Hell on Wheels (2011)

The American industrial epic: building the first transcontinental railroad, mile by mile. Anson Mount's Cullen Bohannon, a former Confederate officer out for revenge, ends up running crews for the Union Pacific, while Colm Meaney's investor Thomas Durant schemes for his fortune. The camp of laborers, surveyors and hangers-on that moves with the track is where the drama lives. It runs five seasons on AMC and leans hard into western violence, and the fifth season gives real attention to the Chinese immigrant workers on the Central Pacific. Choose it for the scale of the work rather than subtlety.