Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet and start something.
When I lived in South Carolina I had little time during the week to work on the layout, and only a couple hours a day on the weekends. Seemed hopeless. So I made it a habit to spend 10 to 15 minutes every evening on the layout. I couldn't do much in that time, but it was something. I was trying to build a large yard and making almost no progress. In 10 or 15 minutes I could at least lay part of a section of flextrack (I was using ME Code 70 rail, spiking it to the cork about every 5th tie - I hadn't yet discovered adhesive caulk). It would take two or three days just to lay one 3' section. After a few months of that, I suddenly had the entire rather large yard laid!
Moral of the story - just start, even if you have almost no time, or if the tasks seem insurmountable. Even 10 minutes of work will add up to real progress over a few weeks or months.
Mark P.
Website: http://www.thecbandqinwyoming.comVideos: https://www.youtube.com/user/mabrunton
You could go at it bit by bit as Mark has suggested. But, IMHO, 10 or 15 minutes per night is just not enough time. So make it 30 minutes or even 60 minutes.
Rich
Alton Junction
Yes, that's the way it will work. Unless you set your watch timer app to go off in 20 minutes and snatch that bit of time to ream out some sticky trucks with the 'tuner', or to change that one low-hanging coupler, AND close up as soon as your watch gives its haptic signal, you'll probably find the better part of a full hour, maybe two, have passed before you know it.
I use my watch's haptic indicator timer to alert me to move garden hoses during the summer. We have to water to strict hourly limits where I live, so I have to make the most of the time by running water at the bases of trees or sprayed into beds, and then get them moved right smartly when the signal goes.
One thing that helps me is that I have a 5'4" x 12' flat top test layout. This allows me to try out new ideas, but it also allows me to quickly set up a loop of sectional track and just run some trains. Plop on a few ready built structures, rtr trees, and add a couple of spurs I can do some operating. Just having fun.
Then I work on my 10 1/2' x 34' layout for a bit.
And sometimes I work on a kit or two.
Once I have a few feet of track laid I start running trains using 2 wires with alligator clips attached to the rails.
I don't worry about how much progress I am making, I just enjoy the process. I have never finished a layout, and rarely get to scenery before a move or other event forces me to start over. This layout is my 10th or 12th or so - I have lost track over the years.
Through it all, I just have fun in a relaxed sort of way.
Paul