At the train show here in Lincoln 3 months ago I bought a pair of Woodland Scenics Random Stone tunnel portals. On inspecting them when I got home, I discovered that one of them had broken into two pieces. For trains show items some dings and boo-boos are not uncommon, considering how many times those items are packed, moved, and unpacked.
Some Elmer's Glue-All and a clamp is taking care of that problem. I've read that plain ordinary white glue is the best thing to use to repair plaster because it seeps into the pores and creates a very strong bond.
On the north end of my layout, there is a track going to the wall on one side and coming 'out' of the wall on the other. I wanted to do something to dress those up a bit. My original thought was to glue a portal to the wall over each track. If you look closely at the track coming off of the turnout, you will see that both rails are gapped. No chance of doing a Gomez Addam's into the wall!
But that would still look a bit tacky, so I'm going to put a hill on each side with the tunnel portal on the face of the hill. You may say "There are no railroad tunnels in Nebraska. Actually....... there is one.
From
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belmont_Tunnel_(Nebraska)
"The
Belmont Tunnel is a 698-foot (213 m) long railway tunnel near the
ghost town of
Belmont about halfway between
Crawford and
Marsland, Nebraska, in western
Dawes County.
[1][2] It was built by the
Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1888-1889 and was used regularly until it was bypassed in 1982. It is the only railway tunnel ever constructed in
Nebraska.
[3] "
So I can have one, too! (Actually, two. One on each side.)
I'm going to make the hills out of foam and cover them with plaster cloth. I want them to be stationary, but be able to remove them if I have to. What I plan to do is to drill down 4 inches making two holes on each side of the tunnel through the foam and into the table top. I'll make the holes 1/2" diameter. I will then glue 4" wooden dowels into the foam only. This will positively locate the hills, keep them in place, but permit removal in needed.
The tunnel portion of the hill is 5 pieces of 2" thick foam, 2 on each side and one across the top. There will be some additional foam on the side to give a slope to the hill. I can't go too far, because the passenger station will be next to the hill. It will be a building flat maybe 1/2' deep.
Here's a pic with the portal in place. The socket is there to keep the portal upright.
I think this is going to look pretty good.