roadbed

So we're always told as model railroaders that the mainline is always at a higher elevation than the sidings.  We should also be told that once someone says that something never happens on the prototype, someone else will come up with a photo to prove him wrong.  The latter principle was proved again today as I found this mainline and siding pair in Madison, Wisconsin, today.  The mainline, on the right in this photo, is at a slightly lower elevation than the siding, at the left.  The wear pattern in the switch frog at the bottom of the image confirms which alignment is the mainline here; the shiny rails are clearly the rails on the rightmost track.  The question then falls to why it is this way at this location.  Well, the area to the right where the Kohl Center is now located, used to be part of the Milwaukee Road's main switch yard in Madison, so it stands to reason that the mainline bypass around the yard

Modeling ideas and inspirations can come from worldwide prototypes. For example, in this photo of Japan Railway's Senzan Line, notice the heights of the foreground foliage and how the colors and heights all even out as they recede into the background. Also notice that even though the track is at the bottom of a cut in the terrain, it's still raised slightly forming drainage troughs along each side of the roadbed.