Scenery for the Short Line

With signal design underway and new wiring to follow on the OC, the only area where I can begin to install fascia board and scenery is on the M&E.  Fascia is being fabricated from 1/8" masonite hardboard, the same material as the backdrop, and will be installed before scenery so as to help define the land contour in front of the tracks.  A combination of foamboard and plaster castings, as well as some traditional paper mache, will be utilized as base scenery.

Here we see the Skaneateles Creek area on the M&E with newly-installed facia:

I love the look of model railroads with scenery and fascia - to me, it is a very 'finished' look and lends a professional feel to the look of the entire layout space.  I am eager to get the rest of the railroad to this state, too, but signal wiring must come first.

Foamboard will be stacked, glued, and shaped to represent cliffs, and then I have several ideas for how to model the distinctive Finger Lakes-area shale that is so prevalent in Central New York.  It exists in several shades of gray and dark purple, so it will be an adventure to replicate that look in HO scale!

~RGDave