A recent trip to Phoenix allowed me to get some additional photos of the area that I'll be modeling.  While I'm not going for "exact", I am trying to get the feel for the area and hopefully the pictures and videos that I captured will give me some inspiration. 

First, a few shots of the mountains to the south of my line.  My hope is to use a combination of these shots (probably 7 or 8 in total) to stitch together, edit, and create a seamless photo backdrop for parts of my line. 

When you first enter the train room, you will be greeted with a scene directly to your left that is fairly narrow and exposed.  This will represent a four lane street crossing of the UP (ex-SP) former mainline running east-west.  The street I'm looking at using as a reference is 99th St. in Tolleson.  The picture below shows the current under-construction view looking "north" down 99th St. as it crosses the UP line (the door is just past the foam). 

Below are a few pictures taken while in Phoenix of this same crossing, also looking north. 

And looking down the line in either direction.  First, to the west (left), which would be the extension that will stick out into my room about 26".

 

The line is still signaled so I'll have to get the one shown above onto the layout.  I'd likely just have it set to one color (I'm guessing green) because it really will only be for looks.  Love the palm trees!

And then looking east. 

On my layout, the photo below is taken looking the same direction at the same crossing.  I will have a couple of extra tracks to the left of the above passing siding that will together represent the UP/SLTR interchange.  Just past the siding switch, the SLTR will diverge to the right and head south into the industrial area that they call home.  Just before the siding switch (and just after the 99th St. crossing) is the switch serving Maricopa Beverage.

Hopefully that gives a little more of a glimpse into what I hope to eventually recreate on this layout.  It will be a little challenging modeling the openness of the area when the layout is up against walls.  I'm hopeful that the backdrop will help convey the scene.

Thanks for reading along!

-Dave