Steam train shadow box SVG
A steam engine and its tender crossing the hills with smoke trailing behind: mountains and a pine wood at the back, the train on its embankment in the middle, and tall pines, a wooden fence and wildflowers beside the line. 5 sheets of card, cut and stacked with a gap between each, make the picture. The files are free, and every part of the scene can be moved, swapped or resized below before you download.
5 sheets at 10 × 8 in, landscape, zipped, with a note on putting them together.
Free for personal and commercial use, no sign-up. What you can do with it.
The 5 sheets
Sheet 1 is the back and sheet 5 is the front. Each one is a single piece with the same frame round its edge, so they line up when stacked. The colours shown are the “Forest green” set; cut them in any card you like. Cut sheet 3, “Pine wood”, the slowest: at 0.7 mm it has the thinnest part in the scene, and sheet 5, “Pines and fence”, fills the most of the view, 32% of it.
| Sheet | What is on it | Narrowest part | Seen from the front |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Sun | A whole sheet with holes for: Plain disc | over 2 mm | 29% |
| 2. Mountains | A mountain range | over 2 mm | 7% |
| 3. Pine wood | Rolling ground, with: Pine forest on a hill, Classic pine tree, Three pine trees and Simple pine tree | 0.7 mm | 11% |
| 4. Train | Rolling ground, with: Train silhouette with smoke | over 2 mm | 18% |
| 5. Pines and fence | A gentle slope, with: Tall pine tree, Evergreen tree with even boughs, Wooden fence with dog-eared boards, Grass with flowers and Bunch of grass | 0.9 mm | 32% |
Measured from the files at 10 × 8 in, landscape. The narrowest part is the thinnest neck of card that holds anything on; sharp tips are not counted. “Seen from the front” is the share of the picture that sheet fills once the sheets in front of it are in place.
Will it cut at your size?
The download is 10 × 8 in, landscape. The scene maker above makes the same scene at any of these sizes; the thinnest part scales with it.
| Frame opening | Each sheet | Narrowest part | Depth needed | Fits a 12 × 12 in mat | Rule of thumb |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 × 8 in, landscape | 254 × 203.2 mm | 0.7 mm | 17 mm | Yes | Fine detail: sharp blade, slow speed |
Depth needed allows 3 mm of foam between sheets and 5 mm for the card itself and the backing.
Making this one
The train is one sturdy piece: the smoke is joined to the funnel and the tender to the engine, so the sheet lifts off the mat whole and needs no thread. Cut it in black or a dark green against paler hills. The fence and the wildflowers at the front are the only fine cutting.
- Cut all 5 sheets from 160 to 220 gsm card at the same size.
- Lay them out in order, sheet 1 at the back.
- Put strips of 3 mm foam tape round the border of sheet 1 and press sheet 2 onto it with the edges level. Carry on to sheet 5.
- Fit the stack into a deep frame with the front sheet against the glass. For a light box, run a strip of warm white LEDs round the inside of the frame behind the stack.
The zip includes these steps as a text file, each sheet as its own SVG and all 5 side by side in one SVG. More on paper, frames and lights is on the shadow box page.
The parts, on their own
Everything in the scene comes from the free SVG library, where each has its own page and file:
Questions
Does the train have to face that way?
No. Select it in the maker and choose Flip, and it runs the other way. Move the tall pine to the other side as well, so that the engine steams into open space.
Can I make it a Christmas train?
Yes. Change the colours to Snow in the maker and swap the pines at the front for Christmas trees. A light behind the back sheet makes the sky glow through the trees.
Can I sell boxes I make with it?
Yes. Finished pieces are yours to sell. The files themselves may not be sold or shared; send people to this page. See the licence.
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