I can relate to this. A fellow New Yorker who lived in there in the 50s and 60s has fond memories of the waterfront–switching terminals, tugs and rail barges and skyscrapers. Gone are most of the rail barges, but they live on in pictures.
Anyway, this guy found himself a huge black and white poster of New York Harbor that captures the feeling perfectly. He was going to colorize the poster and use it as a backdrop, but after thinking it over, decided to leave it as is and create his layout module in black and white (with greys).
Fortunately for him, the New York Central system loved drab colors, especially greys. He got himself some white, black and grey locomotives and rolling stock, painted all his scenery including the Hudson River in monochromatic shades and presto. A very stunning layout, featured in Jan05 MR.
Very creative. I give it 5 stars.