The rules have changed... (but the game remains the same)

When the 7 day model railroad concept first presented itself it was very much a make it up as I went along concept. I had time off work. I wanted something to do, so I built a model railroad. The rules made themselves up as the project went along. There were even unexpected surprises such as a bomb scare in town that led to another research trip to St. Cloud to get more photographs.

The reaction from you, the followers and readers of this blog surprised me. I've got to know some of you quite well. I'd go so far as to call some of you my friends. Even at train shows people still talk to me about how good an idea this was and I can't help feeling that I want to have another go. Perhaps this is what I'm meant to do in the hobby. Rather than build a basement filling HO scale empire. I should be building these small layouts to a deadline. Setting myself challenges in that way. 

So how do I approach the 7 day deadline for another challenge? 

I don't have any vacation time free right now. But I do have a deadline to aim at. The Granite City Train Show 2013 is on Saturday April 13th. 

I can't start the layout on April 6th and build from then. That would be killing the momentum and enthusiasm I have right now. I need to start pretty soon.

Thinking back the layout was originally built in five days, Monday thru Friday. Five eight hour days. 40 hours. A work week. So I could set myself a 40-56 hour time limit to complete the project. But I'm not keen of keeping an hourly record of progress. I'm a model railroader, not an accountant. The thought of having to keep a log of an hour here, two hours there to keep to the deadline is against the spirit of the concept. 

So I need to block out days, solid eight hour days to work on the project. A Saturday here, A Sunday there, National Holidays. You know the sort of thing. I can probably block out three days quite easily. The day after Thanksgiving, Presidents Day, Martin Luther King Day. They are all holidays I get from work. Three days for the project there. Will they be at the start, or in the middle or at the end of the project? Right now I don't know. Work pressures could even curtail progress on those days. Perhaps I might have to work with half days. We'll see what happens. 

But the concept is sound. Block out whole days to work on the layout. So I have 5 -7 days between now and April 13th to get the job done. Now all I have to do is find a project.

That's a post for another day.