I haven't been active on the forum for a while, but had a question on a different subject so it reminded me I should update/closeout my thread on the turntable project. It has worked out pretty well and I am still happy with the Walthers 130' turntable. Most everything is in now and running so I am mainly just doing some detail work. I have attached some updated photos of the current turntable/roundhouse/engine service area. Thanks for all the comments and help along the way.
Turntable
- Thread starter mentor63
- Start date
nice project
That is a very nice project, and a good way to show off the locomotive fleet. I enjoyed reading about the set up. this is much more complicated than any of my 3 turn tables, even though one of them is dual gauge.
My turntables are much smaller, as the largest locomotive I need to turn is a Little River 2-4-4-2, which will just barely fit on an atlas turntable. they are ugly, but easy to set up, so I have added bridge decks, or gallows to them to help disguise the lack of a pit.
I especially like the blister shape of the bench work around the engine terminal. nothing is quite as hackneyed as the turntable tucked into a circle at the end of a peninsula.
Bill Nelson
thanks for sharing.
That is a very nice project, and a good way to show off the locomotive fleet. I enjoyed reading about the set up. this is much more complicated than any of my 3 turn tables, even though one of them is dual gauge.
My turntables are much smaller, as the largest locomotive I need to turn is a Little River 2-4-4-2, which will just barely fit on an atlas turntable. they are ugly, but easy to set up, so I have added bridge decks, or gallows to them to help disguise the lack of a pit.
I especially like the blister shape of the bench work around the engine terminal. nothing is quite as hackneyed as the turntable tucked into a circle at the end of a peninsula.
Bill Nelson
thanks for sharing.
Very nice job! At first I didn't want my railroad to have a turntable and turn my lokies by use of a wye, but I couldn't figure out anything that was both compact and practical. So I'm breaking down and copying Green Bay and Western's Norwood Yard in Green Bay, WI. It was a small yard that fit between three city blocks long and two blocks wide. As for the turntable though, I was thinking of taking a Atlas turntable and detailing the "pit" to where it looks like a real pit, but the whole thing would rotate, not just the bridge. Essentially make a HO scale version of their O scale turntable, but with a raised bridge so it looks plausable.
After crunching some numbers, the bridge length is only 65' which may or may not work. The biggest loco my railroad has is a USRA Mike, which is pushing around 90'. I'll have to figure out all my details yet but it may all fit together.
Tyler
After crunching some numbers, the bridge length is only 65' which may or may not work. The biggest loco my railroad has is a USRA Mike, which is pushing around 90'. I'll have to figure out all my details yet but it may all fit together.
Tyler
Thanks for sharing that photo Tyler. That is the approach, more or less, that I have used, but I hadn't thought of the ring rail detail, which makes it look much more convincing.
On my 3 turn tables done this way, I haven't painted the bottom to represent the dirt gravel and weeds on the bottom of the " pit "yet, that will help the illusion.
the dual gauge turntable on my RR is at eye level, the photo is looking down on it, but in order to get this photo, the camera is touching the ceiling. that level has the least detail so far, you can't really see much on that shelf so I have been lazy.
The crooked Creek turntable (the one with the station in the picture) uses the rails that come on the Atlas turn table. and a gallows structure just stuck on top.
both the others have added decks to improve the illusion. this was tricky, as I had to get a router, and recess the turntables onto the plywood, and add a deck that was just high enough to the rails up to the height of the rails o the approaches.
these will look a lot better once I paint and scenic the bottom of the pit.
I used to use mill scale gallows turntables that used screws for pivots and some home made electrical pick ups they were turned by had, and lined up by eye. ( I used to tell folks they had digital-optical indexing) Those worked fine for me, but other operators had trouble with them, then my eyes got old, and I had trouble with them, and I rebuilt with the Atlas turntables.
the Atlas turntables while scenically challenged due to their flatness are cheap ( a consideration, if you have 3 -I used to have 4). they alter polarity automatically, and the indexing works ok. two of mine are hand crank, I have a motor on the woe in Crooked Creek as the scene is too crowded, and the mechanism, located in the far back of the shelf, under a higher level, would be extremely awkward to hand crank.
Bill Nelson
On my 3 turn tables done this way, I haven't painted the bottom to represent the dirt gravel and weeds on the bottom of the " pit "yet, that will help the illusion.
the dual gauge turntable on my RR is at eye level, the photo is looking down on it, but in order to get this photo, the camera is touching the ceiling. that level has the least detail so far, you can't really see much on that shelf so I have been lazy.
The crooked Creek turntable (the one with the station in the picture) uses the rails that come on the Atlas turn table. and a gallows structure just stuck on top.
both the others have added decks to improve the illusion. this was tricky, as I had to get a router, and recess the turntables onto the plywood, and add a deck that was just high enough to the rails up to the height of the rails o the approaches.
these will look a lot better once I paint and scenic the bottom of the pit.
I used to use mill scale gallows turntables that used screws for pivots and some home made electrical pick ups they were turned by had, and lined up by eye. ( I used to tell folks they had digital-optical indexing) Those worked fine for me, but other operators had trouble with them, then my eyes got old, and I had trouble with them, and I rebuilt with the Atlas turntables.
the Atlas turntables while scenically challenged due to their flatness are cheap ( a consideration, if you have 3 -I used to have 4). they alter polarity automatically, and the indexing works ok. two of mine are hand crank, I have a motor on the woe in Crooked Creek as the scene is too crowded, and the mechanism, located in the far back of the shelf, under a higher level, would be extremely awkward to hand crank.
Bill Nelson
Attachments
Thanks.
I like it when a thread lights a fire under my dead ***. I went out and dirterized the turntable "pits" in Crooked Creek and Southside. I stayed away from the end of the "pit" both so I could more easily add a ring rail later, and to keep scenic debris out of the Atlas turntable mechanisms pictures coming soon over in the logging section , on my main thread.
Thanks.
Bill Nelson
I like it when a thread lights a fire under my dead ***. I went out and dirterized the turntable "pits" in Crooked Creek and Southside. I stayed away from the end of the "pit" both so I could more easily add a ring rail later, and to keep scenic debris out of the Atlas turntable mechanisms pictures coming soon over in the logging section , on my main thread.
Thanks.
Bill Nelson
No problem Bill, glad I could help inspire you. If I remember right I think at the club in one of the boxes of buildings and commingled items there's a turntable in there, if you could set that off to the side for me that'd be great.
Tyler
Tyler