I am in the beginning stages of building my first layout and have had great help from my fellow club members at River City 3 Railers.
Peter Condro, a member was at the house yesterday and we were discussing the process of building. He made three general points that I found
very important. First, unless you are a professional builder, your expertise is probably not going to be optimal for every aspect of the job. Ask for
help.Additionally, most of us cannot consistently work on a project daily to its completion. You often forget where you were when you come back to
it. He suggested that I keep a notebook of how the project was coming along, and particularly when you invariably have to stop midway, (i.e.
building a model), make notes of where you were and what was to be done next.
His second point dealt with storage of incomplete projects. Using the model example one more time, if you have to stop, put ALL the parts,
directions, paint, and glue in one place or box. This minimizes the time it takes to get up and running again, assuming you can remember where
you left the box.
The latter points deal with efficiency and organization and i believe will be helpful to anyone building a layout. I got back into the hobby about
three years ago and have really benefitted from the ideas of my club members and this forum. Thank you to all who post their comments. I would
love to see any other suggestions or thoughts you might care to share.
j
Great start 
