John Cutler
I agree that you do not always need detailed figures in carriages.
Carriages of old were not well lit, even on the Southern electrics. I doubt I will light mine so that is not so much of an issue for me. Having said that, I have bought the new Rapido B set which has integral lighting so I will find out if it is too bright. Will I notice the overhead luggage racks from outside?
But it is not as straightforward as one might think.
Yes, prior to the mid-60s, people mostly wore dark clothes.
But not so much on warm sunny spring or summer days; think of all those ladies in summer dresses.
Especially at weekends or on holiday.
So figures on a late 50s/early 60s West Country line like mine in the holiday months are more likely to be dressed lightly, stand out and catch the eye.
What do you mean, it always rained then? Well, modelling rain-splattered coaches and puddles everywhere would probably be a first!
The eye tends to naturally seek out and focus on human figures; an ancient instinct. For that reason, I am inclined not to have any on the layout at all. Why? Because one scrutinises them and expects them to move. I hate layouts with lots of gimmicky cameos of frozen characters. I was most impressed by Bredon (RM Sept 1981) which was ground-breaking for an OO RTR layout with simple but lifelike scenery. The only figures were the signalman in his cabin, mostly hidden from view, and the Collet Goods crew. The Mainline coaches ran with their corridor sides presented to the viewer so there were probably no passengers planted inside (not sure about the solitary Airfix B coach though!). The station platform was empty and blocked from view by stopping trains. The only movements were the trains and the signals.
My need for detailing seated passengers depends on several factors:
1. I prefer my layout to be at a height of about 125cms/49” which is at my seated eye level. This means passengers next to the windows will be highly visible and need to be reasonably detailed but not so much those behind. If the layout is fixed at the traditional 70cms/28” table height, the passengers are much less visible and those behind the window seats could be omitted.
2. If lighting, i.e. the sun, is from behind or from behind an overhead pelmet, then any figures visible from the front of a layout will be picked out by the light.
3. If carriages will not be turned, then there is no need for detailed figures on their far side. For corridor coaches one can be lazy and perhaps get away with no passengers at all if the corridors always face the viewer; this is how I plan to arrange my Maunsell and Bulleid 3-coach corridor sets.
4. If the passenger lines are in the background because, for example, there is a shunting yard in front, then the need for detailing passengers is less. If the main line is hard up against the baseboard front edge, you probably need detailed figures.
5. If there is a viaduct or an open sky or seascape backdrop, then some silhouette passengers will at least be needed because of the (reflected?) light source at the rear.
6. If you have internal coach lighting, you will need some passengers. If these are viewed within an urban lit landscape then they probably do not need to be detailed as they will not show up prominently. If the surroundings are rural and mostly unlit (and the layout is in a darkened room!), then even poor 1920s coach lighting will highlight the passengers within.
Hopefully the above will give readers some ideas on whether to include passengers in coaches and how to arrange matters to minimise the effort (and cost!) involved according to their own tastes.