This has probably been written about before. I think that is why I have the idea in mind.
I am thinking of adding a spur or loop in the distance (at the far far end of the layout or up on a hillside) of N scale to run a train or two for illusion of distance.....depth on the layout. Of course it would not be connected to the my main HO layout other than scenic and road name matching, and would run unattended on a loop of its own sort of.
Just thinking....I have a couple of N scale locos in a drawer.
Anyone try this?
I haven't done it, but I too have often thought about it, like having the HO version enter a 'spiral tunnel', then emerge higher up the mountain in N or smaller...
This sounds like an interesting idea. I've thought of having a remote industry way in the backround with a couple of N scale cars on a section of track. In order to add to the operations of my small railroad, I have a couple of "off-layout" industries I switch, and I thought that having something like this in the distance would enhance the look and feel. I did end up building some close to N scale vertical tanks, as part of my main industry, to give the feel of distance.
Mike.
My You Tube
Art Hill had a small mine scene in N scale as a static display in his Yosemite Falls scene.
If I ever succumb to a fit of madness and put either a Shinkansen route or a maglev trough through the foothills behind Tomikawa it will be N scale (or possibly Z scale.) The only reason to have it would be to model that 'muzzle brake/silencer' tunnel portal. Before they were built a train coming out from under the mountain would push a tunnelful of compressed air ahead of it, with a blast like a muzzle-loaded 32 pounder.
Of course, that hasn't yet happened full scale in my prototype area, half a century after my modeled period...
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
My only drawback right now is getting Jason at Rapido Trains to release a 'Perspective Set' of their 'Totally Wired' telephone poles. The successively smaller poles would be easy enough, but to properly scale down the wire over a distance...well, I have faith in you, Jason; anyone that can come up with non-buckling screens can obviously do ANYTHING...
Yes, I think their HO poles are great. I have three sets running across the desert.
When I was first working on the plan for my layout I had an idea about having an HO train disappear into a tunnel going away from the viewer and then having an identical N scale train come out of the other side of the mountain. The N scale train would run across some terrain and then disappear into a second mountain still in the background. Then the original HO scale train would appear from the opposite side of the second mountain.
The first thing I discovered when I tried to draw it out was that I needed way more space than I had available for the N scale train loop and the size of the mountains needed to make it look convincing. The rest of it didn't seem too difficult. All that was really needed to make it work on its own were some timing control circuits, but even those could be done away with if the two trains were controlled manually.
Maybe if I ever win the lottery.....!
I am going to use some N scale structures as background buildings in my HO city scene. They will be high rise office buildings mounted behind two layers of HO buildings. The N scale buildings were built from Walthers Modulars. The window sizes are fairly large so they are not too much smaller than the HO ones in the front. I used .010" styrene strip for sash joints across the middle of the windows instead of the included multi-pane windows which look too industrial (which was their intent).
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
I think it's pretty common to do use forced perspective, though usually not moving trains. Richard Stoving's New York Central that was in MR a few months ago uses N scale buildings and vehicles in different parts of the layout. Many of us have some N scale somewhere on our HO layouts, like buildings in the back part of a town scene etc. I have a scene where I use smaller and smaller pine trees as you go farther from the aisle, with some N scale deer. John Allen had a non-operating train on his layout that was roughly N scale or a touch smaller.
http://mrr.trains.com/how-to/model-train-layouts/2013/11/the-new-york-central-hudson-division-layout-gallery
As for operating, I'd have to research the guy's name, but there is / was a guy who was in MR from New Zealand or Australia who modelled US logging railroads in the Pacific Northwest who had On3 or On30 trains, with a loop of HO towards the background for forced perspective.
Here is an example of a somewhat crazy layout integrating various scales, from "G" scale all the way down to Z and beyond.
Video
Ulrich!
That is one neat layout! It is a very good example of how forced perspective can be made to work. Of course, it doesn't seem to have any operating capabilities, as in being able to run different trains through the layout, but for the train show attendees it would be very entertaining.
None the less, it demonstrates that it can be done.
IIRC, the scale are 1/25, 1/50, 1/100 and 1/200. It was on display at the ONTRAXS 2011 model train show in Utrecht/Netherlands, and won "Best of Show" there.
I have my doubts, though, that the basic principle can be applied to all sorts of layouts. B.A. Bodil is build in a small box, allowing only for one viewing angle. When you have more than one viewing angle, forced perspective won´t work as good, IMHO.
So a fixed perspective, like a ceiling train layout, might also work..?