Welcome to Christmas Hill

With Christmas now only weeks away, it appears I came good on my promise to have my Christmas themed layout ready in time for the festive season, (even if it was a year late). So, where's Santa, I hear you ask? Well, he's still working his way through the naughty list.

In the meanwhile, here's an update of my efforts to position the structures in place ahead of the layout coming upstairs into our apartment.

The Hornby Skaledale buildings were both wrapped in cling wrap so I could apply my snow slurry against the corners of each building. This enables me to lift them up when it comes time to add the interior lighting and have them nest exactly back in place.

The white cottage is surrounded by wild grass and snow, and I later added snow up to the back doors.

The station scene had some figures glued in place, but I pity the poor souls left standing in the cold waiting for the train.

And in a sign of what's to come...

With the tiny village scene now in place and the little layout safely upstairs on display beneath Philden Beach, this will probably be the final time that my two layouts will be together. My attention can now turn to getting some trains chugging happily around the layout and adding some pop-in Christmas scenes and decorations, (scale or otherwise), to brighten up the apartment.

You'll notice that there is still some bare board showing behind the laneway incline. I've deliberately left this blank for now. In fact, there is an entire strip along the rear side that it is hidden from view behind the small hill. My thought is that I can revisit this at a later date and model what I hope will be a water's edge scene inspired by the real life Ffestiniog & Welsh Highlands Railway as crosses the shallow estuary leaving Porthmadog Station.

Next up it's my final post for 2025, with some pictures of my locomotives in action, and maybe a visit from Santa. Only if you've been good that is...

See also; Artsy cobblestone platforms