Excellent work Joe! Your layouts and train room are coming along well. Thank you for the updates.
Joe, your layout seems to be turning into an absolute masterpiece!
Brad
Coming right along Joe!
Fantastic work, Joe!
Peter
The Picasso of model railroading track work.
Thanks guys. 
Excellent work Joe. The track looks great. Any test runs yet?
Andy
@Steamfan77 posted:Excellent work Joe. The track looks great. Any test runs yet?
Andy
Coming up soon. 
@NJCJOE, WOW, I still haven’t had time to go back and see all of your recent work, but, this is for sure, Your track work is Fantastic, your going to have so much fun running trains on this Masterpiece, a railroad like none others. Your mixing Standard gauge with O gauge is just incredible…. I’ll get to review your work more this week. Keep the pictures coming and it’s a very exciting time in our hobby. Happy Railroading Everyone
Sorry Joe all I can say is WOW! Everyone else has pretty much said it all! I am glad I have been watching and will for sure keep watching!
Very nice JOE!!!👍👍
Looking great Joe!
Love the night-time scenes!
Spectacular pics, Joe!!!!!
Peter
Great scenes Joe!
Andy
Awesome looking night scenes Joe! This build is turning into a masterpiece really quick!!
6/18/23 - The O gauge trains are running. It's amazing what a big milestone it is when you get to this point. I have been working pretty hard on this part. I only started building the O gauge bench work 5 months ago and now we have trains running.
Before we get to the train videos, a little side story. I explained in an early post how Steve (corsair29) graciously donated his srachbuilt trestle to be used on my layout. Right after Steve had constructed the trestle, and before it was even painted, our friend Owen Sturm texted him and said he wanted to come down to see the trestle. Unfortunately Owen tragically passed right after that and never got to see the trestle.
As a tribute, Steve called the trestle "Owen's Pass". I decided to carry on that tradition and added a sign to the front of the trestle. Owen was the best.
Here are some videos of the trains running. Enjoy.
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A real class move by both you and Owen. He will be remembered every time a train crosses the trestle.
I am sure he is enjoying the view.
Awesome!
That’s an excellent tribute.
Excellent tribute to Owen’s memory. The trains are running smoothly! Nice job, Joe!
Excellent idea by you and Steve. Sorry Owen didn’t get to see it. It’s a great tribute to Owen’s memory. Thanks for the videos, the trestle is a beauty.
Andy
Great job JOE👍👍!!! Nice touch with the OWENS PASS sign….he is smiling gown on you.
Wow that's such a nice tribute! Joe everything is looking great !
Alex
An astounding amount of progress in only 5 months.
Joe, what a wonderful tribute and I love the videos! Your layout is truly coming along nicely!
Thank you guys.
I got chocked up when I saw it!
Wonderful tribute and a great looking layout, it's shaping up to be a real beauty!
Great tribute to Owen's memory......and a great layout. Congrats on getting the O Gauge running!
Peter
Nice and neat JOE!!!!GOOD JOB!!👍👍
Nice!
Nice Joe, good old KISS method!
7/15/23 - I have been continuing with the rock work around the standard gauge river. I wanted to extend the rock cliffs up over the bank to give the area a more natural look, so back to foam rock carving. I plan on using foam rocks and mountains a lot on the layout so I really want to get this down to a science.
Unfortunately, when I did the other rocks last year, I did not write down how I did it or what color paints I used. 
Needless to say, the first couple attempts did not match the existing rock work. I finally was able to determine my mistakes and then was able to match the rock fairly closely. Once additional scenery is added, the rocks should blend in nicely.
Using the foam is somewhat less messy than using plaster. I also like that you can build a mountain or tunnel with foam so that it is completely removable. However, just like everything else right now, the price of foam board is ridiculous, $54. for a 4'x8'x2" thick sheet. 
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The rock looks great Joe. Love the water drain pipe with water flow coming through it as well. Nice touch.
Brad
@NJCJOE posted:7/15/23 - I have been continuing with the rock work around the standard gauge river. I wanted to extend the rock cliffs up over the bank to give the area a more natural look, so back to foam rock carving. I plan on using foam rocks and mountains a lot on the layout so I really want to get this down to a science.
Unfortunately, when I did the other rocks last year, I did not write down how I did it or what color paints I used.
Using the foam is somewhat less messy than using plaster. I also like that you can build a mountain or tunnel with foam so that it is completely removable. However, just like everything else right now, the price of foam board is ridiculous, $54. for a 4'x8'x2" thick sheet.
Joe, if there is a contractor you know, or some work going on nearby, ask them to save the scraps for you. They’re throwing it out anyway. Excellent job on the water way.
Jay
Looks great JOE!!!👍👍. Hope EPA isn’t looking….might have HAZMAT coming soon😉🤔😁….
Morning Joe, your rock carving looks great! I have a question for you, I plan on doing a small river like yours did you leave the foam flat under the river or did you kind of round the bottom out to give it depth?
