How much is "a few inches"? One or two, or four or five? Also, what's the planned scenery for this area. In one or two inches, even a small building or two, or a board fence to suggest some detail, and perhaps some small, half-depth trees, with a painted backdrop behind will draw the viewer's eye, and if there's a train on the track, the background will...well, just fade into the background. Kevin's suggestion, below, is also a good way to draw the viewer's eye and, at the same time, obscure the view
beyond the tracks.
nachoman Wrote:If there is no room between the track and the backdrop, put buildings or trees in front of the track, so you can't see the track very well. In other words, make the train go behind some scenery.
Place a few trees, in groups, on the viewer's side of the tracks, then place a few on the far side of the tracks, spaced to occupy the area opposite the gaps in the first groups: these can be "half trees", with no branches on the side which is away from the viewer, and you can even compress the depth of the modelled side of the tree, too. Then, even some sponge-painted trees on the backdrop will suggest a wooded area, and if you include a scenic highlight or two (small building, vehicle, some cows in a field) on the near side of the tracks, viewers will barely notice the background. What viewers
do notice is the background when you've offered them nothing else to amuse them while they wait for a train to arrive.
I often use this idea, even when there's ample depth to the layout (and in most areas, the layout is only a couple of feet deep), as it gives me an opportunity to control the viewing angles. It also gives you more realistic views, with trees, telegraph poles and buildings at least partially "blocking the view".
If you have four or five inches between the track and the backdrop, you can "suggest" quite a bit of scenery, or urban development to obscure what you don't want people to see, while at the same time offering them something else at which to look.
Wayne