Obere Entschigtal Galerie Portal

Right up the top left of Wassen, just uphill from the command post, lies the Obere Entschigtal Galerie. It looks like a tunnel, but a fair chunk of it is really a man-made tunnel to protect the tracks from avalanches so I believe they call such a structure a galerie rather than a tunnel. It's great being such a non-expert in these matters.

Before starting, I painted the tracks on the upper level. I may have implied that the rails were painted about 18 months ago, but that was just the lower level that was being scenicked at the time. And not all the lower level at that...

It's a royal pain in the buttocks because the rails are skinny, it takes a long time, and on this layout you have four rails to do rather than two.

As I noted in the previously-posted post (which was actually written after this one), I wonder if I should have painted the rails a much darker brown, almost black even. This might have made them seem less chunky.

The portal itself was cut from slate roofing styrene - as Wattinger had been earlier - and washed with some brown, light grey, and black. It don't look too good in this cruel picture (but looks a little better the next day after everything had dried):

A tail piece was installed 'inside' the portal to represent the lining and painted to match, fading to black.

 A few clearance tests encouraged me to raise it on stilts a little to provide room for pantographs.