When I last posted I had just completed adding rocks to the newest section of my layout. I flew to CA for vacation on 12/27 and am still here now in LA on business until Feb. Of course that means I don't get to work on the layout but before I left I took a few more photos to share after I had colored all the remaining white plaster with Woodland Scenics earth pigment. It really makes a huge difference. Even without grass or trees the layout starts to look more realistic.

Since my last post I had glued hydrocal rock castings to the mountains on the newer section and colored them after having glued the tunnel portals and retaining walls in place. The next set of photos shows the progress.

This is the newest section I mentioned in a previous post with the mountains and portals in place.

After fixing my problem with getting my locos up a 2% + grade (it was never consistent for the entire run) I then saw another aspect of my original plan that I never really loved. At that point I had my loco run up hill about 4 inches over the course of 8-10 feet or so but coming back down hill was done inside another tunnel on the opposite end of the layout in about 3 feet. Needless to say it was a steep hill downward though a few tests showed that locos would not fly off the track or even move that much faster so it was doable but I didn't love it.

I left off with the stage of my railroad development having built the benchwork, added foam risers and platforms, fascia, newspaper and tape to prepare for the addition of Woodland Scenics plaster cloth for the mountains.