Optical Construction

Corrected* illustration that accompanied Dance's article

Optical Construction: A method of angling a layout's tablework to create the illusion of steeply graded track work.

Usage: Bob used optical construction in his layout's mountainous area so that he wasn't limited to using only his most powerful locomotives in that region.

Source: Sherman Dance described the concept in an article called Scenic Railroad Building that appeared in the February 1950 issue of Railroad Model Craftsman.

First, Mr. Dance describes the problem:

Building mountains, producing cuts and the like is not a big engineering problem. Real mountain scenery can easily be modeled, and without having steep grades. The entire scenery is laid out by construction of optical illusions - optical illusions of platform construction. Generally, the modeler will erect a platform that is level and on to which the mountains are made to rise from the platform. The result is, of course, steep grades over which only the largest motive power can be used and with a light train. Optically, it is done otherwise.

He then discusses using an optical illusion to solve the problem:

Optical construction calls for a platform that is anything but level - high where you want it and low any place that will fit the general plan of things. The mountainous area (let us say the North end) can be constructed on the low side of the platform. To the South end, the terrain is supposed to represent fairly level ground and this is erected on the high end of the platform. The trackage, on the other hand, is about level between these points - optical illusion of construction.

No example dimensions or implementation photographs accompanied the article to judge the effectiveness of this proposed method.

*The illustration shown in the source material shows the North and South ends of the layout section labelled opposite to the description in the article. In the article's illustration, South should be North, and North should be South. The illustration has been corrected for the dictionary.

from The Dictionary of Non-Existent Model Railroad Terms, 1st ed.,1959.