10/01/08 - Everything that was brought out in this posting and discussion are now posted in the “Articles” portion of this Forum. Please enjoy - it was fun writing it.
http://www.largescalecentral.com/articles/view.php?id=101&force=1
Back when we sailed a lot, my wife, Jan always said we had two seasons of outdoor enjoyment. A great Spring and a great Fall, but Winter was too cold and Summer too hot, so you better have a project for the inside. She hibernates in the Winter and I hide from the heat of Summer, but it is true that around the Midwest the heat can be as hard as the cold. And so this is my Summer hibernation project.
The plans are to put this in the Article section and there still seems to be a problem there, so I’ll start it here and then eventually transfer it to the “Articles” at a later date.
Rebuilding the “Timesaver”
What is the “Timesaver” and who is/was John Allan?
Who was John Allen?
John Allen a well known HO model railroader in the 1960’s and 70’s designed and built the well published Gore and Daphetid Railroad. He also built a switching puzzle called “the Timesaver” that has been modeled in all scales and even found represented in the 1:1 switching yards.
There is a large following of John Allan’s work and he has almost become a cult figure as people look for every detail of his railroad, life and puzzle. A “Google” search will provide many hours of reading.
Timesaver – What is it?
John Allen’s “Timesaver” was very specific in his HO puzzle. It was used as a means of competition after his “Ops Sessions”. The participants would compete against each other by the number of moves or the amount of time needed to complete the puzzle. But they soon wanted more, so they built two puzzles, so people could compete against each other and then even worked together as a team exchanging cars from one puzzle to the other, if the two puzzles were connected together.
The basic premise of the puzzle is to exchange like pieces of rolling stock for different pieces of similar rolling stock. Though many people like to play the game against time or the number of moves it takes to complete the task. When the Kaskaskia Valley Railway version of the puzzle is played at train shows or as part of an operating session, our only goal is to complete the puzzle and have fun.
As stated earlier, the “Timesaver” has been created in many scales and on many gauges of track. It is believed that the puzzle track plan can be considered a “Timesaver Puzzle” if it has some specific elements and must be specific to a certain era of equipment. 40 foot rolling stock and a small switch engine would make a considerably different dimensioned puzzle than a modern GP engine and 80 foot auto racks, but they both could be considered “Timesaver” puzzles.
Other elements included; a yard lead that will hold an engine and a designated number of pieces of rolling stock. For the KV Rwy, this is limited to an engine and 3 freight cars. The tracks of the sidings are a limited track length, so only a piece of rolling stock, a couple of pieces of rolling stock or a piece of rolling stock and an engine will fit between a turnout and the end of track. The runaround should hold two pieces of the designated length of rolling stock.
So if the puzzle consists of a yard lead, a couple of trailing point turnouts, a run around and a facing point turnout the puzzle is complete, no matter what the actual track configuration.
Why in the world would you want to rebuild a perfectly good puzzle and module?
Well, it’s about 6 to 8 years old, has been well traveled and needs upgrading. It was originally designed to just fit in a 1997 GMC Safari Van and be used at the East Coast Large Scale Train Show. The old dimensions are 30 ½ “ x 156 “ assembled and 30 ½” x 78” for travel. That van was sold a long time ago and though the puzzle is now carried in a 2004 GMC with plenty of room, I would like it to be more versatile for traveling. Besides I’m older and if there were 4 smaller modules instead of 2 large ones, I could handle easier. A number of the turnouts need to be reworked for better electrical connection when running track power. There is a desire for a better connection between the modules and also, the elimination of LGB track expanders for the solid connection of rail clamps. Besides that there is a current desire to incorporate the puzzle into a new switch yard on the Gateway Garden Railroad Club (GGRC) modular layout. The switch yard on the club’s layout is wearing out and needs to be upgraded to larger size turnouts for the continuously bigger equipment. The club also has a need to upgrade the modules, try some new ideas and these new modules can be a trial and error platform, plus a place to perform other module experiments.
New modules, size, weight and purpose.
For the first 2 years of the KVRwy’s “Timesaver” existence, it was only used at train shows and hung on the wall in the garage the rest of the time. After that, a desire developed to incorporate it into the Southern Division (in the basement) portion of the KVRwy. This involved quite a bit of work, since a switchback and a shadow box had to be developed to get to the area where there was room for the Timesaver. Tools were moved, bench work was built and the approach was developed. As it became a more traditional portion of the layout, ballast and detail were increased. Each detail added poundage and time past and the weight of the “Timesaver” modules increased. It now takes more for me to get them out of the basement in the van and hauled to a train show.
So now you know the reasons for the remake or at least the justification. Next comes the requirements for the remake.
What is required for the “Timesaver” to standalone?
What is required for the “Timesaver” to be part of the KVRwy?
What is required for the “Timesaver” to be part of the GGRC modular layout?
For years, I’ve been a member and worked with the Gateway Garden Railroad Club’s modular layout. This layout is basically a set of double loops occupying a donut of 53 feet by 24 feet with a cross over between the two loops and a set of passing sidings on one long side and then a freight yard (FY) at one end. There is also a large fiddle/storage yard inside with a turntable that connects to both tracks. The whole layout is getting old, with most of it having been built around 1995. One of the biggest problem is the original construction was with small LGB turnouts. Over time some of these have been upgraded and some haven’t. However, the biggest problem is the assembly of the entire modular layout. It takes about 4 to 6 people to assemble each module. At around 28 modules, this takes a lot of time and requires, at least one person to be under the layout. For the last 10 years, many times that has been me. Each year it gets harder to do. Though the club has grown, there are more older than younger members that join. So a committee has taken on the project of upgrading the layout. The committee has spent a lot of time talking, but little time upgrading, correcting or resolving any of the problems. Part of the problem is that nobody really wants to take the first step. So what I proposed to do is recreate the GGRC Freight Yard (FY) in a more adaptable fashion of John Allen’s “Timesaver” (TS) as an example. This is going to be documented here with the many notes of the changes. This makes the FY/TS capable of being used independently at train shows, where the entire club layout is not setup and make it also capable of independent storage and transportation to and from the KVRwy, our personal layout, and replace the “Timesaver”(TS) currently located there. It is also hoped that it can be used as an example and test platform for changes and upgrades to the club modules.
So here are the concerns -
The GGRC layout is stored in the club’s trailer and is inaccessible for individuals to work on their modules, unless they take the module home between shows. The current design of the club modules works best when all the modules are hooked together, otherwise it is not very stable.
The wood frames of the modules and legs are drying out and becoming brittle in the hot storage trailer. The associated electrical wiring needs replacement or heavy maintenance.
The club’s trailer is 11,800 lbs. and the individual that owns the truck that has been used to pull this trailer wants to sell the truck. It takes a 1 ton trailer to pull the trailer comfortably, however it can be dragged a short distances with ¾ ton truck.
The club modules do not stand independently and must have other modules hooked together to stand up. The new modules would take different legs or be sat on a table to be used independently.
The current Freight Yard (FY) is located at one end of the GGRC modules and has 4 out of 5 of the sidings with tight radius LGB 1200 turnouts.
In the last 5 years this Freight Yard (FY) has had the lead in turnout changed to a wider radius 1600 LGB turnout, but all the turnouts in the Freight Yard (FY) are still 1200’s. It also drops down almost an inch from the mainline trackage.
As I said, nobody has seemed to want to continue after the first step of upgrading to the larger main turnout. It would take a lot of modifications to allow the adaptation of the larger turnouts to the existing Freight Yard (FY).
So a number of possible solutions or upgrades of the Freight Yard (FY) have been pursued.
For my own layout, one of things I’ve wanted to do is create modules that are only 4 feet long at the longest and be capable of being stored one on top of the other, with one of the two modules being placed upside down in the transportation storage mode.
The 4 foot long dimension is for two purposes. First desire is the ability to fit the modules in a full size vehicle, 4 feet across and the ability to get two modules out of one 4 x 8 sheet of plywood. Plus reduce the weight of each individual module for transportation.
Currently the club’s layout Freight Yard (FY) is 3 modules basically 30 inches by 48 inches. The total dimensions are 30 inches by 12 feet. Stability is achieved by hooking all modules together and then hooking that to main modules. The problem is that the current “TS” is 13 feet long and the current “FY” is only 12 feet long.
I’ve changed the legs to electrical conduit pipes that screw on and I can set up by myself. This looks workable, but is still in the verification stage. The conduit is cut to the correct length with a screw on male fitting attached to one end. The fitting it screws into is a female fitting of the same size, attached to the club’s modules on the under side of the module deck, being held in place with two wall board screws in an area of the female fitting that will not be impacted by the threads. The threads allow minor adjustment for leveling.
What I’m proposing is to rebuild the “Timesaver” (TS) to replace the Freight Yard (FY). The TS is 13 feet by 30.5 inches. The space of the FY can be extended without problems by another 4 feet and still stay within the total dimensions of the layout.
Here is the objective.
The current TS of the KVRwy is beginning to show age. Turnouts need to be pulled and have electrical jumper wires added for positive electricity to all parts of the turnouts.
The TS is getting awkward for me to carry. Can I get it up and down the stairs by myself over the next 10 to 15 years is becoming a question.
It would be nice for the TS to fit in a smaller vehicle.
A problem exists that the TS has its entrance from the south side and the FY has its entrance from the north side.
My original premise was to add another module to the existing GGRC FY and use the wider radius turnouts of the KVRwy TS.
I eventually decided it would be easier to rebuild the FY from scratch using plywood instead of 1 x 3 solid wood construction.
The basic premises of the John Allen switching puzzle called the “Timesaver” is a short freight train of an engine and 3 cars comes to a switch yard made up of a “run-around” track holding 2 cars. 2 trailing point sidings holding 2 cars on 1 and 1 car on the other. And then a leading point siding holding 1 car. The “switch lead” track holds 3 cars and the engine. All switch leads only hold 1 car and 1 engine or just one car. The size of the sidings is dictated by the size of the equipment. The use of a modern engine and long auto racks would certainly be bigger than the trackage needed for 40 freight cars of the 1930’s through 1960’s.
So the over all idea is to recreate the TS so it will fit on the KVRwy in the space of 13 feet by 30.5 inches. Have it flexible enough to fit on the GGRC and replace the current FY. Also have it functional enough that it can be free standing to work trains show like the ECLSTS independently.
Electrical wiring for the TS.
When the Timesaver is operating independently, there needs to be good electrical continuity between all tracks and all turnout rails. This is one of the initial reasons for rebuilding the “Timesaver”, because the turnouts had developed a couple of dead spots and needed to be pulled out of the ballast to have jumpers connecting the moving parts to the proper rails. The old “Timesaver” had a piece of isolated track at the end of one of the sidings. This was found to be not necessary and will be eliminated in the new puzzle.
Electrical wiring for the GGRC.
Electrical wiring for the KVRwy.
06/11/08
This Article is “a work in progress”, just like my wife calls me. The progress on the “Timesaver” is also “a work in progress” and since my back is sore from relaying track and soldering jumpers on all the turnouts, I’ve taken a break to get this started in print. Please tolerate my ramblings, its just as confusing between my ears.