Work has been plugging along since my last update, its certainly been a while, but all hope isn't lost!

The mountain is pretty much done now. I've tossed on some grass, a pinch of rubble and a smidge of shrubbery.

Its not looking too shabby for a first try honestly. Its not perfect but its definitely passable. still bits to touch up here and there, maybe a little more highlighting on the rock face? who knows!

I've started to plot sidewalks as well, in fact one section is already done and down! I really didn't want to drop all that cash on pre-made sidewalks (they do look good though) so after a lot, and I do mean a lot of experimenting and googling, I came up with the idea of using cereal box cardboard cut, scored, painted and weathered for a foundation/sidewalk combo. Took a few tries, but I think I did pretty ok.

With, and without buildings. I though cutting and scoring all those lines would be way harder than it was

You can see in the pictures above how it turned out. still debating on if I went a little too hard on the weathering, but with the buildings down its not awful. there is a section directly below the trolley station that needs weathering. I didn't account for it, but there's no building there to cover up the non weathered section and is just open concrete for now. I'll think of something to put there but it looks out of place with the sidewalk weathered next to the bare foundation bit.

You can see the bare spot directly ahead under the EL. Definitely looks a little weird

 An uptown view of downtown

In laying out sidewalks, I somewhat have a boundary for the sub port now. the outside will be lined with chain link fence to show the boundaries. I still need some buildings, so other than that section that's already down, Its all still being tossed around  a little bit, but its definitely much more final now. Even just like this Its looking pretty great! I'm already dreading having to work on the main city...its getting closer!

 the current state of Southbend

 That's most of it for this post. I'm going to the train show a the end of the month so hopefully I can get bunch of stuff I need to keep going, and get some much needed Inspiration and motivation to kick start some more construction!
Also, bonus, I weathered the railship! The camera really brought out the rust, but its much more dulled in regular light. I'm eventually going to put some gantry and scaffolding around the area its parked in to make it look like a dry dock or service bay or something. but I gotta finish painting the warehouse building.

 In for repairs

Fleet Review: BLI E8A

Another Loco from Broadway Limited, this time something a little smaller.

The EMD E8A, along with some other E series locomotives were produced around 1945 to about 1949. and were synonymous with the late 40s, early 50s streamliners. Most famously they pulled the likes of the Santa Fe "Super Chief", Great Northern's "Empire Builder", and even our lovely model train manufacturers namesake, the Pennsylvania Railroads "Broadway Limited". BLI does a good job in keeping up with the sleek art-deco lines of the original locomotive and its robust sound set definitely turns heads.

Definitely not the best place to flip this thing upside down

The loco I have here is the second run model produced in 2014 with Broadway Limited's new Paragon 2 sound decoder. The decoder itself is essentially the same as the one offered in the centipede but is equipped with different engine and idle sounds.
The sound comes from a single speaker, but its definitely loud enough to contend with some (not all) HO sound. Like the centipede it has 3 horns to choose from which can also, with proper set up be quilled. It of course sounds a little weird on a diesel horn, but should theoretically sound awesome on a steam engine.
Under the hood of course is the expected 5 pole motor, and with the sound muted, runs both smoothly and quietly. The drive shafts are also equipped with a pair of flywheels to assist in smooth starts stops.

 The money shot

On to detailing, The most important part! 

If theirs one thing Broadway is consistently good at, its making things look good. The model it self absolutely gorgeous. The separately applied grab irons look awesome, the paint is sharp and vibrant, and most interesting is that this engine, unlike any E unit I have or have seen, actually has a functional rear diaphragm. I've never seen anything like that before, but its certainly a nice touch (I mean it, its fun to play with).

You cant tell from the photo, but trust me, the diaphragm totally works

But as nice as this engine is, and I certainly do like it. Its become one of my most run engines. There are a few things of note that I have some quibbles with.
First and most importantly is pickup, specifically around switches. I'm not sure if this is limited to just mine or all E8's as I only have 1, but like the centipede, this thing struggles on code 55 track. I'm not sure why, as I've gauged all the wheels and consistently clean them, but this thing stalls on nearly every switch where other DCC engines do not. It runs great on code 80 track, switches and all, so I'm not sure what the issue is here.
also to note, I have the CB&Q version, as that is slowly becoming my railroad of choice, but while the paint is definitely amazing in all respects, its just ever so slightly a different shade of silver than the Kato made CB&Q units I have. It almost has a goldish hue to it when in the right light. I know its 2 different companies, but if something like that is important for, like, Uniformity reasons, it might be of some note.
But in all I do rather like this engine, and would like to get a matching B unit for it ,which I don't think BLI makes for the CB&Q. But if your in the market for some really sharp looking DCC streamliners I would recommend looking at one of these as a DCC sound ready option. Just make sure you register that engine so you have an active warranty. You know, just in case...

"this is New Port station to 9916, you are go for green"