If you thought that only kids were interested in playing with toy trains, you would be terribly mistaken. Model trains are a wonderful hobby for a great number of enthusiastic adults all over the world. Men of different age groups pursue this hobby with a passion that would make even kids quite envious.
A lot of time, skill and effort goes behind creating detailed model railway layouts. Diorama is another term used to describe miniature layouts that are created to depict real life scenes. It is a perfect blend of art and science that goes into creating this extremely realistic scenery for the train models to wind through. Attention to detail is crucial in order to get all the proportions right and to make the scene look as realistic as possible. The scale of the scenery has to be exactly proportional to the size of the models to make it indistinguishable from real life. If done correctly, most people looking at a photograph of the model railway layout would not be able to tell that it is a miniature replica of a real landscape.
In fact, you might have seen a lot of dioramas already without knowing that they are miniatures. A number of Hollywood movies use these miniatures instead of shooting on location. Outdoor shooting normally involves a lot of cost, not to mention the logistic issues that need to be surmounted in getting the entire cast and crew to an outdoor location and back. If it were a period film, an entire landscape would have to be created to depict a scene from the past. A diorama is a cost-effective alternative that provides a more efficient way to handle such scenes.
If you have seen a movie with an aerial shot of a train winding through exotic scenery and breathtaking landscapes, it was most probably captured over an authentic-looking diorama. Apart from using true-to-life scale model locomotives, the scenery also involves the use of realist miniature trees, mountains, meadows, rivers, houses with smoke bellowing from chimneys, and a number of elements that lend credibility to the illusion.
There are exceptionally talented professionals that create masterfully crafted model railway layouts. Model train enthusiasts who wish to have railway layouts for their own use often employ the services of these professionals. Many of them are also hired by filmmakers to create realistic backgrounds and miniature sets for several scenes in their films. No matter where dioramas are used, they are always a joy to behold for both young and old alike.
Sources: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTbHXPB6z30 http://ezinearticles.com/?Model-Train-Layouts---How-And-WhereAre-They-Used&id=7982362