I put a lot of time into the layout recently with my focus on the roundhouse and turntable renovation projects. Both go hand in hand with a central theme of building out the locomotive terminal facility for the PD.
This area of the layout is one of the first things that you see when entering the train room, besides the staging yard it stands out from rest of the layout as a specific design element feature. Included with the roundhouse and turntable tracks there will be at least 6 other storage tracks leading off the turntable in addition to the 6 contained within the protection of the roundhouse. And one of these tracks is already wired as the DCC programming track.
One thing that has tried my patience lately is building the remaining 4 of the inspection pits. The Stewart Hobbies metal kits are becoming a bear with the final two, in particular I seem to be rushing the process a bit and this has caused some minor set backs. One of the kits has become such a trial that it suffered a fatal accident and will now only be used for spare parts…ugh! I have totally scraped the use of the brass rods to secure the side walls and have favored the technique of gluing the side walls directly to the wood floor base. This has slowed the process a bit as one side can be glued at a time, and this results in an overnight drying process for each side, then I add more CA again for added strength and then another overnight setup.
The inspection pits are a critical point in the work since the roundhouse track and floor laying depend on the inspection pit installation first. The goal is to complete building the remaining kits for the two inspection pits and have them painted and installed into the sub-roadbed by this Friday (10/05/07). Then the final track laying and styrene concrete flooring can be com
Ryan:
No wonder I haven’t seen you at the Barn lately! You have been way busy on your pike and doing a nice too. I really like what you have accomplished thus far…It looks good.
Regarding the inspection pits (or any project, for me at least): Rushing only causes more problems and the problems compound too! For me, setting a timetable is a good thing as I need to have that push to get into the Trainroom (way too many other demands for my time) but I also have to walk away from a given project every now and again when things aren’t going right. Sometimes leaving a project for weeks or months!
As for a “punch list” or “to-do list”. I have both. My “to-do list” is just that. A list, hopefully in a reasonable progression, of the overall projects looming (pike wide) and / or a certain project.
My “punch list” is the ongoing “fix-it list” compiled of things / problems / observations that need to be addressed. As example, on that list now; is the need to adjust coupler height on the “August Meininger Brewing” reefers, gauge wheel sets on the CCRY work train, touch up the backdrop at Cascade, hide / blend / paint the white styrene wall that is visible on the SL Backshop…
Now…If I just had, could take or make, more time to spend playing with the trains…Life would be GRAND!
I managed to get by without a list for about the first half of the required work on both of my layouts. Then, as I got to your “Man, I’m getting bummed,” stage, often with about 50-60 hours of concerted effort ahead of me, I would sit down and regain my focus, but also attempted to reduce accidents and mistakes in the order things were to be done, by drawing up a list. The order work appears is very important, so this requires some thinking when you can sit and do it all clearly.
Then, whenever I knew I had an hour, I would go to the next item on the list that was not crossed off, and get to it. Before, two months had past, I was running trains on a half-vast layout. Still needs 50% of its details, and about 60-70% of its forestation, plus a sawmill completed…oy vey!!!
My latest to - do - list is repair 10 loco’s that took a 5 foot dive off a shelf on my wall. Don’t ask ! Lots of damage. Luckily they are older ones I really don’t run much.
Hey JB, sorry I missed the Barn lately, so I’ll have to drop in soon! I need to get a “fix it list” too, got plenty of things that need repair. My RIP zone is starting to grow…if you know what I mean!
Selector - Thanks for the comments, amazing what you can get done in an hour here, ½ an hour there.
All I can say Jerry is “Ouch!”
While I have a mental list of what I want to work on and jobs that need completing, I don’t have a formal list per se. I have found that having a list of things to get done makes my hobby resemble work - and I have a hobby to escape from work. I much prefer just working on the project that tickles my fancy at that particular time. The down side of my way of doing things is that it isn’t all that efficient as compared to a “to do” list and in some ways I admire those that are disciplined enough not only to make lists, but to actually do things on it!