The Mogollon Railroad

[nachoman]

While I don't have a specific prototype, I am trying to re-create the look of southeastern Arizona and towns like Bisbee and Tombstone. Scenery wise, I've been mostly happy with the way things have come out. I'm still trying to adjust colors or vegetation, and have recently put a tan wash on my rockwork to blend the rock colors better with the overlying ground cover. I've taken two business trips to the area this month, and each time I paid close attention to the vegetation and colors and thought about what my layout needs.

Here are three photos from a recent trip, showing scenery near Nogales, Arizona.

   
   
   

I noticed a few things:

1) Most of the ground is vegetated, even if the vegetation is brown or yellow. The misconception is that desert ground is mostly sand and dirt, and these photos illustrate that is not true. During a normal March (this year was extremely dry), these hillsides would be green and covered with flowers. I need to add more grass to my hillsides.
2) I've been representing creosote bushes with olive-colored ground foam clusters. These clusters are too dense, and I need some more open bushes and some different colors to represent sage or brittle bush.
3) As you can see, there are many small mesquite trees (without leaves at this time of year). I need a few for my hillsides. I'm thinking of using wire armatures.
4) The water you see is someone's cattle pond, built around 100 years ago. Even in a dry year, it has water. I don't think I have room for such a muddy puddle on my layout, but this does illustrate the desert is not completely dry and there are places for water features on a desert-themed layout.