We've made a lot of progress since my last update! Unfortunately I haven't any photos to post (yet), but they're coming.

• Room preparation, including suspended ceiling and painting the cinderblock with Drylock, is complete. Carpet tiles in the aisle areas will go in once we're done with the messiest benchwork construction.
• The masonite backdrop has been completed everywhere but in front of the Upper Staging yard. That portion will go in once the yard is completed. Backdrop (sky) painting is about half done, and the three-dimensional tree/ridge portion of the backdrop is ready for about half of that. What a difference the sky-blue backdrop and layout lighting make!
• The spline subroadbed for the double-track mainline is also complete... we installed the "Golden Spline" on November 9, 2006! The roadbed, ballast shoulders, and super-elevation foundation are in from Scranton to the top of the grade, and the track extends about halfway up the grade.
• Locations of the mainline towns have been pretty much set, especially on the grade. See the Track Plan on the Model main page for their general locations. I also have updated the plan to include the final Mole configuration and to show the backdrop.
• Bridge 60 interlocking trackwork has been constructed, but the wiring and turnout-control mechanisms have yet to be installed. Hidden portions of the trackwork in Rupert have also been constructed, but since there's lots to be done before that area is connected to the rest of the railroad, Rupert is on hold for a while.
• Track at both ends of the Upper Staging yard is complete. We've installed Tortoise machines and wiring on the west end ladder, but the east end ladder still needs both. We're building the yard throats and ladders on the Homasote roadbed at the "workbench" (well, okay -- the benchwork near the future location of Taylor Yard), and will move the complete units to the already-built benchwork/plywood subroadbed in the corner of the basement. That way we can build the yard in (relative) comfort. Once the homasote/track assembly is glued to the plywood, we'll lay the connecting body tracks.
• Although we've built the Mole's area, we haven't gotten the roadbed in yet. For now, staging consists of the double-ended yards. Control of the yard throats and ladders is still to be built, and will be accomplished using Bruce Chubb's C/MRI to simplify wiring. Each end of each yard needs a control point both within the Mole area and in the aisle near the yard. To make that work using conventional components (diode matrices, locking relays, etc) proved to be such a large amount of work to this non-electronics guy that C/MRI seemed much simpler. Plus it allows future revisions to be easily incorporated.

We've run trains to the end of track, just inside the west portal of the Nay Aug Tunnel! By that point the entire "typical train" (15 feet long, or three six-axle diesels, about nineteen 50- and 60-foot cars, and a caboose) is on the grade, so I've had a chance to do some tractive effort testing, with mixed results. My goal is to balance grade, motive power tractive effort, and car weight so that a "typical" train will not be able to make the grade without at least one, but preferably two, helpers.

Preliminary testing suggested increasing the grade substantially would accomplish that goal, so we revised part of the grade so the entire distance is about 3.5%. Unfortunately when I tested the grade with a train of NMRA-standard-weighted cars, three locos pulled it up with ease. Darn those smooth-running, powerful locos! I tried several loco types with similar results. Reducing the number of locos improved things, of course, but two locos could still usually pull the train -- even after careful tuning of the rolling stock's trucks, replacing plastic wheels with metal, etc. Reducing the weight of the locos helped a little but not enough. I considered removing motors and gears from one of the locos to create non-powered units, but elected not to make such drastic modifications to the locos.

Finally, I adjusted the car weights. Although this approach requires modification of every car, installing the weight in a removable container makes it relatively reversible, and I prefer this approach to modifications to the locomotives. After testing several weights, I found that a train of 19 cars weighing 8 ounces each met my requirements. Since the NMRA-standard weight for a 50 foot car is approximately 4.5 ounces and a 60-foot car should be about 5 ounces, this requires adding 3 to 3.5 ounces per car. I plan to fine-tune the car weights to more closely align car length and weight, and still need to consider how to approach TOFC and autoracks, but it's a start.