A placebo half relief train

A somewhat strange title but I wanted a train in a platform when I had no room for a full station. This article is not an in depth account of ’how to do it‘ but rather a long note on a concept or idea for adding extra detail to a layout if space is a problem, or just for the fun of it.

At the rear of my layout, I have a station building with viewing on one side only; and a quarter- to half-depth bay platform with low relief station canopy. Rather than a plain sky-blue background behind the platform, I thought it might be fun to try and simulate a train standing in a platform. I experimented with a coloured published drawing of a locomotive which I scanned and enlarged up to 7mm and was quite pleased with the result but it looked (sorry) flat. The thought crossed my mind to have a half kit but in O gauge this would be an expensive embellishment and there were only a few millimetres available. There might have been enough space for a coach side, but again cost was a factor. Even so, a coach side is flatter than a loco so it would make life simpler.

I then recalled the pre-war lithograph drawings from Hamblings, which were still available in the sixties when I started modelling. I found out that they are still available today. I purchased a sheet from the UK (I live in Adelaide, Australia) which cost £1.50 for the sheet and £15 for postage; it was still cheaper than a brass coach kit.

I scanned the coach side I wanted, blew it up to 7mm scale using a computer drawing package and printed it onto two A4 sheets. After gluing to thin card, I placed it at the platform. Careful cutting and joining the two sheets at, say, a door edge minimizes visibility of the join. At my viewing distance of about four feet the join is invisible. There was still that feeling of flatness, so I added brass castings for door vents, door handles and grab handles. After painting with dark grey paint from behind, windows were cut out and glazing added. The final embellishment was torpedo vents, painstakingly filed flat on one side.

There were 19 but these only took a few minutes. Colour matching of the paint to the coloured drawings was needed where there were cut outs or for the windows. This was not a problem as in this case the “model” is in the shadow of the platform canopy. The colour match is very poor but, in my opinion, not noticeable except in close-up in the photos. I also drew in and painted the roofs. Standing in the platform, the two-and-a-bit coaches look quite effective. Being somewhat hidden behind station name boards, with hanging lamps under the canopy an added distraction, the printed side is masked. I wonder if readers agree? The rest of the photos show the result in cruel enlargement.

As an aside, I use railway dioramas with track not connected to the main layout quite a bit. Due to narrow baseboards, scenery such as villages, churches etc. would have looked too cramped. Instead I make railwayorientated dioramas, complete with track; areas such as the corner of a goods yard or a coal yard. They are also a good place to hold extra stock or stock that has seen better days; for example, old crude coarse scale models I am loath to part with for nostalgic reasons.