The entire Western Pacific from the Bay to Salt Lake City 65'-71', including a little Rio Grande running on the east end as an excuse to have a stable of GP30s; the Beiber line for some BN pooled power variety and the Reno branch; the SN & TS for more switching; and ferry ops leading to a smaller 'relaxation' layout featuring San Francisco industrial switching on the other end of the ferry line. One of the jobs would actually be captaining the ferry across an air hockey table-style San Francisco Bay , replete with an N scale BL2 #653 on the bay's floor next to the BART tunnel. I'd try to limit compression as much as possible, except maybe in the desert areas of Nevada and Utah and would definitely do more of the Feather River trackage than the Keddie Wye, as I've always wanted to model the Wst Branch bridge and a hydro-electric dam or two.
The layout would also have a quality train-following sound system, not in loco speakers. Of course, I'd need the full stable of Fs and 1st and early 2nd gen Geeps for that WP rostered during that time period in all of the variety of paint schemes, a stable of full CZ train sets, and plenty of freight rolling stock, all with fine wire grabs, separate end ladders, etc. Since money's no option, I'd probably master a more prototypical-sized and looking N scale coupler while I was at it and market it for all to have (not free-like mind you).
