Big day tomorrow, finishing construction with a Golden Spike

Wow. It sure looks great! With the time and effort you had put into this, I am sure it will treat you very well. It sure looks like you put in a lot of hard work and dedication into it. You should be proud of it.

Finished?

Aren’t you detailing the layout?. Looks good Bob, have some fun!

Bob, that's quite a accomplishment. I like Ron am also a N scale train hobbyist. My layout is 3x5 and I haven't had it in operation for several years. I have the Atlas book myself and I have dreamed of doing what both of you have done. My current layout doesn't allow for my larger trains to operate due to the radius being too tight. My father had a extensive set of AHM trains and as a kid I abused a good majority of them. Luckily we saved many of the pieces, bells, grab rails, and miscellaneous pieces like boiler fronts that broke off. I spent a entire day a few years back gluing parts and repairing them. I've been watching this from the sidelines and it just makes me just want to start taking all of my stuff out. Ken

Looking good there friend ! , remember when you were young and would have done all that in one day Look forward to seeing it run forward /reverse ! The scenery should bee alot of fun with the train running .

Ken,

You mentioned th Atlas book and a 3x5 layout. Is your pike from the book? Care to share a top-down view? I'm a sucker for small and cute.

My own N-scale layout is 2x4...also buried under dust and life. I dream of finding traction tires for a Bulgarian loco picked up over 30 years ago. Searches for the brand come up empty.

Jim, my dad built my current layout. The Atlas book however shows some very interesting layout details which I always wanted to incorporate into a final product.

A small camera will be great for a railway layout:

https://www.amazon.com/Sansnail-Original-SQ11-Camcorder-Recorder/dp/B0745DFTFC

You painted all those little nails , and i thought i was nuts They look good though and sounds like ur going to have a lot of movement going on when up and going

Bob, Great looking layout! If you are having an issue with track nails coming loose, just coat the nails with Elmer's glue and reinsert. Give the glue a day or two before putting the track to use. Eric, I think Bob only painted one nail gold to signify the completion of railroad track.

Did anybody watch the "Hell on Wheels" TV series? It concluded a few years ago with the driving of thee Golden spike. It was quite a story, though probably not terribly historically accurate. Quite entertaining... and disturbing at times.

19th century engineering was pretty innovative, but damn sure dangerous. Blood sweat, and tears.
Rusty

A sound module is good for any layout, here are the samples of Soundtraxxas:

https://soundtraxx.com/reference/sound-samples/tsunami2-steam-sounds

I am PSYCHED that you rekindled your interest in Model-Railroading Robert! You are a constant inspiration to me!

https://www.facebook.com/scaletrains/videos/459077181680256/

BTW Scale trains site is fun to wander about in

Hell on Wheels series with Colm Meaney And Anson Mount rated right up there with:
Fargo (series)
Deadwood
Open Range movie
Lonesome dove movie
Westworld Series
Yellowstone series
Longmire Series

From pilot to the end I was sucked in and from a bit of Google fu research....

this series is not way out of reality historically...yes the story is all fiction...

but from what I can read of the transcontinental railroad efforts...this is as close to reality as we may ever get from hollyweird