Journal 1

Wednesday December 26, 2007 12:30 PM Lethbridge, Alberta

This is just the beginning of the creation of a new web site that chronicles the development and running of my model train layout.

The goal today is to see if I can set up the structure for a complete web site that will describe my activities as I create and run trains on a model train layout.

Once I have this web site working, I will describe my present situation after almost two years of development. One fact to keep in mind is that I have not done any work with my layout in almost 10 months.

Then I will document my progress as I continue to evolve both the operation of the layout as well as my understanding of what I am doing.

Back to a few comments on creating this web site. This is the most important aspect of the entire process. This is where one makes the conceptual decisions that provide the structure and design of both the web site as well as the various activities that constitute building, maintaining and operating the model trains on the layout.

There will be an Introduction section which will consist of a folder that contains a single web page that describes the overall nature of this web site. This folder will also contain images and css files that will apply to the entire site.
There will be a Journals section which will contain an index plus a subsection for each month. The index will consist of monthly calendars with links to each day which has an entry.
There will be an Activities section which will consist of an index page and an overall plan page.
There will be a Layout section which will consist of a folder that contains the following sub-folders:
- Track Plan
- Electrical (DCC)
- Structures
- Scenery
- Photos
There will be a Railroad section which will consist of a folder that contains the following sub-folders:
- Locomotives
- Rolling Stock
- Maintenance Record
There will be an Operations section which will consist of a folder that contains information on the actual running of locomotives and trains.
There will be a Web Sites section that provides links to other sites I have found useful
There will be a discussion board section.

3:00 PM

I have completed creating the skeleton structure for the entire web site. It consists of a basic format for each page as well as a folder for each major section, an index page for each section and links among all of these pages. It is a good beginning.