Hey track gang—this is Part 2 of Episode 31-2025, and I’m over at the layout doing something I’ve put off for a long time: backdrop painting on the north end of the interurban. Before I get messy with paint, I also remind everybody about the YouTube Meet & Greet weekend (Oct 25–26): we’ll meet at the Great Scale Model Train Show in Timonium, then there’s a tour of Joe Rader’s Black Rock Central, an open house here at my place with food, and Sunday we’re planning the Baltimore Street Car Museum. If you’re coming, please fill out the RSVP so I can get a headcount for food. On the backdrop, I start by laying in a much better “brown” for the hills (anything is better than that old “poop” color), using cheap latex house paint because it doesn’t need to be durable—nobody’s scrubbing the backdrop. Then I move into the tree line, working to create depth with stippling: darker greens toward the back and denser areas near the water, then lighter tones as things rise up the hillside. I’ll be honest—this is my first real run at painting a forest backdrop, and I’m not claiming to be an artist. I like the paint job, but I’m not happy with the height and I may end up repainting sections blue and redoing the tree line until it looks right.