff, weathering, and workers.

Lots of work to be done here, and I don’t mean by the guys in the scene. The edges have to be blended with ground cover. The tower and small sheds need paint and weathering. Many weeds are needed, the ground cover needs help. A little more brown will look better.

The brush lichen along the curve is too big. I’ll pull it apart and replace it. I still have a lot of ground cover to finish between buildings in Maple Valley.

I still have a bunch of trees I made that are ready to have leaves applied. It’s been a busy summer and the layout was a little farther down the list.

Happy model railroading!