Shunting Problem

Starter of The Day Transum Mathematics Topics

Transum,
This make a change! Quite a different Starter Of The Day requiring logic, sequencing and lateral thinking (not necessarily in that order!). We envisage pupils working on this puzzle at their desks using items from their pencil cases to represent the locomotives and carriages. They will need to devise a system of recording their solution so that they don’t forget it and can explain it to others.

If one objective of the Starter Of The Day is to engage pupils right from the very beginning of the lesson we hope this puzzle will fit the bill. It is one or many shunting problems that have proved popular with problem solvers for many years. These challenges are also known as railway shunting puzzles or railroad switching puzzles.

Don’t forget to show the Flash animation of our solution further down the page.
Jason, Louisville
Where do I find the solution?

[Transum: The answers are below but you need to be signed in to your Transum account to see them. You can sign up for an account here.]
Mrs Roberts, Sydney, Australia
This looks awesome.
Somerton Primary, Trwitter
Thank you Transum - for taking our maths lesson in a completely different direction. What an amazing problem solving session. The buzz was fantastic in class. pic.twitter.com/oxuj8gnkUv
— Somerton Primary (@SomertonPrimary) January 11, 2019

How did you use this starter? Can you suggest how teachers could present or develop this resource? Do you have any comments? It is always useful to receive feedback and helps make this free resource even more useful for Maths teachers anywhere in the world.
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Previous Day | This starter is for 9 January | Next Day

If you can't see the images above it may be because you do not have a recent version of the Flash Player installed or that your device (such as the iPad) cannot show Flash diagrams.

The orange loco and red carriage uncouple from the blue carriage and move into the siding;
The orange and green train passes and links up with the blue carriage;
The red loco and orange carriage return to the main line;
The orange and green train shunts blue carriage into the siding;
The orange and green train goes on it's way
The orange loco and red carriage rejoin the blue carriage;

Teacher: If you have young children of your own borrow their toy trains and use these printable train tracks for a real hands-on experience (small plastic trees not included).

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	Teacher, do your students have access to computers? Do they have iPads or Laptops in Lessons? Whether your students each have a TabletPC, a Surface or a Mac, this activity lends itself to eLearning (Engaged Learning).

Here a concise URL for a version of this page without the comments.

Transum.org/go/?Start=January9

Here is the URL which will take them to a related student activity.

Transum.org/go/?to=shunting

Classic Shunting Puzzles

If you have scrolled this far down the page you may well be interested in our collection of Classic Shunting Puzzles which are fascinating, enjoyable and adictive!

A Mathematics Lesson Starter Of The Day

Classic Shunting Puzzles