Trees on the Baltimore and Ohio L&S Division

Ed Lorence shows how he makes model railroad trees for his Baltimore and Ohio L&S Division with goldenrod. This goldenrod is in season, being picked in the last week of October or early November. To make trees, modelers first need to have cheap green paint, either in a glossy or flat finish. The trick is to paint it as quickly and as heavily as possible. Next is to cover the tree with blended turf ground foam from Woodland Scenics, sprinkling and turning it to make sure all the surfaces are covered. Ed shakes off the excess and sets it down to let it dry overnight. After the tree is dry, yellow foam could be added for some highlights.

Allen Keller goes on to discuss the trees on Ed’s layout. Ed has painted 1,612 trees in a matter of three weeks. To accomplish it, he built a spray booth underneath the layout with newspaper with a slot about a foot wide for his hands and a tree, painting about 100–150 trees a day in this way. Relaxing and enjoying his layout gives him great enjoyment after all of his hard work. There is great pleasure in sharing the layout with other people. He has had close to 150 visitors to his layout in 8 to 9 years. He goes on to discuss some of the negatives or challenges in the hobby. To learn more scenery tips and techniques like tree-making techniques, visit the Model Railroad Academy archives.