Layout depth front to back

Brian, just to clarify the three pictures of mine which you used a couple of posts ago:

The farm supply/grain elevator is a combination of Walthers grain elevator and a scratchbuilt farm supply. It’s located in what, like a real one, was an empty and somewhat hilly field. In order to allow the structures to sit level, I hired a contractor (hammer) to alter the terrain somewhat. A few bashes with the hammer removed the hilly plaster-on-screen terrain, leaving the screen mostly intact and the plaster either gone or in small enough pieces to be of no consequence. I propped-up the elevator in the excavation, along with the other structure and added some fresh plaster to make the lot more useable, so the elevator’s base is a bit into the terrain and that of the store even moreso, as it’s set a bit into the hillside. I forgot, though, that the siding needed to be lengthened to reach the elevator, and simply propped up the extra track on some of the broken plaster rubble and then added some ballast, dirt, and ground foam, wet water and white glue, so the foundations in that first photo are all “in the ground”.

The second photo is pretty-much the same case, as that warehouse was partially over a depression in the scenery - the foundation was made to accommodate the dip, although only enough to keep the building level…it’s not fully modelled. I did fill in the visible portion of the dip, turning it into a very shallow (in front-to-back depth) inlet of Lake Erie…

The coal dealer’s shed in the third photo is sitting atop plywood, although the building has a “concrete” foundation (a relative’s farmhouse, built in the early 1900s, had a concrete foundation) so I feel that I’m on solid ground using such bases for lots of structures on my late '30s layout.
With ground cover applied to th

Thank you Wayne, you always suppy such a wealth of written information, along with photos,…WOW

Thanks for your kind words, Brian.

I sometimes fear that people will tire of the multiple photos and often wordy responses, but try to be as comprehensive in my replies as possible. And, of course, I’m always pleased to elaborate further if something’s not clear to an observer.
I’ve generally been fortunate to have things work out quite well in this hobby, but I certainly don’t want to give anyone the impression that my methods are the only way of doing things: this is just my take on it, and I enjoy learning from others just as much.

Wayne

Keep in mind that your bench work is going to have a facia and if you want that stool to still fit then you actual surface is going to be a couple inches higher.