Inglenook sidings puzzle

[Goathingham]

I recently came upon the famous Inglenook shunting puzzle. My question is what are the recommended ways of changing the points and what type of uncouplers are best?

[sb67]

Hi Goathingham, There are loads of ways to operate the points, I've always used a piece of dowel mounted to the underside of my baseboard through a hole in the frame with a nail coming up through a slot under the point, the nail goes in the hole in the tie bar and the rod is just pushed and pulled to switch the point. This would ony work with points with a self locking mechanism though, I use Peco. As for uncoupling I'm using Tension lock couplers at the moment and just a wire hook on a torch. Hope that explains it, it works for me but probably not the best,  I'me sure you'll get loads of different ideas, a lot woud depend on what stuff you use, budget etc.

Are you building a layout?

Steve.

[CloggyDog]

Point control - I use wire in tube, set into my foam underlay later, terminating in a modified section of 'chocblock' to act as the toggle, as SB said, works best with self-latching pointwork like Peco.

 

Couplings - quite subjective and much depends on scale and whether you're bothered about the 'hand of god' reaching in or not.

Personally, I use Kadees on my current OO/H0 'nook, screw/3-link on the EM and O gauge ones. You may need to play around with various options to see which one suits YOU best.

[RexAshton]

I've built several Inglenooks over the years, the last one being in American N. It's a design that relies on many point changes and lots of uncoupling. For those reasons I would recommend favouring reliability over cost. If you're not intending to exhibit the layout there are probably as many solutions as there are incarnations of the layout and all have their benefits.

For point control you can work with anything from 'poke it with your finger' to sophisticated setups using Tortoise motors or servos. Equally uncoupling can be anything from three link (tedious in the extreme on an Inglenook - ask me how I know!' to Alex Jacksons and anything in between.

Everyone will have their own opinion of what is best but for what it's worth these would be my recommendations for a good cost effective and reliable setup. As the OP doesn't say what stock he's using I have a couple of options

For US stock I'd go for:-

Peco code 75 or 83 track and points or Atlas

Tortoise motors - you only need two of them

Kaydee couplers with under track magnets - the under track magnet being wider are more reiable.

Unless you really want working lights and sound a good DC controller will be fine

For UK using prorietory stock I'd go for:- 

Peco code 75 track

Totoise point motors

Either stick with the tension lock couplers and use these or using Dingham or DG couplings and electrmagnets if you're feeling brave.

 

As I said these are only my thoughts based on previous layouts.

[Alcanman]

An inglenook is a very simple track arrangement and I like to keep things simple when operating.

 

As the layout is usually small and points easily reached, I simply change them manually.

 

For couplings, I prefer Kadees but again I prefer to uncouple them manually.

 

However, if you wish to exhibit the layout then some type of electrical or mechcanical method and Kadees magnets could be used.

Edited November 8, 2018 by Alcanman

[ColinK]

On my current inglenook (0-16.5 narrow gauge) the points are changed by peco point motors attached underneath and changed using push buttons (must not be latching type). In the oadt I’ve used a old length of rail with a bit of paperclip soldered onto one end and pointing up so it goes through the point tiebar - very cheap and reliable.

 

I have encountered problems with couplings. At first I used kadees with a magnet in each siding. However, the sidings were of the minimum length which meant I could uncouple OK, but could not push the wagons further towards to buffer stops so the couplings were clear of the magnet, hence I couldn’t couple up. I couldn’t put a magnet in the headshunt as I had added an extra point for a locoshed.

 

I then changed to tension locks. Unmodified with a hook on a pole worked, but was quite easy to cause derailments.

 

I then glued a short bit of iron wire onto the top of the tension lock hook, now I can uncouple easily with a magnet (off a fridge magnet) glued to a bit of card or lolly stick.

 

If you are on a budget, I would start with tension locks modified as per the previous paragraph.

[Goathingham]

Thanks for all the replies to my questions. Lots of food for thought.