Hiding Holes in backdrops where trains come thru

[Renegade1c]

Hey Guys,

I am looking to see how you have hidden the holes in the backdrop where your trains come through. I have a couple places on the layout where my trains go thru my backdrop and want to disguise it from view. Your Suggestions and Photos on how its done are appreciated!

Thanks!

[Schuylkill and Susquehanna]

Hi Renagade1C!

The simplest way to hide a hole in the backdrop is to use buildings, trees, or hills to block your view of the hole.  This works well where the track passes through the backdrop at a roughly 90 degree angle to the viewer.  It also helps if you have a good sized space in front of the track.  If you don't have much room, consider a low-depth building (2 inches or so) or a progressively denser row of trees.

Hiding a hole that is in plain sight is harder.  The edges of the hole should to be hidden by an overpass, building(s), or trees.  Trees are tricky, and it helps if you have the space to allow the tracks to disappear under the canopy before going through the backdrop.  You will need to scenic and light a small area behind the backdrop to prevent the trains from entering a "black hole".  "Black holes" in the backdrop draw your attention like, well, a black hole.

Behind the hole you will need basic scenery, and a hill or backdrop to keep viewers from seeing the open space behind.

On my layout plan, I have 4 places where tracks go through the backdrop, and one place where a track dead-ends into the backdrop.  (Not bad for 5x8 plus a shelf!)  In one location I was able to curve the backdrop to prevent viewers from seeing the hole entirely.  My P&LE interchange goes through the backdrop, and in this location I have a pair of buildings connected by a walkway.  The buildings and walkway mask the hole, and a backdrop behind the hole will keep viewers from seeing the inside of my benchwork.

My (very) short segment of the Erie RR dead ends into the backdrop, and in this location I used a power plant to prevent viewers from seeing the end of track.  It is actually still visible, but only from a certain angle, and even then it is 8 feet away.  My train elevator bypass track goes through the backdrop in a pretty prominent location.  Two buildings and a smokestack are placed near the edge of the layout to prevent viewers from seeing the hole.

There was one location where I couldn't do anything about the hole.  The shelf is so narrow that you can't place buildings outside the track, and the angle is such that putting a building and walkway is not possible.  In this case, I was lucky that it was at the end of the 5x8.  Almost all viewing is supposed to take place from one of the sides of the 5x8 (the other two sides are open for access), so the hole wouldn't bee seen from normal viewing angles.  A bulge in the backdrop and a couple buildings along the backdrop screen the hole from normal viewing angles.

Here is an older version plan of the middle level of my layout that shows all the holes.

The power plant near the coaling tower has since been modified a little, and the large area on the shelf now holds the Pennsylvania Engineering Corporation and the New Castle Wire Nail Co.  Other than that, it is pretty much as shown here.

Hope this helps.

S&S

 

[mlehman]

I just posted a couple of pics in my Cascade Branch thread that show how I handled this recently:

http://cs.trains.com/mrr/f/88/t/219241.aspx

I'll repeat those pics below. Here's a pic from the angle this scene is usually seen from before it received some color.  At the left side of the mountain in the middle there's what looks like a cut.

Here's a better angle in a couple of pics before the Sculptamold went on.

Essentially, it's a tunnel disguised by overhang to look like a cut.

Here are two pics that reveal it from a pop-up that operators normally wouldn't see.

I need to get in there with some black paint to darken things up.

On the other side, the branch's entrance to the next room comes after the upper line of the two depicted here ducks behind this mountain in the corner of the main layout room.

[Guy Papillon]

There are three places on my layout where trains come through backdrop :

- Access to the hidden yard :

-the two ends of a yard/reversing loop section (hidden) :

[middleman]

I used buildings on both sides of a wall:

Mike

[Renegade1c]

Thanks guys. I appreciate all the photos you have posted.there are several ideas that I like that you guys have shown. I liked the bridge idea as well as the buildings on both sides of the wall. It will be an while before I can actually get to hiding the holes but I like to plan ahead!

[doctorwayne]

There are only two places on my layout where the tracks enter holes in the backdrop, both in the same town.  I used structures to obscure the view, but that's mainly for photographs, where the viewing angle can be controlled.   Operators can see both openings if they're standing in the right place, although they're already aware of the staging tracks which are located on the other side of the openings. 

Here's a view of the area:

...and as seen a little more directly:

...and with the structures removed:

This is a look from the opposite side of the hole on the upper tracks:

...and on the lower track:

Wayne

[John Busby]

Hi Renegade1C

The two oldest tricks in the book for hiding the mouse hole are:-

1 a tunnel and 2 a road overbridge.

On my railway I have to hide a tunnel entrance.

The Type of railroad I have built just didn't build tunnels or do other heavy civil works,

I have to have the hill so that the railroad has a small village to serve no where to put it without it being on top of the hill which also hides the roundy roundy aspect of the tiny layout and tiny staging area/fiddle yard

So the hill doesn't have a tunnel mouth as such, and the opening is as small as possible and has been hidden with massed trees and undergrowth from the normal viewing angle.

I also have not put any small forest details in that might catch the eye and blow the illusion of the railway disappearing into the trees.

The other end of the hill will have massed trees and an over bridge on a narrow country road hiding the rail way out of scene.

regards John

[mlehman]

John's comment on highway bridges hiding the what would otherwise be a gaping, unprototypical hole reminded me to offer these 3 pics showing how entry to one end of my staging yard is gained. I used a Rix highway bridge.

In the last shot, you can't really  see how I angled the bridge so it wasn't parallel to the wall, but that works well in order to help disguise it.

[BRAKIE]

To my mind a overpass looks good for a city staging yard entrance and for out in the country I always like the looks of a train disappearing behind a hill.

One club I visited the staging yard entrance was by two through tracks that ran by the passenger station and around a curve.Very nicely executed since the trains seem to be going somewhere beyond the station and just didn't simply vanish.