Thanks guys. I sometimes go back and read it since you lose just how much freaking work goes into creating something like this. If you haven't done so, Chris, you might want to look at the real beginning on the Track Planning and Layout Design forum where I start with an empty room, paint the walls, put Tyvek on the ceiling and get the platform built with track and power so I could run a train. The Scenery Forum starts at that point with the ballasting.
It starts here:
https://ogrforum.ogaugerr.com/...-vs-old-build-thread
It began February, 2012. THAT'S ALMOST 7 YEARS! And I'm not done yet. I have a couple of years to go. That could scare a lot of prospective railroad builders away from the hobby. If you want "instant pudding" don't try and build a 39 foot railroad. If you're going to start a 10-year project, you better start now since if you're my age, the odds start stacking up against you that you will a) be healthy enough to do the bending and twisting necessary to wire it all up, or b) that you live long enough to see it's completion.
Where we used to live, the retired superintendent of schools was a craftsman who built live steam model locomotives. They too take years to complete and he admonished me to start as soon as I could since many widows sell off half-finished engines started by their dead husbands.
But hey… enough gloom and doom. I'm still able to get underneath and wire stuff up.
