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TT John Allen's Timesaver Switching Puzzle

John Whitby Allen, known as the "Wizard of Monterey" and the "Grand Poobah" by his friends and those that knew him within the hobby of model railroading, crafted a lasting legacy for both his fantastic scenery skills and photography talents that are still mimicked today. Although he is most known for his mighty "Gorre & Daphetid" HO scale model railroad, John also designed simple switching puzzle layouts that would become known as the "Timesaver." Designed to be as compact as possible, with later alterations shrinking the layout footprint to an astonishing small size, the Timesaver works great in its intended purpose of providing both an interesting switching challenge while residing in a small, compact space that forces the operator to consider every move made and to plan ahead in their car placement movements.

My rendition of the Timesaver follows that of an October 1972 issue of Model Railroader where the layout was adapted to use the Atlas Snap-Track system of track so that anyone at home could build their own Timesaver using relatively inexpensive materials and time saved building track. Included in this layout are 4 separate industries that can be switched out, including a team track for boxcars or flatcars, a coal dock to unload hopper cars, a scrapyard to take loaded/unloaded gondolas, a warehouse to take loaded/unloaded boxcars, and finally a transload facility that can take a multitude of cars providing for some variety at the operator's discretion.


Linked below are some videos and other relative links with information on the operations and history of the Timesaver:

http://gdlines.org/GDLines/Timesaver.html

https://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/sw-timesaver.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmd8Cn6RrEc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LoTsVr2BUxY


Credit to the content used in this layout:

Long & Franks - Welly Bush and Grass Pack

Bakandr - TrackPlus Pack

Microcosmologist & Frysco - 1950s Semi Trailer and Cement Mixer

THE PAIN TRAIN!! - A-Trains Model Boxes

Flared - Controllers

Dark Derby - G&D Logo


Thanks to everyone that has subscribed and favorited the layout, getting it to the front page of the Rolling Line
Workshop page.

Dedicated to the late Allen McClelland and John Allen, for whom I owe so much to.

~Toasted Trains~