How complete is your railroad?

HOW COMPLETE IS YOUR RAILROAD?

by Rick Mills

It is said that a model railroad is never finished, and sometimes we get discouraged at a perceived lack of progress. Measuring progress can be very elusive and subjective. 

Here is a little tool to estimate the level of completion of your railroad. 

There are ten categories. Rate each category from 0 (nothing done) to 10 (complete). Then add up the scores to find the percentage of completion for the entire railroad. 

Category	Possible	My score
Backdrop	10
Lighting	10
Benchwork	10
Trackwork	10
Track wiring & control	10
Scenery	10
Locomotives	10
Rolling stock	10
Structures	10
Small details (figures, signs, etc).	10
Total	100

This gives you a very rough estimate - since no attempt is made to weight the amount of effort required to complete each category. However, it can be used as a personal tracking and goal-setting tool. Say you are at 60% and wish to complete it in four years. You can strive to increase your completion by 10% per year by chipping away at the various categories that number less than 10. Perhaps make a New Year's resolution to take a "measurement" every January 1!