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How to Make a Train Town

Model train towns can occupy an tabletop or an entire room. When purchasing buildings and homes for the town, you'll need a school, a police station, a fire station, a town hall, a restaurant, a few shops, a gas station, homes, and of course, a train station. Consider using a theme for your town like Halloween or a winter town scene. The theme of your town will determine the type of scenery and landscape. A Halloween-themed town will feature trees with fall foliage, brown grass, a graveyard, skeletons, ghosts, cobwebs and haunted houses, whereas a winter scene will include snow, bare trees and evergreens and a town Christmas tree.

Things You'll Need

Pencil
Plywood board
Drill
Paintbrush
Newspaper
White glue
Sand
Gray textured spraypaint
Model railroad grass mats
Scissors
Model trees, shrubbery and scenery
Railroad tracks
Train engine and railroad cars
Model buildings
Spray-on snow

Instructions

- 1
  Sketch the town map onto the plywood using a pencil. Indicate areas of railroad, pavement, dirt roads and grass. Towns require a main street, along with a few residential side streets that branch off of the main street. Arrange the buildings and structures along the main street and side streets and trace the outlines of the buildings. Consider adding a town park near the center of town and add a farm or two on the outskirts of town.
- 2
  Drill a 1-inch hole at the center of each building site. The hole will accommodate the power cord, so this is required for lighted and animated structures only.
- 3
  Drill a 1-inch hole for the railroad's power supply. The hole must be located alongside the tracks. Place the hole under an area that will be covered with grass mats to conceal the wire.
- 4
  Add hills to the landscape. Use premade hill forms or make your own out of paper mache. Brush white glue onto strips of newspaper and layer the newspaper to make hills.
- 5
  Spray on gray textured paint to create pavement roadways, sidewalks and driveways.
- 6
  Brush on white glue and sprinkle sand on top to create dirt roads, dirt walkways and railroad beds. The railroad bed will extend along the path that will be used for the railroad tracks.
- 7
  Brush a coat of white glue onto the landscape and apply the grass mats. Cut them to size, if necessary. Do not glue down the grass mat in the area surrounding the hole that was drilled to accommodate the power cord for the tracks.
- 8
  Place trees and shrubs on your landscape.
- 9
  Add the buildings and homes to the landscape. Run each structure's electrical cord through the hole at the center of each "foundation."
- 10
  Install the railroad tracks. Place the wired section of railroad track beside the drilled hole and pass the power cord through the hole. Smooth the overlying grass mat to conceal the cord.
- 11
  Spray on a layer of snow. Cover the landscape, trees and buildings. Leave the roads bare if you'd like your roads to appear plowed.
- 12
  Add the small accent pieces like cars, people, fences, farm animals, power lines and roadside mailboxes.
- 13
  Place the train locomotive on the tracks and attach the cars. Add a few "smoke" drops into the engine's smokestack and run the train.

Model Railroads