I’ve recently begun the scenery on the layout. I’m using 1" and 2" blue foam for the basic scenic forms. I decided to start with the Doctors Road grade crossing for a number of reasons. Nostalgia was one. The other was that no structures were involved. In this photo I’ve roughed in the basic shapes following reference photos (you can see one in the back).
	On a trip to Louisa County I picked up a plastic container of dirt from the ground around the crossing. I then took it to Lowes and had them match the color. After I got the scenic forms as close to the photos as I could, I slopped on the dirt colored paint. If you look closely, you can see Doctors Road leaving Rt. 33 (the unpainted foam) and winding down to the tracks.
	In this photo I've cut scale 8x8 timbers to fit between the rails. The road is 20' wide and the crossing was made up of timbers 10' long.
	After sanding the timbers to rail height, it was obvious that the road surface was too low. I covered the wood with masking tape, applied some joint compound, and, after it dried, smoothed it with a damp sponge.
	With the road surface prepared, I covered the track with masking tape. Then I slopped another coat of dirt paint over the foam. While it was still wet, I sprinkled dried, sifted dirt over the whole area. I fixed it in place with Woodland Scenics cement. When that dried I sprinkled on a bit of ground foam and some more cement.
	I used pine trees from Heki to represent the closely spaced trees on this side of the crossing. The trees there grow in fairly neat rows; someone told me years and years ago that the land was owned by a timber company. I don’t know which one. The next step is to make some very detailed tall pines to go in front of the tree farm.
	The tall, scraggy pine is scratchbuilt from a dowel, some stranded wire, and Woodland Scenics ground foam. The deciduous trees are Woodland Scenics kits.
	More trees have sprouted. You’d think the guy in the Chevy would have moved on by now.

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