Need help with "Take a Train to Work Day"

[BlueMountain]

I am a teacher and I would like to build a simple, switching layout for the national "Take a Train to Work Day".

I need a simple track plan that fit into the following "reality check" list. Can you help?

What I need:
A switching layout track plan
One engine
Portable in a small car (no 8' boards here)
No DCC (can't aford it yet)

The good news is that I am building a larger layout and I have some switches that will not be used for at least a year. They will be the heart of the demo layout, but the switches can not be cut/shortened.

What I have:
(5) #4 shinohara 100 left switches
(4) #4 shinohara 100 right switches
(1) Atlas 100 Y (small radi)
(2) 60 degree shinohara 100 crossovers
(1) Peco small radius right switch 100
(lots) of code 100 flex track
(enough) cork road bed
Athern SW7 engine and cars
less than two months to get it build and working.

Thanks for any ideas.

-Jeff

[Sperandeo]

Hi Jeff,

I'd suggest that you look at the old John Allen switching puzzle, the Timesaver. Here are a couple of references from the Model Train Magazine Index on this Web site:

The timesaver
Model Railroader, November 1972 page 66
( "ALLEN, JOHN", TIMESAVER, TRACKPLAN, HO, MR )

The Snap Track Timesaver
Model Railroader, October 1976 page 67
( "CAIN, RUSS", SNAPTRACK, TIMESAVER, TRACKPLAN, HO, MR )

It would be easy to build one of these, and the puzzle aspect can be as easy or as hard as you want to make it by varying the number of cars on the layout.

If this works out for you, please send us a photo of the layout in your classroom.

Good luck,

Andy

Andy Sperandeo
MODEL RAILROADER Magazine