Plans for the Year

I don't really need to comment on what a year 2020 has been, but I will say that I've gotten more modeling and work on the layout done than in quite a while. Even better, I posted more posts to the blog than any other year since I started it 13 years ago. What I still haven't done, and I guess I'll try to do this year, is post an entry in all 12 months of the year.

My general goal remains what it was last year - get back to (being prepared for) operating sessions by the New England Railroad Prototype Modeler's Meet. Being at the beginning of June I think that the chances are pretty decent that the meet will happen this year. So this isn't really a set of new goals, but just a check to see where I am.

As I finalize (again) the layout, I also want to get a track plan for the website completed. In addition, the version of Google Sites that I built my site on will be retired this year. I've already started migrating the site to the new Sites, but may go to a different platform. While I have built a number of websites, I don't particularly enjoy the process and maintenance required, and I'm willing to sacrifice some flexibility for something that's easy to use. I'd rather spend the time working on the layout or content for the site, rather than designing the site itself. Also, it's free.

On the layout itself, I need to:

• Complete a few modifications on the trackwork, up top, but also in staging.
• Drop feeders. There are a lot of these to do now.
• Complete swing bridge for bulk tracks
• Build the coal trestles for Russwin, Stanley, and Stanley Svea

I'd also like to complete everything from the rails down:

• Ballast/ground cover
• Paint/weather the rail
• Line Poles
• Signs
• Roads

I also need to complete some work in the basement itself:

• LED lights for the Whiting Street Yard room, and replace the fluorescent fixtures in the main room
• Install layout lighting
• Complete drop ceiling 

Then I need trains to run:

• Complete cabooses
• Complete at least one years' worth of motive power
• Complete passenger cars (that I can)
• Complete simplified waybills for initial sessions
• ProtoThrottles - I'm planning on at least two, maybe four

I also hope that by the prototype meet I'll have the freight house in place too. That will be the first major structure, although I have a few others in progress as well. While ops sessions resume in the middle of the year, structures will be the next major priority, along with completing more motive power. I also have a lot of rolling stock in progress, but I expect that I will start ramping that up in the middle of the year as well. Santa brought me a new compressor, so it's also probably time I start learning how to airbrush properly...