More progress

Panel installed in the fascia

After quite some deliberation where exactly to put the local panel for Emsingen, I cut a hole in the fascia, and put the panel behind. This gives a nice look, and I hope the panel will be in a useful position for operators of all ages. The alternatives just didn't work for everyone. I tried installed the panel at an angle below the fascia, but that would have required to either intrude into the operator space, or the panel wouldn't have been visible for taller operators. Another option I briefly considered was the mount it from the ceiling (maybe on a movable arm), but that wasn't really satisfying either. In the end the traditional "mount it in the fascia" option worked out best. The temporary mounts for the panel will remain in place until I have a chance to give it a good work-out.

Platform detail.

I cleaned half of the underground track so far. I cut myself a little "cleaning pad" from hardboard and glued a handle to it. That way it's easy to apply some cleaning solution to the hardboard and slide it up and down the track. I'm trying to avoid using a Brightboy to reduce the amount of new scratches on these old sectional tracks.

The platforms of Emsingen are taking shape. The platform edges are made from wood and will get a pattern of large stone blocks when I'm done with the sand cover. The area between the wood pieces are filled with very fine, soupy and colored plaster, and topped with very fine N scale ballast.

This method of building a platform has grown on me, and I'm likely going to use it again when it's time to build the platform in Talheim. The photo shows the almost finished state of the platform (of course for messy work like this, the track gets covered up with painters tape). Later I will add some vegetation, "platform furniture" (lights, benches, signs), as well as people to break up the monotony.