Plan for October

Well, we are back from vacation, wife's family reunion in New Jersey and Civil War battlefields in Virginia, and it is time to make some actual progress on the layout. Since the last post in August, I have gone down several rabbit holes with the railroad. I started exploring the standards I will follow for rolling stock, thinking about the logging road that interchanges at Willow Junction (will it have custom decals? what will the numbering system be?) and researching more about supporting industries. In addition to these sidetracking issues, I had a problem with overlapping goals and being unsure how to  order them.

I think that the best approach to make some progress is to set a specific goal and determine a clear set of smaller steps in order to accomplish said goal. The goal is: Be able to run trains by the end of October.  The following list is a draft of the so-called smaller steps. While it is tentatively in the order that I intend to follow, I may have to adjust the order. Neither wiring or track laying are my favorite hobby activities, but I really need to focus and try to achieve this goal without allowing myself to be too distracted with other activities such as scenery, rolling stock, structures, or operations.

• DCC bus to Willow Springs side of layout
• DCC bus, a "tee" out to Willow Junction side of layout
• Install the program track and some associated track around Willow Junction
• Wire the program track and switch
• Test first tracks
• Prep wye turnout for box company spur
• Set up Switch It and maybe the button controls for Willow Springs side of layout
• Order Tortoise motors
• Prep turnouts for Willow Springs side, use techniques from previous post and remove springs
• Finish track laying and wiring for Willow Junction
• Temporary bridge using section track
• East staging wiring, control panel, and DC bus
• Track laying and wiring for Willow Springs
• Cab bus and plug ins wired
• Control panel for Willow Springs
• West staging built