Scenery is one of the aspects of this hobby that I enjoy the most, and I'm using this layout to try some methods that I have not used before. All of my scenery starts with a the same sheets of expanded foam insulation used for the benchwork. For raised areas this is cut to shape using a hot wire cutter and assortment of "borrowed" kitchen knives. Depressed areas are simply gouged out of the benchwork. The contours are then blended with a thin coat of Hydrocal plaster. This is then covered with various brands of ground foam and real dirt.

Anybody modeling the Northeast needs plenty of trees. I using primarily dried weeds dipped in matte medium and then sprinkled in ground foam. While I've used natural materials on a limited basis before, and with good results, I've never needed this many trees! I constantly find myself looking at roadside weeds with a view toward what trees they look like. One of my most successful acquisitions has been a plant I call "CSO Weed". I have no idea what its botanical name is, but it grows in clumps along the edge of the freight yard of the Connecticut Southern RR (CSO) behind Branchline Trains' shop. I am very lucky in that the crews of CSO are very friendly toward Branchline and many of them are even modelers. Even so, it rather surprises me that nobody has questioned what I am doing walking around the yard on my lunch breaks carrying garbage bags full of dead weeds… they’re probably afraid to ask! I find I can knock out a large number of trees in a short time using this method. While none of these are contest quality on their own, en-masse they look great. Also, my two four year old daughters have taken to making trees - its a mess they can make that Dad thinks is neat! As a result I expect I will have no shortage of trees on the layout.

Lighting for the layout is provided by fluorescent lights running cool white bulbs. I find that this combination gives me a good representation of daylight in the mountains. No provision is made for dimming the lights, and if I do get into night running it will be a with a very quick "sunset"!