Videos & Photos Videos Series Rehab My Railroad Rehab My Railroad: Scenery projects, Episode 15

Rehab My Railroad: Scenery projects, Episode 15

By Jenny Freeland | November 2, 2022

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This episode is all about scenery on the HO scale Jones Island layout section, but first, David Popp and Ben Lake share progress updates on the freight house and Hoan bridge projects. David works on roads and grade crossings. Meanwhile, Cody demonstrates a three-step process for ballasting a freight yard. Then David switches gears to apply ground cover to an industrial site.  To wrap things up, Eric White shows how he modeled a city park.

Learn more about Jones Island, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, history.

Enjoying this coverage of our Jones Island project effort? Watch additional episodes, along with previously completed Rehab My Railroad series videos, exclusively on the Trains.com streaming platform!

Rehab My Railroad is a cherished series begun on Model Railroader Video Plus in the mid 2010s. Episodes feature Model Railroader staff surrounding an existing layout with their knowledge, wisdom, and skills to help the host modeler upgrade the model train layout’s features without tearing down or completely re-building the railroad.

The MR&T stands for Milwaukee, Racine & Troy and is the large-room layout built more than 20 years ago by Model Railroader staff and their friends. The HO scale layout hosts multiple revisions and updates each year to support feature articles in Model Railroader magazine or online at Trains.com.

Man standing near an unfinished model train layout in an episode that will discuss printed backdrop installation.

5 thoughts on “Rehab My Railroad: Scenery projects, Episode 15

  1. I was surprised (and pleased) to see you install ballast in a yard. I have a freight yard where I’ve used 1/4″ foam for roadbed, and I’ve been stewing about that choice because I was thinking that yards don’t typically have roadbed (or ballast). What’s your thinking on this?

  2. Nice segment guys! A question regarding the yard ballasting Cody was doing. Aren’t yards typically flat, with no elevated roadbed or drainage ditches? Curious why you chose to use cork roadbed strips under the track instead of just sheet cork. I did take a look from street level on Googlemaps of some of the Jones Island yard areas and they appear to be flat.
    Second question… HOW do you get your Sculptamold mixture to be soooo smooth coming out of the container? Perhaps I’m not mixing mine properly but I always end up with too much “texture” in the blend. Thanks!!

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