What is the best way to hide or disguise sharp curves on a layout?

Sharp bends are just about the only aspect of a model railway that still cause modellers a headache with regards to making them look real.

Advances in the hobby have meant that everything else from rolling stock and buildings to people and nature can now be modelled with ultra-realism, but we are often still left with the necessity to use the good old fourth radius or very similar.

Hopefully there are things that we can do to help limit the visual discontent that such bends can bring upon our layouts.

The simplest thing that will not only make your bends look better, but also improve your trains performance on the bends, is to create transitional curves.

This is where you gently increase a curve into its intended radius opposed to just connecting a set curve to a straight piece of track. Visually this will go some way to distracting the eye from the harshness of the bend, also the trains will not be thrown around so much whilst attempting to negotiate the curve.

Another strategy is to try and hide the bends. you can do this by obscuring the view of a bend by placing large objects such as buildings, warehouses or a hill directly in front of it. The advantage of this method is whilst the bend is hidden, it's still accessible for track cleaning and the rescue of derailments etc which is not so easily done with a tunnel.

If you have not got enough space for large structures, then you could try putting a smaller scene in front of your bend that might not hide it, but if interesting enough, could draw the viewers attention away from the bend itself: engine sheds, goods yards and cranes are obvious but how about an electricity pylon? You will be amazed at what a difference a simple but effective very large tree can make.

The more traditional method of hiding bends is by using the trusted tunnel. They don't have to just be the reserve of the countryside topped with lushes grass, beautiful trees and a farmers tractor trundling up the hillside. The space that you will suddenly have on top of a tunnel once it's installed is an absolute gift, you could have a small town, church AND its grounds, a very credible industrial scene (they don't all have to include railway tracks running through them) or even a motorway! The choice of scenes that you can model on the tunnel top corners of your layout are only limited as much as the imagination.

If however, you do choose tunnels to hide your bends, our top tip would be: don't forget an inspection hatch!