Layout Construction Update

 Progress continues in multiple areas:

Whiting St. Yard

Painting (most) of the walls at Whiting St. so Chris could help me with the last piece of backdrop and get started on the drop ceiling.

As you can see, the grid is in, and I have one tile in place to ensure things are square. I need to install the support wires, and get the LED panels for the lighting in this section. The door and frame are painted, and I need to work on the trim. Most of the sheetrock work is done, with just a couple of corners left to complete.

The clock was moved to a new position above where the phone will be, to allow space for a chalk board/bulletin board which turns this into a small crew information area. 

Fascia

I started painting the fascia Hunter Green to see how I'll like it. The trend seems to be toward black, but I've been planning this for a decade or so now... It's not a perfect match to NH Hunter Green (too light and too much blue). It looked quite good as the trim around the room, but I'm on the fence with the much larger surfaces on the fascia. There's a good chance I may just go with black.

I've also been testing the banquet table skirt in a couple of places to see where I'll land. My current thought is skirting from the fascia, plus additional skirting that is below the lower level (which will go to the floor).

The lights are bright enough that it needs two layers of skirting to block it out, so this is folded back on itself. It's very inexpensive from Amazon or a number of specialty sites online. I haven't decided whether I like it from the fascia or not. Since it only comes 30" high, it won't go to the floor, but it's so much less expensive than alternatives that are longer, it's what I'm going with.

It actually makes the room feel a little bigger when it doesn't go all the way to the floor, since the lower level is set farther back. It makes the room look cleaner, since it hides the staging level. But I may just do a skirt around the lower level, and leave staging visible instead.  Just in case staging is hidden I installed a couple of fast clocks that will be visible while working in staging (they'll be useful either way). The one you can see at the end of the room is the desk the yard crews will use for their paperwork too, so the clock makes sense there.

Progress also continues in gluing down track, and drilling for feeders, etc. so everything is moving forward to where I can get to ground cover, ballasting, roads, and other below-the-rail detail. Not to mention getting trains running for some shake-down ops sessions.