Continuing...
As I continue along at my usual snail's pace, I have put down the level crossing and the rest of the road. Interesting to see how the sifted dirt that I use does not faed back to the original (right side of crossing) light colour, but stays as dark as when soaked. (left side)
The "sand" is exactly that...fine sifted sand that I picked up, dried, sifted, and ran a magnet through. I think that it is possible to stain the sand in areas too, in order to avoid a monotonous one-colour look.
Thanks for the compliments on the locomotive, but I can't claim anything. It's bone stock. AllI did was strip the original Pennsylvania paint scheme from it, and even that is not finished yet.
It might be small, and really rudimentary, but I am LEARNING stuff. Any mistakes made here hopefully means less mistakes made on a "real" layout.