I've been planning an apartment size N scale model train layout for a couple years now.
Acquiring the parts is easy; finding the time to assemble them not so much - as usual!
In elementary school a group of us students visited a teachers home to view his layout,
an HO scale reproduction of a particular stretch of The New York Central.
Sadly today no such thing would ever be allowed.
Today he is still active. Here's a story about one of his more recent layouts:
https://nycshs.org/2008/06/16/rich-stovings-ho-scale-hudson-division-layout/
Richard L. Stoving went on to become a published author and expert on The New York Central System.
https://www.amazon.com/s?i=stripbooks&rh=p_27%3ARichard+L.+Stoving&s=relevan...line_sr_book_1
I'm definitely no "rivet counter" and have no plans for anything so grand and ambitious.
But I have decided that my layout should include some features of and evoke the NY Central former upper Harlem Division,
which once served an area where I often vacation. Like so many railroads in USA this line was abandoned by the early 1970's.
Emily Moser writes an interesting railroad/history blog. Here's an entry on the area of my interest:
https://www.iridetheharlemline.com/2010/07/16/former-terminus-of-the-harlem-line-chatham-then-and-now/
Chris