Simon asks readers:

“I have mountain and I’m trying to make a realistic fall theme. I have grand central jims pine trees and orange birch trees, but I don’t know how to make it a realistic fall scene with some bare spots at the top.”

Ed asks readers for advice:

“I recently read – Bring your layout to life by adding people and animals. Put the people in period dress. I agree whole heartedly, but I’ve encountered a problem. I’m currently putting together a short point to point N scale 4’x8” depiction of the area outside Yankee Stadium in the early 30’s. I’ll be running a trolley and have already got the buses and cars and trucks for the scene, but trying to locate 40-50 “period dressed” people has been a challenge. Men wore suit sand hats and ladies wore dresses and hats to a ball game in the period and I’ve yet to locate anything similar. Any ideas?”

Cheri asks readers:

“I want to build a car lot near my train. I have 25 1/54 cars, and am hoping that they will work near an N scale train set. Thank you.

Tim sent in this info to share with readers:

I retired last year and my friend Don and I are building our first layout in my basement in Edmonton Alberta Canada. The table is not very large, being only 40″ X 96″ (1016mm X 2438mm) but more than enough for our first simple HO scale layout. We are loosely basing it on the Mountain Park coal mine which is a ghost town south of Cadomin Alberta that flourished between 1912 to 1950. Don and I took our families camping up there many time as we love the scenery on the eastern slope of the Rockies. Mountain Park had a rail line called the “Blue Flea” but I can’t find out (yet) how it got that name.

The biggest problem we have run into so far is that the small locomotive (#55 in the picture pulling the coal cars) doesn’t seem to like the frogs in Atlas switches, we think because of the short wheelbase… We are currently thinking of switching all eighteen turnouts to PECO electrofrog which seem to solve the problem on the one I did yesterday.

Don is finishing the coal mine layout and I am working on a trestle bridge and then it on to the townsite for both of us. Google “Mountain Park Alberta” for reference images.

Do you have any observations on this layout? Add your comments or suggestions below.

I reality the world is far from perfect, so to look authentic, a scene on a scale railway layout is also likely to have imperfections. This scene captured at the Brisbane, Australia 2015 Train Show is a good example. Notice the little wall surrounding the tall tanks – notice it’s a bit uneven and rough. The surface on the little road leading to workshops is not perfectly edged – in fact it seems to disappear into gravel/dirt. Little details like these can be the difference between an artificial manicured looking scene, and one that looks as if it would in the real world. Worth thinking about? This video has more suggestions for creating authentic looking scenery.

This photo was taken of a winter scene on the N & W Line. More ideas here.

Barbara would like some scenery help from readers. I presume she is planning to use epoxy resin to make the water for her harbor scene… or perhaps she is planning to use real water? Maybe she could clarify by adding a comment to this posting.

“What do you use for a dam to stop water flowing over the end of the table? Modeling harbor scene. Thanks for help.”

Harris asks readers:

“What is the best way to make H O scale dirt roads and city streets using found materials and not store bought.”

Here’s a simple idea from the Loughborough Model Railway Exhibition that anyone could do at home. The timber is ready for loading onto wagons and can easily be removed from time to time to vary the scene. A crane, forklift, and workers could be included to add more activity.

These days steel shipping containers have a multitude of uses including adapting them to make homes, self-storage units, and even jail cells in some countries. However, they are still mainly used for transporting goods around the globe (by ship) and around the country (truck and rail).

Intermodal containers are a common sight, so fit well into most modern railroad layouts either on flatcars, double-stack container trains, on the back of trucks, stacked up in rail yards, at ports, alongside factories and warehouses, or just stacked up alongside the track as seen in this photo. Fortunately they are cheap and easy to make, and look very authentic if you use these photo realistic downloadable designs.

This little scene (from the Brisbane Model Train Show) shows how simple ideas are sometimes the best. Although there are just 4 workers, a wagon, a vehicle, a shed, and a small piece of machinery… the scene takes up very little space yet really draws the eye in to see what’s going on. To add even more interest, some of the elements could be animated to show some movement and further captivate attention… more on that in coming weeks.

Drew asks readers:

“Does anyone have a suggestion for model RR paints? Since Poly-Scale stopped manufacturing their paints, I have been unable to find suitable paints for the RR’s I model. If the manufacturer and/or supplier is in Europe, do you know if they will ship to the US? I of course, am looking for 1 to 3 OZ. bottles (50ml to 100ml ?). Thanks very much for the information!”