My Inglenook Sidings Game

jesso

jesso

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Jul 21, 2006
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Washington, Utah
www.thetechfamily.com
For quite a while, I have wanted to make an Inglenook Sidings Shunting Puzzle. After my last trip to the hobby store and found a couple more 50' foot cars, I decided that now was the time. I went and found that I had enough track laying around to build it, so I did some measuring to find out how long each section had to be and came up with the following track plan:

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I set up the track on the dining room table and had fun with it for a couple of days. Everyone in the family tried it out and liked it so I decided to build it into a transportable layout.

Mooreway actually had some scrap MDF so he cut out for me a 4' x 6" board. I also got some 1x4 lumber to build the sides, but that is being taken to a shop tomorrow to get cut out. My youngest daughter loves to paint anything so I let her paint the entire top of the board the color honeycomb.

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Next I measured out where the track would go and marked where I needed holes and then drilled them out. Then I contact cemented the track to the board. After than I wired the power pack and tested that the track still worked.

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Lastly I put the cars on to make sure everything fit right and worked.

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I will post more pictures as this progresses. It has been a lot of fun to play with so far.
 
Going to add a little, was thinking of putting a yard tower by the switches. Mainly grass and rock and scrubs, going to practice ballasting. I want it to be easily transportable and keep everything self-contained. I need to design something to carry the cars and engine when not in use that attaches to the underside somehow.
 
For a minute, I wondered why one siding was longer than the others. Then I realized that most Inglenooks are made for shorter cars, so the length of a switch is proportionally greater.
 
I made the whole thing with sectional track that I had, so I was following the rules of how long each siding would be to fit a specific number of cars. Behind the switched (the yard) the first track had to be 5 cars long, the other two had to be three cars long. The 2 are actually a little long, but if a fourth car is put in either, the switch will be blocked, so it still follows the rules. The one track has to hold three cars and one engine. That one is almost exact for the cars that I have put on, however if I used an actual switching engine it would be just a little long, but a fourth car still wouldn't be able to use the switch.

It is quite fun the try and rearrange cars and come up with a way and then see that your way won't actually fit :) I have been having a good time driving the engine around.

I got the frame pieces back from Mooreway. I am going to stain them next and then build the frame onto the board, hopefully this weekend I will get it all put together.
 
Nice work Jesso.
I'm very interested in switching layouts too. I'm amazed by the fact that some ingenious and very talented railroad modelers can cram so much features in a couple of square feet.
I'm looking forward to see pics of your Inglenook with some scenery and a few buildings.
Will you add a backdrop ?
Keep us informed of your progress.


Jacques
 
Thanks Dr. John and Jacques!

I want to use painted checkers pieces in a bag for the deciding what cars and order the train needs to be used. I'm trying to figure out something to put on the board to hold those in order. (Maybe a three inch wide mountain with a waterfall, Nazgul:inw:, Nazgul:inw:, :twisted::twisted::twisted::twisted: sign1 Just kidding.) If I put a sky backdrop on it would be removeable, as I want this as portable as possible.
 
At one of our club meetings, we had a switching contest on the chairman's layout. The puzzle only worked at one point because one of the cars was shorter than the others.
Should mention that the name "Inglenook" came because the layout had to fit between the fireplace and the next wall.
 
This morning bright and early I went over to Mooreway's house and cut the pieces for the frame. I brought it home and glued it together. Then I drilled the holes needed to run the wires and got everything wired up. When I was done I tested it and one of the switches won't switch remotely. The motor was fine and the switch moved easily but put the two together and nothing. I finally got fed up and gave up and decided that I would just move it manually. I screwed everything together and on a lark, I tried it again and it worked fine. Weird. Oh well, everything is working and I am happy with it. Have to still design something to carry all the cars and engine.

framecompleted.jpg
 
Well, the Train Club Christmas Party is in Tuesday and they wanted some small layouts for the party, so I figured I had better get this looking semi-nice. Got all the decorating stuff out and my daughter wanted to be in the picture.

startingdec.jpg


I decided that I wanted to keep the scenery pretty basic as this layout is very hands on so I am trying to keep things simple and out of the way. Definately thinking about a yard tower by the switches now. Will ballast the track at a later day, but here are the results so far:

scenery.jpg
 
jesso said:
Yea, that is what I am going to do, I am just not the woodworker I need to be to figure out how to easily do it. Have to plan it out, then have someone with tools help me build it. :)
Click to expand...
What about making a simple hinged lid with either no knob or some rubber feet at the corners and a latch. Then put in a piece of foam rubber that just fits inside the box, and make slits in the rubber, one for each car and engine. That way they are cushioned for moving and easy to remove when you are ready to set them up. You'd have to be careful not to break off any small details when you put them in or took them out, but then you probably wouldn't want highly detailed cars in the first place since this is going to be a very hands-on project.
 
Clark,
We made the inner support beams smaller that the frame so I was thinking of hanging a hinged piece of wood from the end and have some kind of latch on the support beam, so that it could just swing open when I needed it to. Then I would cut some foam that would sit on that door to hold the cars and engine.

Jacques,
Thanks! I was amazing how much the scenery helped, I had several relatives over as I was finishing it and they went from "that's nice" to "Wow! That looks great!" after then scenery.
 
Dr. John, I found a couple of sheds. :) I need to work on making rails for them. I am looking for a small (2"x1") LCD stopwatch to put in a small rock outcropping so that I can time how long it takes.

sheds.jpg


My wife went to the craft store and found some "Woodsies" wooden disks and painted them the colors of my cars. I then build some holders for the board out of balsa wood. We put the disks in a drawstring bag, shake it up, and pick out the disks one-by-one. Makes the game more fun than just using the computer program to get the order.

chipholders.jpg
 
I was thinking there was something odd about the selection of rolling stock, but I didn't realize what it was. At first, this concept grates on my brain, but I have to remind myself that these cars are really playing pieces for a game.
 
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