"Time Saver" material list

[bill collins]

Can anybody tell me the material list for the "Time Saver" puzzle layout. Ho scale

[Tenwheeler01]

It's been awhile sense I built one.   Are you looking for a EZ- track plain for it? 

[Len]

The original timesave was hand laid track and used #4 wyes. This is an EZ-Track version using #5 wyes. A small switcher and 40 foot cars are assumed. The labels indicate how many cars various spurs and run around tracks should hold. The red dots are uncoupler magnet locations. Spur lengths should be adjusted for the number of cars indicated. Although the upper run around track may end up 2 cars instead of 1 because of the EZ-Track geometry vs the original layout.



Rough track list based on diagram. Two 2" straights go beteen the 33.6" curves on each leg of the right hand run around wye.

Item list for EZ_Time_Saver
QTY     NUMBER       DESCRIPTION
(4)     44569        EZ  #5 wye turnout
(2)     44565        EZ  #5 LH turnout
(3)     44508        EZ  R-33.3 6° curve
(4)     44592A       EZ  2 inch straight
(3)     44514        EZ  4.5 inch straight
( 8 )     44511        EZ  9 inch straight

Len

[trainman203]

Thst plan looks almost exactly like one end of my short line. And I wasn't copying anything from John Allen either, had never even heard of the time saver plan till last year.

[bill collins]

Thanks for the help. I'm thinking of using Peco code 100 track. Would that change the material list.

[Len]

Thanks for the help. I'm thinking of using Peco code 100 track. Would that change the material list.

The number of wyes and switches would be the same. The curves and straight sizes and quantities would be different. Using the Peco Small Radius wyes and turnouts would result in something closer to the orignal hand laid layout.

Len

[jward]

Thst plan looks almost exactly like one end of my short line. And I wasn't copying anything from John Allen either, had never even heard of the time saver plan till last year.

Did I hear somebody say John Allen influenced their layout? Seriously, hr probably did and you didn't even realize it. The Timesaver has been copied and made a part of so many layouts over the years that many people don't realize where it originated.

[Ken Clark]

 A prototype time saver was built in 1895 by the Canadian Pacific Railway in Sandon British Columbia. Lasted until 1957 when floods destroy the line.

[trainman203]

Thst plan looks almost exactly like one end of my short line. And I wasn't copying anything from John Allen either, had never even heard of the time saver plan till last year.

Did I hear somebody say John Allen influenced their layout? Seriously, hr probably did and you didn't even realize it. The Timesaver has been copied and made a part of so many layouts over the years that many people don't realize where it originated.

I think I can safely say that John Allen didn't influence my modeling in any way.

1.  John Allen didn't invent the Timesaver plan.  A runaround track with a small yard and a couple of customer spurs is how every branchline has terminated ever since railroad time began.  It's how my hometown branchline ended, only longer,  the one I attempted to replicate before I'd ever heard of the timesaver plan.  My track plan was never based on anyone else's layout but rather on a prototype.

2.  John Allen's railroad was the penultimate mountain railroad in an era where everyone wanted to have a mountain layout.  Being from a flatland region I felt no real affinity for such railroads and layouts, and modeled a farming region from the beginning. 

3.  I've never cared for intensive paperwork oriented operations like JA, Whit Towers, and other pioneers were proponents of. I know it's not prototypical at all but I worked too long too hard before retirement involved with inane and Involved paperwork to want to do it as part of my pastime.

[Terry Toenges]

I thought the same thing about the Timesaver. There's nothing really unique about it. Who's to say that others didn't have the same type of set up long before John came along. It's just he published his and that is why it is attributed to him.

[Terry Toenges]

Here we have Terry Toenges' Time Consumer 

[trainman203]

Every layout is a time consumer! 😂😂😂

And a space and money consumer too!
$$$$😵�💫😱😂😂

[Ralph S]

Okay, intermediate modeler here!
 Can someone explain how this "timesaver layout" is suppose to save time?  If the cars are on the tracks, moving them around from one track to another how does that add up to saving time?

By the way, I looked up "John Whitby Allen" and there is mention of this "time saver" layout by or from him.

[Len]

The 'Time Saver" is actually a switching puzzle. The name comes from completing the 'puzzle' in the minimum amount of time. Alternate rules call for completing it in the minimum number of switching moves. An explanation of the rules, and alternatives, can be found here:
http://www.wymann.info/ShuntingPuzzles/Timesaver/timesaver-rules.html

Len

[trainman203]

Scale speed and prototypical gentle coupling are not part of that game!

It's basically ZIP! ZIP! BANG! ZIP! BANG! ad infinitum.  Maybe it's fun for some folks, but it's not my cup of tea.