need help to hide a bridge intersection

[Biased turkey]

After more then 1 year, my 23" X 11" switching layout is almost finished lol.
My bridge intersects both left and back backdrop and I wanted to hide both ends where the bridge intersects the backdrops.
I built a brick structure to hide the left side intersection, but I don't know what to use for hiding the back end of the bridge.
Any suggestion is welcome.

Jacques

[e-paw]

how about a billboard????

[Charlie B]

Jacques,
Why not try using a mirror to make the bridge appear longer. It looks like it would be in a location where you wouldn't be looking right at the mirror to give it away.
Charlie

[LynnB]

I was just going to suggest the same Charlie , mirrors and paint the backdrop with scenery. If you want to get real adventurous build up the terrain to the height of the bridge with mountains and just follow through.

[Biased turkey]

Thank you e-paw, Charlie and Lynn for taking some of your valuable time to reply and make a few suggestions.

About a mirror, I like the idea but I don't think it'll work because I'll put one diesel engine and 1 boxcar on that bridge and in that case the mirror will reflect the bridge ( what we want ) but unfortunately it'll reflect the engine and boxcar too.
But I still want to try a mirror ( without the engine and boxcar of course ) because it should look cool.
The billboard ( with some Molson Export Ale advertisement of course ) looks like the easiest solution.
How about a tree ?

Jacques

[e-paw]

I like that my billboard idea gets turned into a beer advertisement a man after my own heart . I just would have chosen Stegmire or Yuengling.
If you put one up show us some pics.

[Charlie B]

Jacques, If you put the mirror at a 90 degree angle to the track and put a locomotive and a box car on the bridge with the box car actually touching the mirror, it will appear as though you have a local with 2 box cars and a locomotive on either end. The trick is to hide any lettering that could be reflected.
I have a stub track yard with a mirror buried in the wall and it gives the illusion that the track has twice as many cars on it. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of it, and the layout is at my home, 75 miles away.
John Allen was a master with mirrors. <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.gdlines.com/Galleries.html">http://www.gdlines.com/Galleries.html</a><!-- m --> There are some photos in his gallery that have mirrors in them. If you get the time check it out if you haven't already.
Charlie

[Biased turkey]

I like that my billboard idea gets turned into a beer advertisement

What else would you expect from a Belgian

Jacques

[jmarksbery]

I think your idea is right with the building, you will need to do some cutting on it to get the right angle. The one building you have could do both ends, making the trains to appear from behind the buildings,
here's an idea.

   

   

[Biased turkey]

Thanks Charlie and Jim for supplying additional suggestions.

About the mirror, Isn't there an even more complicated trick that uses not one, but 2 mirrors ( one at each end of the bridge ) ?

To Jim: The building that hides the left intersection is not a problem.
My 1st intention was exactly as you suggest, to install a building where you draw it at the location of the grey shed. But I already have 2 brick structures and wanted to avoid using a 3rd one.

An old water tower ?

Jacques

[jmarksbery]

I think the area is to tall for a water tower to work properly. It will also depend on the type of backdrop you will use. The left side/front can be hidden with one building, no problem, the tricky part is the back area, if not done right the bridge will appear to end in space, so a few buildings will be needed to hide the area. Mirrors at that angle will put a big kink in the bridge!

[Ralph]

Your photo from the above angle suggests there isn't much room by the right end of the bridge so it would be a challenge to fit in a building. I like the billboard idea, especially if its one of the modern single thick post type that supports a large sign. It looks like you'd have room to plant one of those. Then perhaps you could glue a building flat behind it on your backdrop next to the bridge. Have it butt up against the other building and I think you'll create the illusion of a bridge running behind another structure.

Ralph

[Biased turkey]

At least I have a solution: a tree.
I might replace it later ( as suggested by Jim ) with a structure ( where the small shed is located on the picture ).
Of course, due to space limitation , the structure wouldn't have a rectangular shape but I just found an article in the Model Railroader October 2008 issue about building an N scale Walthers modular structure with odd corner angles.

Jacques


Here is the picture with the tree :