A friend of mine came up with the idea of a scenick barrier. He had several staging tracks representing distant cities. To hide them from view, but yet still be able to see the trains on the track, a scenick barrier provides the illusion of distance. It's a very simple solution, but when operating it really does work.

The barrier strip is made from 1/8" Masonite hardboard. The top gets trimmed to give the illusion of mountain top or hill ranges. I cut the rough size of the Masonite strip on the table saw to the right length. The photo below is of a piece approximately 50-inches long, with one end needing to be about 7 inches tall, sloping to about 4 inches on the other end.

After clamping the piece to my workbench, I free-hand the top edge of the barrier with a 1/4" cross-cutting bit in my router. Moving slowly and holding the router steady, I move in a random, wavy motion.

Below is the finished product.

For ease of installation, I cut two small pieces of left-over wood. I pre-drill them for a wood screw, and then use yellow carpenters glue to glue them to the barrier strip.

Before, or after, installation, painting the scenick barrier a nice green color will give the illusion of wooden hills. Installation is straight-forward; just use a screwdriver to guide the screw into the layout support. It can be removed if access to the rear tracks is needed. The last photo was copied from my friend's web site, showing two of these scenick barriers installed behind the buildings.