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I've always thought that a well-done prairie or corn-belt layout could be highly dramatic, in the sense of inspiring or capturing emotion. I don't think "dramatic" translates as "vertical" at all. I've seen MANY tall trestles and sheer cliff faces which are desperately underwhelming, and I think this may in large part be due to the lack of context; usually, such a scene is set in amongst all kinds of other grand vertical gestures, never giving the viewer a solid grounding against which such a scene can be appreciated. My own layout, based in West Virginia mountains, is becoming far more flat in general in order to make the few punctuation points stand out. My backdrop previously had mountains towering in the distance, uniformly about 8 inches taller than the railhead; I'm repainting to create a horizon less than half that height. <br /> <br />What I think would be most compelling about a flatland rail scene would be trying to convey the vast distances implied. Yes, this will be difficult, but I think a really big sky which dwarfs the trains, and makes you feel a little bit lonely, coupled with an ascetic trackplan which is comprised primarily of single-track straight main lines, could be just as compelling as D&RGS narrow-guage canyon winders. In fact, considering the abundance of railroad history bundled up tightly with the development of the plains, I think this sort of railroad would be more compelling than the umpteenth Gorre & Daphetic knockoff.
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