TimeSaver/Shunting Puzzle - Switches ?


R

RR Bob

New Member
Hi All, I plan on building one of the TimeSaver -Shunting Puzzle switching yards. Wondering what are the best type of switches to utilize ..... manual, electronic, or otherwise ?

Thanks. Bob
 
Thanks Greg. I also happen to see a video where the operator did not appear to throw/move any switches. Do some switches automatically change their throw/direction once you go over them ?
 
You should probably consider the utility of any kind of turnout before deciding which will offer the best utility. If you have more space than the original, or if you decide to modify the original, you might find, as an example, that you prefer the wider range of rolling stock that a #5 turnout offers over a #4.5 standard or a #4 snap-switch with the largely curved diverging route. If you ever decide you'd like to run a 2-10-2 over your switch puzzle, you'll need at the very minimum a #5, but for a brass version you'd want about a #6....maybe.

Some switches can be sprung so that they allow one route when advance through from the points end, but the points will move for the flanges when the train enters from the frog rails end. Those would be found in model layouts and on streetcar routes. Very sophisticated, and costly, software and electronics can detect trains using sensors, and with programming, can allow the train through a prescribed route by throwing the points using servo-motors.

A great many modelers like the idea of automating their layouts to the extent possible. It's a challenge, a puzzle, and it offers immense satisfaction if it all works okay. Others, including myself, prefer to 'line routes' using a bamboo skewer and flicking the points from side to side as part of the route planning process. It makes the movement of trains more involved and requires the operator to plan the moves in succession.
 
Peco switches support stand alone manual operation, they have positioning springs that reliably push the points to one side or the other. That's what I would use for a small switching layout.
 
RR Bob said:
I also happen to see a video where the operator did not appear to throw/move any switches. Do some switches automatically change their throw/direction once you go over them ?
Click to expand...
One can spring load a switch such that a train coming through in the opposite direction will move the points aside and be able to pass through. Once through, the spring in the turnout pushes it back to the "preferred" direction. But that does not explain a full video of operation without one throwing a turnout, one way or another.
 
I asked a guy how he made these videos without seeing anyone turning the switches. he toll me that he operates the switches by hand then deletes these images before posting the video.
 
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