I am doing Sn3.5 in the 1870's which is a whole different animal than Sn3. Very few people are making conversions in Sn3. Too bad, S scale is the perfect layout size. All those coarse details you see on HO layouts become the right size in S and all those details that O scale needs can be omitted in S.
Converting HO equipment to Sn3.5 produces a much better product than the caricature On30 equipment based on HO. The fact that HO is about 3/4 the size of S also equates to 3.5 ft gauge which is 3/4 of standard gauge.
Our under construction Sn3.5 Roundhouse 4-4-0/IHC oldtime merge detailed at:
Make an 1870's 4-4-0
A "what-if" 1870's railroad in 3.5 ft gauge is quite logical. Using the Philadelphia and Atlantic City Railroad as a premise and moving it to a different locale.
Thank you. If you build some sort of line between the backdrop and the foreground it blends them together better. It stops the eye at the wall of bushes or a fence also works.
Harold