Yes sir.

1 Turn is 1 year. I intermittently chime in. So when a nation builds a railway from one province to the next, I jot the notes down with a completion date, then throw it up when it's ready.

The trump rule is: It doesn't happen unless it's on the timeline.

And players respond to conflicts on the timeline as they appear. Much of the research you see in the 1903 update on Page 2 of the IC was all started back in 1900.