DAVE LOWERY’S TOP TIPS

TUNNEL, BRIDGE OR SKY?

When it comes to planning a layout, how many of us will use a tunnel or overbridge to disguise the entrance to storage sidings or to act as a suitable exit ‘stage left’?

I’m very lucky in that my layout was built within a set of stables which had internal walls, naturally separating the different parts of the layout.

Do you think that the presence of these stables – and their potential for a railway room – had any influence on me buying the property? Oh no, it was for the view and local amenities – honest!

Anyway, with my large ‘O’ gauge circular layout going through numerous walls, there was an obvious need for several tunnels or bridges to be used as scenic breaks and to take the viewer’s attention away from the walls.

Alas, there are only so many ways of building bridges and tunnels before they get repetitive, so I experimented with a few alternatives…

Option 1: Au naturelle

While painting the backscene, I also painted the wall above the railway with a rendition of ‘sky’ and basically left it at that. It’s funny what your eyes and imagination fill in when stuff is missing. As I progressed with the scenes either side of the hole in the wall, it became more and more acceptable to just leave the hole painted a sky colour. When viewed at rail level, the layout simply flows through, so you don’t really notice the lack of a tunnel or bridge.

Option 2: Half in/half out

Any layout will be enhanced if you can focus the viewer into what you want them to see. A curved backscene ‘softens’ the background and I have seen this work on a number of layouts in the USA.

Talking of which, the Americans really do scenic layouts well. I saw one layout with a girder bridge going across the door into the railway room. The train passed over us on the bridge, then dropped down to the floor where a full, room-length river had been modelled – bloomin’ marvellous!

Another element of note was a scenic abutment that came out into the layout – not fully across, but just halfway, without obstructing the circular tracks.

Standing back, you could view the whole scene and your attention was taken with the trains on the main tracks. Or focus on either of the two sections and the curved ‘half-scenic’ break provides ready-made backdrops for layout photography. This lets you vary the scenic content between the sections, adding variety and fun.

Option 3: The rockface

Why does a physical scenic break have to be a tunnel or bridge? Here, the tracks pierce the rockface, which is notionally supported by steel or concrete beams, with stone abutments. The continuation of the rocky backdrop creates a natural appearance and avoids the presence of an overbridge that would appear to be heading to nowhere!