Hills & Tunnel positioning advice

[OzzyOzborne]

Hi
I’ve completed my background - see photos but would like some advice on where to position hills and tunnels so it looks balanced. Took ages getting the background fixed without many creases but quite pleased with the result.
I have a viaduct already built in and the track is planned to go fairly close to the rear edge and sides of the board. I want some hills and tunnels towards the rear but not sure if they should actually be fixed to the background or have to drop down before the background starts......if you know what I mean!
I didn’t want it to look odd so would like some advice before I start building....
Any advice or help appreciated.

[heda]

I would suggest you look at the scenic plan overall, are you planning just countryside, a village or town, industrial area ? Try using some old cardboard boxes (cereal cartons) place them around the layout to roughly represent buildings etc, you can move them around until it feels right to you. Also sketch out a rough plan of what you want and where you want it. Don't commit to sticking things down until your happy that it's right.
Having said that I think a hill with tunnel right at the back would look good, in my previous N gauge layout I wired a simple timed stop to the track in the tunnel so a train could pause giving the impression it had actually been somewhere.
Dave

[OzzyOzborne]

Hi
Thanks for feedback....
I’m planning countryside views from all the rear and sides with buildings and stations etc more in the middle......I’ve sketched it out to the layout and looks fine.
My main question is regarding building the hills and tunnels towards the rear......on the right as your idea.
Should the hills etc actually be built to drop down before the background.......or can they be built to fix to them.......
I don’t know what’s best and cannot really decide .......I don’t want to make a mess of it and it looks out of scale
Hope this makes sense!

[heda]

I've attached a couple of pictures with my suggestion for a hill / tunnel at the back.
The first picture is my previous layout where the track ran over a stream and into a tunnel, this is where I had the timed stop. The second sketch is what I would propose for your layout. This is only my idea and may not be what you looking for.
First make a card mock up and put it in place, see how it looks to you, If you do decide on a tunnel make it removable so you can access the track for cleaning and any trains that derail or break down in there. My board was portable so I left the back open for access.
Dave

[glencairn]

Just a thought, OzzyOzbourne. Railway Companies would not have tunnels if they could build the line an easier way.

Would a line behind a small hill (a cutting) be a lot easier to do? A train could still be out of sight; yet still track could be cleaned and any derailments (hopefully not) easily rectified.

Glencairn

[Bufferstop]

It's a well known fact that the builders of railways, well those that get modelled, couldn't avoid the challenge of a hill, so they headed straight for them and tunnelled to the other side. It's always puzzled me that the Worcester to Shrewsbury line followed the Severn Valley, rather than going straight through the Wrekin.
Extracts tongue from cheek and heads for door.

[gppsoftware]

Personally, when building a model railway, I always design the scenery terrain first and then design the railway through it.
Kinda like what happens in real life.
Things usually end up looking much more realistic when done this way, for example: http://www.mrol.com.au/Pages/Vu/AshpringtonRoad

[Chops]

Your layout looks splendid. Love the water courses. My pet peeve with tunnels
is to never, never, never put a tunnel over a turnout. You shall live to regret it.
The other is that it isn't a bad idea to place a re-railer under the tunnel, for even
the most finely tuned equipment is subject to derailment.

Another thought, the average reach of an adult male is about 2 1/2 feet. Any
thing, such as a turn out, or track against the far wall, what is more than 2 1/2
feet from any given point of reach will give you enough headaches as to
make one wish they had become a curling enthusiast, or knitting, anything
but model railroading.

I might add that my favorite sort of water for canals, moats, streams, rivers is
Clear Gorilla Glue. Unlike other products, it is quite viscous and sets up quickly.
Not too difficult to add in wave effects, as desired. Like any goop, it will find
its way through any unsealed cracks, so that needs to be addressed by spreading
down a very thin layer first, as a sealant.

OH, hello, I see a reflection of a tree. Looking good. What do you use for water
effects?

Looking forward to seeing more of this. Very interesting project.

[gppsoftware]

Thanks Chops, much appreciated.

Placing a tunnel over turnouts is OK, so long as access is possible.
If you look closely at the first picture on my page, at the top left edge, you'll see that the scenic area ends with the board joint. The tunnel is built up against a scenic separator, but is accessible from behind (you can't see this in the pic). The tunnel does have a proper 'bore', but this is removable to access two turnouts which form part of the fiddle yard entrance. The two turnouts are Peco code 75 which I find give far more reliable operation than code 100 - I don't get derailments in that tunnel, probably because it is a 5 foot curve radius.

The water effect is from Woodlands Scenics. It comes as a liquid in a bottle to be poured (but not shaken or stirred!). Sets in a couple of days.

[End2end]

Another thought, the average reach of an adult male is about 2 1/2 feet.

Looking at your Layout Ozzie I just want to reiterate Chops's comment. You need to be able to reach ALL of the track for cleaning.
You could use cut/lift out sections (with scenery on) in the middle of the layout so you can get under the layout and up through these cut/lift out sections to get to the tracks to clean them.
Well worth thinking about at this early stage.
Hope it helps.
Thanks
End2end