WHATS A SHADOWBOX?
I’ve recently seen articles in the U.S. model railroad press referring to layouts behind frames as “shadowboxes.” This term is actually incorrect for this context. A “shadowbox” is a very shallow box with a transparent cover and usually a frame. It’s used to display small three-dimensional items such as coins, jewelry, or military medals — items just big enough to cast a shadow. Very few model railroads are that shallow, so I use the more accurate term, “Picture Frame Layouts,” instead. Having said that, I’d like to show you a model railway design that actually is a shadowbox! Amalgamated Mine #258 was designed to fit in a very shallow box and hang on a wall, displayed like a painting. When I originally designed it, I presented it as the “world’s first flat-screen model train layout!” The layout is only 4 inches deep, and the frame measures 30×20 inches in HO scale. The design represents a cutaway view of a mine — it could be digging out coal, ore, gold, silver, pitchblende, or whate
