Becky's Trains

The left end of the layout features many of my renditions of famous Lionel buildings.  Most of what you see here, from the signal tower in the foreground to the station on the upper left were made from posterboard.  I found many years ago that if you spray-paint posterboard, it resembles enameled tin in both consistency and thickness.  So these completely handmade structures are acting as placeholders until I can acquire the real Lionel accessories.  In the meantime, a circa 1988 Lionel Large Scale Atlantic brings the circus to town while a short consist of Lionel and MTH cars slows for a station stop.  The 514 boxcar is one I restored over the summer.

The diciduous trees in the center of this photo are my own rendition of the type of tree Lionel made for their pre-war scenic plots.  Made from hemp, sisal or jute rope, the trunks were wrapped with masking tape and painted brown.  Then the ends were unraveled and dipped in Life-Like brand green sawdust grass.  The cone-shaped "pine trees" are styrofoam cones with the same green sawdust glued on.  Barely visible over the lip of the peacock blue 512 gondola is my versiopn of a small scenic plot.  The bushes are sponges covered with green sawdust while the red, white and yellow "flowers" are sponges painted with Testors enamels.  The white urn in the center is in actuality a chess piece from a chess set I purchased in Thailand!