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How to Build a Lionel Train Tunnel

Building terrain for your Lionel model helps create a scenic world for your train to travel within. It can include realistically modeled mountains for the locomotive to travel through, including the occasional tunnel. Long mountain passes with curving tunnels add a dramatic look to your terrain. Building such a tunnel will take up a big chunk of table space. But if you use foam sheets along with plaster cloth, you can build those terrains that will make the model more appealing.

Things You'll Need

Measuring tape
Lionel train engine/ car
Scissors
Hot wire foam cutter
White glue
Model tunnel faces
Newspaper
Masking tape
Plaster cloth
Paints
Paintbrush

Instructions

- 1
  Measure the widest point of your train and multiply this by the number of tracks inside the tunnel to determine tunnel width. Add an additional 15 percent for train clearance, and 1/8 to 1.4 of an inch to account for train movement in the tunnel. Measure the height of the train and add the height of the track and roadbed on which the track is laid to determine the height of the tunnel.
- 2
  Create a tunnel template by sliding a piece of paper under the track and marking the length and curvature of your train. Add the determined clearance space to your marked track. Cut out the template from the paper. Place the template onto a foam sheet and draw the shape of your tunnel.
- 3
  Remove the template and cut the foam sheet using a hot wire foam cutter along the drawn lines. Drag the wire through the foam to cut through the Styrofoam. Test the created pieces to see if they fit around your track and adjust the template if necessary. Repeat the process on several foam sheets until you have enough to glue together to meet the height requirements of your tunnel.
- 4
  Glue the cut foam pieces with white craft glue to use as the walls of the tunnel. Take an additional foam sheet and place it on top of the glued sheets. Mark on the top sheets the contours of the bottom foam tunnel parts and cut the sheet to match. Glue the sheet to the other layers to create the tunnel roof.
- 5
  Add the tunnel entrance and exit faces with white glue. Entrance and exits panels can be purchased from hobby shops that sell model train scenery, and appear as manufactured stone or wood walled tunnel openings.
- 6
  Build up the sides and top of the mountain tunnel using small wads of newspaper between 2 and 4 inches in size. Use masking tape to secure the wads to the foam tunnel in the shape desired.
- 7
  Wet the plaster cloth in water and place it over the newspaper to serve as the mountain surface. Rough over the surface of the mountain by shifting the plaster with a plastic knife to form ridges, rises, and dips in the cloth. Allow the plaster to dry overnight.

Model Railroads