Garden Railway Forum

I have a very long run, over 6 metres, where the upper level track overhangs the lower level passing siding track.
I tried to grow tall plants to fill in the space between the levels with no success.
Next I tried to use some plastic foliage tiles to fill the back area in, but they did not stand up to the harsh Australian sunlight over the hot weather season and fell to bits.
It also did not realistic.
I have come up with a cunning plan to put a tunnel over the area but as it over 6 metres long the problem of access raised its ugly head.
The solution I have come up with is to cut out the sides a bit like a cutaway drawing so the inside of the tunnel is visible. I saw something similar in a James Bond movie years ago.
The plan entails my detailing the inside of the tunnel wall.
The level above has the start of a backdrop that will be painted with hills/mountains that hides an ugly fence, the tunnel will be an extension into the foreground of the hills.

I am open to any other suggestions on how to "landscape/scenic" this area to make it appear more realistic. Note plants will not grow in the area as it is behind a hedge that shades it and the soil below is quite poor.

Below are pictures of the area and a rough sketch of what I have in mind.

An avalanche shelter would be ideal, but I'm not sure there's much call for it in your part of the world.

Rik

ge_rik wrote: ↑Sun Nov 20, 2022 8:46 am An avalanche shelter would be ideal, but I'm not sure there's much call for it in your part of the world.

Rik

I was going to suggest the same. There are avalanche shelters on the Undanderra-Moss Vale line and I am going to put a MUCH shorter one on my Claymine Branch. Maybe a shelter, then a shorter tunnel, then another shelter, so you don't have to 'scenic' so much interior.

Another, easy, option would be to simply build out over the lower line with removable front panels and then scenic the flat top to match the upper level. You could construct a soil filled tray with real plants or whatever artificial scenery floats your boat.

Think these might be something to base my tunnel on, roads with an overhanging cliff.
The overhang in my case is only going to be about 50-100mm so not much of an imagination stretch.

https://www.dangerousroads.org/cache/im ... e26e2.webp

https://as2.ftcdn.net/v2/jpg/04/01/80/9 ... LPQkt7.jpg

Interesting option although sculpting realistic overhanging rock will be a challenge.

I don't know where those pictures are from, but the first link is reminiscent of the road down the Gorge Du Tarn in the south of France, although my memory tells me the head clearance there is actually less than in this picture.

philipy wrote: ↑Tue Nov 22, 2022 9:20 am Interesting option although sculpting realistic overhanging rock will be a challenge.

I don't know where those pictures are from, but the first link is reminiscent of the road down the Gorge Du Tarn in the south of France, although my memory tells me the head clearance there is actually less than in this picture.

First one is; "Langada Pass is a mountain pass at an elevation of 1.316m (4,317ft) above the sea level, located in the Peloponnese region of Greece."
https://www.dangerousroads.org/europe/g ... -pass.html
Second one is; "View from hilly mountain road Hindustan Tibet Road connecting Kaza city with Shimla state capital travelling through Himalayas mountains near Kalpa Kinnaur, Himachal Pradesh, India."

This is a link to ones in France; "The Combe Laval Balcony Road" has a lot of potential for adding tunnels as well for more interest.
https://www.google.com/search?client=fi ... =615&dpr=1

Balcony roads look like the best source of inspiration for this project

The cunning plan involves covering fibre cement sheeting with acrylic house render while it is laying flat then fixing the sheet to timber battens screwed to the supports of the upper level.
I am going to try an experiment with using pine bark wood chips embedded into the render to give the impression of rock first.

After scrapping the plan for a very big tunnel I have decided on 3 small tunnels on the lower level with a "balcony" type cut under the overhang between them (so I can access inside).

Meanwhile I covered the ugly fence behind the upper level with fibre cement sheet.
Onto this I painted mountains and hills and across the lower part I glued polystyrene foam which I covered with acrylic house render plus I glued a strip of artificial turf across the top to try and blend the front and the back. The idea is to give the impression of a cut through the hills.
The whole thing gives some form of background against which the trains can be seen while running and to hide the fence. It does look better when viewed from a distance than up close.

Did a bit of grafitti on a piece of shade cloth hiding the ugly fence to blend it in a bit to the end of the backdrop where it meets the high trestle.

Looking good.

Thanks Greg,
It was just a real quick spray pack job I did it because every time I got into my car I looked straight at the shade-cloth I just thought "that does not look natural".
I have some green bushes growing up behind the trestle that will hide the shade-cloth I did not paint.
While doing it I noticed that 2 bents have sagged toward the fence and the track has a twist that has to be fixed, just another thing to add to the "to do when I get a round tuit" list.

The combination of shrubbery and a backscene sounds like a good option

Rik