I have been busy these past few months finishing off the train area in the basement. This has included cutting a drainage channel (interior French drain) in the concrete floor of the front and side wall to help keep the floor dry, waterproofing the 2 exterior walls, building the wall and framing the doorway between the train area and the laundry/storage areas, running electric lines, installing 3 electric outlets (2 in the new dividing wall and reinstalling the one in the ceiling at the bottom of the basement stairs), locating and installing recessed ceiling lights for even illumination in the train area, installing a drywall ceiling, installing ceiling trim, cutting out the openings in the ceiling for the lights then cutting and installing the aluminum U channel to trim out the openings, spray painting the installed ceiling light trim with semi-gloss white Rustoleum paint, painting the ceiling flat white, painting the walls a flat autumn blue, and painting the stairwell and door trim a satin white. I still need to prepare and paint the floor of the area to give the room a more finished appearance. Proceeding on the room proper is delayed while I install drains and drain lines in my front window wells (or at least one this year). It had been a decade or so but one of the edges of one of the hurricanes that went through this past Summer ended up with the 2 front window wells becoming aquariums again. The water filled up LITERALLY to within 1" of the top of the window well. Needless to say, these 2 extemporaneous "aquariums" were not entirely waterproof and resulted in water pouring down the walls and flooding the basement. Donna used the wet/dry vacuum to suck up the water that overflowed the French drains (I lost count how many times I had to pick it up and pour the water into the utility sink I installed last year) and was running across the basement floor while I went outside the used a small bucket to bail out the one window well in the pouring rain. On a lighter note, based on my current track plan, the water coming down from the window well in the train area proper was right where I plan to model the Susquehanna River. All things considered, I decided against an active waterfall scene in this area. So, I have all the materials for the drains proper but still have to dig the trench. I called Miss Utility last week and the City of Newark came out and marked where the water line is (which I already knew) but Delmarva Power has yet to respond. Of course, knowing for sure how the gas line runs after exiting the house was the sole reason I called Miss Utility in the first place. Here is a brief video tour: