Backdrop Height - your thoughts wanted

[Gary S]

As I get closer to finishing up my layout building, I am pondering whether to make the center wall/backdrop full height or not. To clarify what I am talking about, here is a photo from the San Jacinto Railroad Modeler'c club website. Tom Cobb works at the LHS and this is his layout.



Here is a rough sketch of my layout showing the wall I am talking about.



Here is a photo of the inside of the building. The posts will be used to support the wall.



And a rough drawing:



I do like a tall layout, for example, my current layout is at 58 inches. If layout height was my only criteria, I would make the center wall go all the way up to the ceiling and then this whole discussion is moot. But... I am thinking it would be nice to have the upper portion of the center wall open. This would make the room seem bigger, and just more pleasing in my mind.

Does anyone have any comments to help me? How tall does a backdrop need to be? Could I get away with just 12 inches? For example, if the layout was at 56 inches, then a 12 inch backdrop would be at 68 inches, just below my eye level.

???