I miss him too. He is doing other things lately, but still kicking strongly this last spring from what I could tell
Stop blocks set to protect from mistakes might be prudent. "Train A must cross point A for train B to continue" etc, etc. Lots of wiring, but better safe than sorry; eh?
I thought of a drop off of a layout and preference for the floor, but didn't want to jinx or even mildly horrify with that thought in print .
At some point a shelf queen is a good thing historically. But I can't be a hipocrate. Personally, if you gave me a mint Model-T, I'd likely enter it in the Baja to see for myself how tough they were.
If it runs and belongs to me, I'll run it hard till it protests in some way.
But I'd still downshift and brake early near the drop offs