This weekend has seen progress at Nowhere to the point where (almost) all track on the two main boards has been laid. Track laying had stalled back in the summer when I ran out of both standard and narrow gauge track and, since then, my main efforts on this layout have focussed on scenic work on the smaller board. Today I completed laying the narrow gauge station area so, after a six-month gap, I thought it was time to update this blog. The first picture shows an overall view of the station area:

Although I've included a selection of accessible stock, including one item that really shouldn't be there, there is still some way to go before trains start running. The track is in place but it still needs to be wired and there are ten turnout motors to be fitted. Indeed, several of the narrow gauge turnouts are yet to be permanently fixed as they still need to be converted to live frog operation.

The next picture shows both of the two main boards that make up the layout. The two narrow gauge bridges on the reversing loop nearest the camera are now the only missing pieces of track on the boards. Eventually, there will be casettes at the near end and a small fiddle yard at the far end. At least, that is the current plan

The nearer board is where I have been slowly learning various scenic techniques. All this is new to me; the last time I had a layout was in the early sixties, and the scenery on that never went beyond a bit of paint and some green scatter. The next picture shows what I've managed to achieve so far.

The basis is Sculptamould applied over shaped expanded polystyrene foam. I'm still experimenting with colours for the rock faces using techniques like that described by 'Ben Alder' in this post. The approach that I've been trying is to paint all over with a dark brown (burnt umber) acrylic wash to provide a base and to fill dark holes, then a dark grey to cover most of the rock followed by a lighter grey for the highlights. These are applied with an almost dry brush. Some areas have a little burnt sienna or olive green mixed with the light grey to vary the weathering. Olive green is also used as a base for grassy areas and those with a little vegetation clinging to cracks, and also for damp areas.

Most of the area beyond the narrow gauge tunnel entrance has, so far, only been painted, and some needs more work as I'm not satisfied with it yet. However, at the nearer end I have started to add static grass and other vegetation:

The grassy area below the retaining wall will probably acquire some more vegetation, perhaps a couple of small bushes and some flowers. It is south-facing, so I imagine it is something of a sun trap with its own favourable micro-climate. So far, I'm quite pleased with how it is turning out and think it will make an attractive scene for photographing stock.