You sure got a lot done in a short month. I could never dream of doing a lay-out like yours; don't have the talent, space, or time. You-the-Man. Go for it.
Great update! Thanks Elliot for the post. Dave
as always Elliot you are really moving along just seeing a lot of the bench work areas filled in makes it look more finished. and the track thus far ballasted and painted really gives that a finished look.
"pun intended here" you do know the mighty Mississippi is not pink. surely you must feel the progress you have made so far.
I hope all goes well with the photo session with the convention camera person.
I know you prefer cold temps to hot so have you had anytime to enjoy the gazebo out back? me myself and I would like it gazing from the rear window of your home! we senior desert rats prefer 65 verses below freezing temps LOL
Got to see this someday, that's for sure! 
Seventy-three photographs!! Yes you have been busy indeed!! I am tired just looking through all of them! 
I will have to tell my wife the top sight to see in the Upper Midwest is in Stillwater! Someday, we need to make a trip!!
Elliot, Thank you so much for posting all you have been doing!!
Amazing work ! And a ton of it ! Don’t know how you guys do this. I tip my hat 🎩
Alex
Elliot,
Very impressive progress looking good. Can I ask how do you paint the rails and with what paint?
Hi Elliot
Been a while so your progress is more than dramatic for me. You definitely are a motivation for all of us. Thanks for sharing .
Best
Ray
This is coming together fast. Nice work!
Elliot,
Thanks so much for sharing this astonishing project with us. May I ask what you used for ballast?
Thanks,
Hal
WOW!!! You guys are fantastic! To all my long time supporters and the new people, thank you so much. This is a labor of love, and it gives me great pleasure to share it with you.
I've been very diligent about trying to hit my self imposed posting deadline of midnight central time to complete these updates. I thought I was going to be late with this one, but made it with five minutes to spare.
I attribute some of the success of this topic to the fact that I only do it monthly. I also post small updates over on "What did you do on your layout today?" 1 - 3 times a week. The daily photos are condensed down to the highlights for these monthly posts.
There was such a great response this month, I may not be able to call out everyone by name here, so please don't think that I'm not appreciative, because I really am.
Here we go:
Pennsy484 - You are correct, not much bang for the buck with those little pieces up against the backdrop, but I can't ballast or do scenery without them. I have some even more difficult spots in aisle 2 that need attention soon.
Pat - It will be very interesting to see how well the layout is received. Three rail modern urban isn't really on the narrow gauge radar, but I will be part of a good group of east metro layouts. The sheer size and the operation angle may pique interest.
Paul - There's still a bunch of this stuff left to do. One nice thing about jumping around the room with ballasting, is playing "connect the dots". Makes it more of a game. I'm so close on aisle one upper, like 4 or 5 feet on the mainline. Gotta finish the bowl tracks at Northtown, so I can move all the cars from the Western Ave yard, so I Patrick and I fill the holes and I can paint.
Art - That;s part of the beauty of this platform, without ever leaving my house, I can motivate or teach others in the hobby. My years of experience are passed on and not wasted, so others benefit. The measurement on those Masonite strips between the rails wasn't very scientific, I just grabbed a car and measured, so the flanges didn't hit. The straight ones were easy, I used super glue to hold them, The curved ones were a pain. On the sharper curves, I had to turn the material on edge, because it doesn't bend in the horizontal. Then I laminated two 1/4" strips by gluing one, then the other. Even though I had them the correct width, on the curve, they needed a slightly wider gap. Easily trimmed with a utility knife, because of the nature of the material,
645 - Unfortunately, running trains has been moved to the back burner for now, with all of the ballasting and painting. I've been cleaning as I go when both processes are complete in a given area. I offered to buy out the last few month of my son"s lease, so he can come back before the snow flies. He's thinking about it. I talked to my daughter yesterday and asked if she wanted to help wit scenery, She didn't say no. Fingers crossed. This can be a hobby for the whole family after all.
Ray (St Paul) - I'm surprised how much of a difference paint and ballast make. My other trick is to paint the bare wood, just a generic brown. I could put my scenery right on top of that. We'll see. Spring is on the way! The gazebo is still in the deep snow, but this morning, I shoveled the deck so I can grill on Sunday. Been so long, I hope I remember how.
John - It should be looking good by September for the convention. After that, maybe OGR will come out.
Mark - It was going to be 74 pictures, but I accidentally deleted one. That was about half of what I took this month. The reader's digest version.
Alex - It's just one screw at a time. We burned through a 5 pound box in 3 sessions. I''m almost done with a gallon of rail paint, but it's more like double that, because it's thinned with water.
Rich - It's regular latex wall paint. The color was picked to match a batch of track that I bought from a forum member. I use the cheapest Badger air brush, a single action external mix. Like $8 on eBay. I have a big portable compressor turned down to 30 pounds.
Ray M - Long time no see! Welcome back. Got a lot done in a year plus.
Jim - Progress does seem to be accelerating, and that's a very good thing. I should have it looking good by September.
Hal - I'm using roofing granules, but not just any old roofing granules. The come from a quarry near here, which actually provides real ballast to the local railroads. It doesn't get more prototypical than that.
Elliot, amazing work. I hate to work on the wiring on my layout, You make it look so easy. Five stars for your work. Don
Thanks Don. Most of the heavy wiring is in place, there's just some minor cleanup left to do. It helps to have had a nearly unlimited supply, left over from enterTRAINment. The only wire I bought was a spool of Cat5 which I used to wire my Tortoises. I will need another spool for all those signals I'm installing. Outside chance I'll need two (thousand feet).
Eliot
Thanks for the updates. I've enjoyed the progress updates. your ballasting and rail painting is the start of the scenery and from here your work is really going to be visible. Enjoy the RR and cant wait for the March update.
Question in using an airbrush to weather/paint the rails how are you cleaning the tops of the rails for electronic connectivity?
Steve
Thanks Steve. I just use a scrap of Masonite to scrape the tops of the rails. The latex paint comes off easily along with any glue that may have landed on the rail.
Despite the fact that with every report of your progress I have to spend time in therapy over my own pathetic attempts (20 years or so, and my basement is still not done, let alone starting a layout!) *lol*, it is really cool to watch it come together. I wish I lived closer, the phase you are in is my favorite, I love doing things like ballasting and scenery and it would be awesome to be able to help with that. I can't believe you got through all the wiring and tech you are using (I am a black sheep, my dad was an EE, my brother is one, I ended up in software QA) and to this phase in the time you did it, amazing.
Elliot;
Absolutely Outstanding!
I wish I lived closer than upstate New York. I'd probably be there to help most of the time.
I hope you are keeping your health under control.
Jay
Thanks guys, sadly I live pretty far from the center of the 3 rail world, but I appreciate the offers.
Everyone should think about making the trip for the convention in early September. Lots to see and do beside my layout.
National Narrow Gauge Convention
I'm not listed yet, but that will change in a couple weeks. When it does, I'll put the link in my signature.
Thank you for the update.
I look forward to your monthly updates on this amazing layout.
OK gang, it's coming down to crunch time. Those of you who have been following my project for a while, know that I've been working toward getting my layout on the tour for the National Narrow Gauge Convention in September. On the fourteenth, they came out to take pictures. Let's just say the results were underwhelming. I spent the second half of the month working to fix that.
I'll start with the rather mundane first half of the month, mainly a continuation of projects from February, rail painting ballasting and roadbed carving.
I started installing the paved area at Midway Intermodal.
I finished ballasting the Division Street wye.
Then continued on to the west a little further.
I painted the rail at Western Ave.
I finished ballasting the front tracks at Hoffman.
These cars were all removed from Western, and lifted to Midway for more rail painting.
Seems like forever ago that I painted 35th Avenue.
I glued that small section of ballast before Patrick came over.
Patrick and I worked on filling the remaining holes in the benchwork at Western.
After that, we each grabbed a carpet knife, and carved roadbed. Patrick captured me at East Minneapolis.
He carved Shoreham.
Many people here on the forum have suggested chicken grit for ballast. I have an HO buddy who uses it on his sidewalk in the winter. While at his house about a month ago, I got a chance to see it first hand. Turns out that it comes from a quarry that also produces ballast, mainly used by the UP and previously C&NW. PERFECT! Well almost, many of the grains are too large, so the material needs to be sifted. I did the first batch, but then got my wife to take over.
It's a beautiful purpleish pink.
Halfway done.
Switching gears: This is the picture that was taken for the convention. Pretty sad really. Lit a fire under my butt. Once again this was taken on the fourteenth.
All of what follows has been trapped in my head. Time to make it happen. First I cut some old ceiling tiles into strips. Then I stacked them, gluing and screwing them together as I went.
The wall is taking shape.
I also kept working on ballasting Western.
Almost done stacking.
Stacking done, moving on to carving.
Before I go any further, it might be helpful to show you what this area is supposed to look like.
This is a favorite picture of mine. I use it for my desktop.
I added the faces to the other three foam sections, and the lower part is all carved. As you can see, I'm working from photos hung on the upper deck fascia.
I primed the carved wall.
Patrick came over a second time. He seems to like to take pictures of me working. There isn't much clearance in this section, so I glued the ceiling tile on flat with the back facing out. I'm using a wire brush to do the carving.
As soon as I was done carving, I grabbed the paints
It's looking a whole lot better, but I'm not there yet.
While I was painting, Patrick finished carving the roadbed at Midway...
and Frogtown.
Time to finish the upper sections by adding their tops.
I left the overhang on purpose.
I'm almost done with the ballast at Western.
Time to start thinking green. These trees have been stored under the layout for the last 18 years. They are from enterTRAINment.
The fifth section to the right of the four large ones, needed a transition...
down to the road which crosses the tracks.
I used my saber saw with a knife blade to cut the saw tooth top ledge. The face was carved with a heavy duty hot knife from Micro Mark.
Primer was used to get rid of the pink.
Here it is with a base coat of paint.
Here's how it looked at the end of today.
I started sticking the trees in the foam. Very low tech tool for planting them, the pencil.
There's much more to come, but it's way better than it was just over two weeks ago.
The greenery will spill down the rock face, and cover the horizontal seams.
The good news is scenery goes fairly fast.
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Stunning. Now is when it will all start to come together. We will be watching.
Beautiful, just BEAUTIFUL!!! 
Chief Bob (Retired) 
That looks awesome Elliot eh. So did you run out of the many bags of granite aggregate you got from a friend that you are using chick grit for ballast now? What's the specifics, name/brand of the chick grit and where did you get it? cause that color is real close to the color of ballast used around here eh
Starting to come together now Elliot. Great progress in a short time. I find I work best when a deadline is approaching. Keep up the momentum and you will get it done.
Bob
If the folks for the convention are having a problem with what you've done, I'd suggest that you could sure use help, all volunteers willingly welcomed! 
It's really coming along for something that's a home layout! The scale of this thing I'm sure will have to be seen in person to be appreciated.
Every facet of this build has been top notch! Looks as though the scenery will follow suit! Almost every time I see your update, I get motivated to get off my chair and go work on my layout. Thanks for the inspiration Elliot!
Looks great Elliot! The trees or bringing out the bluff nicely, and your paint work is top notch! I hope the people in charge of the tour are watching!
Have a great Easter working on the layout!
It's looking fabulous, Elliot! Consider having your buddy, Patrick, document a few how-to projects for you and then submit them to the magazine. Could help defray the cost of all those scenic materials you'll be using and will provide some useful information and tips for our readers.
Guys and Gals,
We are witnessing something very special here. This man means business when it comes to his layout.
Absolutely marvelous Elliot!
Eliot Amazing. Enjoying the progress updates
Steve
Elliot, As usual you had a very productive month. Based on what you are now working on, I take it the committee is looking for the layout to have some scenery. How operational does the layout have to be for the tour?
Some more amazing progress this month! It just keeps looking better and better all the time and that section you did the last couple of weeks came together in a very short time. At least I think it was really fast anyway!! Not sure what the convention folks want, but everything looks amazing to me. Regardless of the convention folks, you have an amazing layout so far and it will only get even better!! Good luck with them (and the layout) and keep up the good work!!
Very nice Elliot.
your and your teams work is great!
Beautiful work, Elliot. You've made a lot of progress this month. If you are not picked for the layout tours it is the nearsightedness of the NG Convention people. I would love a chance to tour your fabulous layout.
Elliot looks nice. I read these every month though I may not comment all the time. I do enjoy reading the monthly updates.
Looks like it is progressing well.
Eliott, great update. Your really moving along in my opinion. I like the track colors- looks like you have been airbrushing. Looks like you have an 072 wye in that division street corner. NICE
Elliot the bluffs are looking really good you are capturing the colors. hope to see a finished photo when you get time to share again. and of course the bluffs wouldn't be complete without warner road so are you adding the bridge as well?
As always thank you all for your support, from the posters to the likers, and even the lurkers. It's all of you that have made this topic so successful, while I just keep "doing my thing".
I spent another six hours on Sunday, planting trees on the next section. I also did a number of related activities during that time. I've almost used up all the trees that were done for enterTRAINment. Fortunately, I have a bunch more armatures, and the foam to cover them. It'll just take time to assemble them. I may teach my wife to do this, so I can focus on other aspects of this scene. Here's where it stands.
There's still a lot more work to be done. My goal is to knock their socks off, and give 3 rail some "cred" amongst the two railers.
Time to answer questions:
Chad - I still have eight 50 pound bags in the garage, but I think three of them may be the wrong color. I haven't called my guy yet to see if I can get another six. I probably can. That would solve all my problems. My original estimate was actually pretty good at a half ton. The chicken grit came from Fleet Farm, the brand is Cherry Stone, size #2. The stone comes from a quarry in St Cloud, MN.
Bob = The deadline is kind of arbitrary, but I have a bit of "I'll show them" attitude mixed in, for extra motivation.
John - Interesting idea, but scenery is really a solo mission for me. I'm not sure I want to have help on this. It's coming together nicely. I'll just keep at it. My daughter may come over to help. I'd like that. Stay tuned.
Jim - You're welcome. Motivation and inspiration are free for the reading. I always like hearing when people get excited about working on their own layouts.
Mike - Thanks, I've always had an eye for color, and working from photos makes it much easier. All of that rock was done with just three basic colors, white, a brownish gray, and ochre (that yellowish). After that, it was all layering and blending on the wall surface, usually going from light to dark, but not always. I ended up redoing about 7 feet, but it's almost impossible to detect the transition.
Allan - Welcome to my world. I'd love to do some articles for OGR. As much as I love Patrick, I'm not sure if he'd want to get involved. He lives about 100 miles away. I'll ask him. All the photos I post are taken with an old pocket camera. I have a better camera for doing publication work. If for some reason I need to be in a picture, my wife can always help. As for the scenery materials, most of that was bought and paid for 25 years ago. Why don't you email me with some topics that you think readers would like, and I can put something together.
Mark - The layout needs to be operational, but that's the easy part. I just need to clean the mainlines from all the painting, and I'm back in business. I don't really want to do that til the ballast is done. This scenery rush is just to get a decent picture for the website. I'm not the only one with a layout in progress. There are a bunch of others in various states.
RTR12 - It is coming along really fast, which is exactly what I need. I should have this chunk of this scene pretty well wrapped up in a couple weeks, and can move on to other stuff.
Pat - I was actually picked three years ago, but there has always been an expectation of some scenery, so this isn't really a surprise. When the wining bid for the convention was announced at the NMRA modelers retreat in 2015, I had my laptop there with a bunch of photos for "show and tell". That's how I was discovered. Friday and Saturday will be the fourth annual. Doubt I'll get any work done those days. I'm almost always available for visitors. I have to put together this year's presentation, Wednesday at dialysis. Plan to take new pics tonight.
George - Yup, that's an old Right of Way Industries 072 wye. Right around 100 old ROW switches on the layout. I got a ton of airbrushing done this month, just a few areas undone, and some hard to reach spots.
Ray - Yup, I have a piece of Masonite already cut for the bridge. Still some engineering and aesthetic details left to figure out.
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Am I the only one that can't see Elliot's latest two images?
Mill City, I think so ! I can see them plain as day!
