I named the railroad the Phules Gold and Yensid Valley Railroad so I think that meant I needed a Gold Mine. So in a little tucked away corner I was already having problems deciding how I was going to land scape I decided to build my small mine operation.
First I took a piece of 2" foam and drew out the placement of the tracks then I went and cut it with my hot wire tool until it fit pretty dang close. I wanted a cliff that was really close to the track so multiple cuts and re-measures were needed to get this done. Once the first layer was complete I then stacked some more 2" foam on the first piece like a layer cake. One last check for clearances and it was time to glue the pieces together with a hot glue gun. A note about hot glue make sure its OK for foam my first glue gun was too hot and it just melted the foam.
After the glue had set it was time to shape the cliffs with the hot wire tool. Now if you want a horizontal entrance its best to shape it in BEFORE you glue the pieces together I mean the hot wire tool will cut a mine entrance but its going to be pretty ragged and a real pain to get to look good. Don't ask how I know this just remember "If at first you don't succeed just rip the damn thing out and try again, and again, and again.
The horizontal mine was going to need some painting to hide the bright white of the foam. So I grabbed some black paint and painted the inside of the hole. I then built a trestle and laid some code 83 rail on it for the mine carts and a mine entrance to kinda hide the black hole.
I then built a gallows frame for the vertical shaft that had pulleys that I strung with thread to look like the cables that run down into the mine shaft. Now it was time to paint the hill and place it.
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