"Any advice for following

  I'd search for photos of similar locations then figure out how to get that feel in the compressed space available on a layout. If you are good at photoshop you might also be able to print out backdrops that help create the mood. Don't worry about the right way to do as there is no right way :> : Just work on it until you are happy with the results or until you lose interest and move on to another stage of  layout progress or train operations.....DaveB 

PA location

I'd be happy to help if you could provide a track plan, era, general location, etc. I'm smack in the middle of Pennsylvania and have been studying rural branches, short lines and narrow gauge in the state. Give me some details of what you're looking for and I might be able to point you in the right direction. 

PA

Pennsylvania is a wooded and hilly state, so TREES are always an appropriate answer and cuts and fills are very common.  Pennsylvania also has a lot of places where you are out in the woods, out in the out in the woods then in the middle of an industrial  or a fairly heavy urban areas.

The other thing that is an east coast thing is taller, narrower buildings and things compressed into each other.  A lot of it depends on era and the actual location.  

This picture of Birdsboro was taken last year, if it had been taken 50 years ago there would be another depot and another freight house in the picture (the RDG depot would be to the extreme left, the RDG freight house dead center, with the former PRR depot in the back left and the former PRR freight house in the left center).

Meanwhile about 1/2 mile away is this location, out in the woods after crossing a creek with an embankment on both sides:

I'm with Dave

I live in the midwest and it never ceases to amaze me what one can find on opposite sides of a small woods. They form a natural buffer between areas.

A number of possibilities.

You could do a farm house with the farm on the back drop.  You could do a country road with a gas station, perhaps a small store with the gas station.  A farmer's field.

Leave space

Especially in North America, there is a lot of space between buildings and other elements.  As model railroaders we see a space and feel it needs to be filled, but usually it doesn't.  Let the industries you do have breathe.

Agree...

Agree with Dave and Wabash and Rene... space and trees. Often, less is more. I'm currently finalizing a similar scenario and going through asking how much I can reduce it and still have interesting operations and maintain the open, rural feel. As an end-of-line terminus, I've looked closely and discovered that I could be completely happy with a single double-ended siding and a few small industries like a creamery/ice house, team track, stock pen and depot. That will keep things open and light and rural compared to many small layouts that try to stuff too much track and too many industries into the space. It also allows room for some nice tree lines, or a rural road crossing, or a small stream, or...