Modeling The San Antonio and Aransas Pass Railway - Scenery

The postcard that inspired the idea for this layout was one I bought at the Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, showing a parade down Main Street in 1916. Scenery on the layout is mostly flat, with drainage ditches providing the greatest elevation changes. On the outskirts of the layout I'll put some suggestions of hills. I've covered the center of the layout with a thin layer of Sculptamold plaster to give the ground some texture. Looking at a topographic map from Topozone confirms the overall land contour. The center of town rarely has steep hills.

Ground foam provides more texture and some color. I don't know what color; see my page on Board Game Info for the Color-Blind for the reason why. The bare dirt is intended to be reddish-brown, to match the actual soil in the area. (I used latex paint that was left over from repainting the house. If you don't have any the right color, go to your local home improvement store and see if they have any paint that was mixed improperly.)

Buildings will be those along Main Street (which parallels the tracks) plus a selection of trackside industries. Currently I have a team platform, generic corrugated iron warehouse (Grandt Line 5908) and an office/warehouse building for the Temple Lumber Company (scratchbuilt). Oh, and the ubiquitous Atlas Trackside Shanty (every layout needs one!) Cardboard and paper mockups indicate where other buildings will go. They look awful. A scratchbuilt warehouse is under construction.

According to the Sanborn Insurance map for Shiner from 1922, the main industries were cotton processing and warehousing. The same map also confirmed that my track plan looks nothing like the prototype. Therefore, check the Sanborn maps before laying track. I found them on microfilm in my local library.

Fortunately, not much has been either built up or torn down on Main Street since about 1925, with the exception of the depot and a neat looking dry goods building. I have recent photos of the buildings, and the Sanborn map tells me what they were, but not the name of the store (or whatever) in the building. Main Street buildings will be flats.

Some random scenery tips:
• Don't mark anything with a Sharpie that you're going to paint over. It bleeds through, and you have to repaint with Kilz or something like it.
• My father-in-law told me about the "three-foot rule" -- If it looks good enough from three feet, it's good enough. I suspect this varies depending on tolerance for errors, and more importantly, eyesight.
• If possible, painting the walls of the room sky blue can make things a lot easier. I was able to do this, but haven't gotten the courage to stencil clouds on the walls yet.
• Look into true-color (or sunlight) lightbulbs. They aren't as bright as normal incandescent bulbs, and produce more heat, but really change the way things look.

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