Small turntables for N scale

[Anonymous]

My daughter wants a turntable on her N scale layout. It uses all British prototype of the late steam era. So all the locos and rolling stock are small. The smallest turntable I have seen is one from Peco, but it is still more than double the length of an 0-4-2T tank engine.

Anybody now of a shorter one?

I am also going to need a similarly scaled roundhouse, but I figure I can take a Felsichmann or Heljan kit and cut it down to size unless there is an obvious smaller 2 or 3 stall roundhouse.

Any suggestions?

john

[Anonymous]

I don't know of a smaller one.As far as the roundhouse is concerned,you can't really just make a big one smaller.If you draw out a pic of a small turntable,and then a big one,you'll see that the bigger one has a much shallower track angle than the small one if the tracks all run from the centerline,and all butt against each other at the pit..Roundhouses have to be built specifically to a specific turntable size.You'd actually need a roundhouse with bigger stalls,not smaller,for a smaller turntable,since the tracks come out at a steeper angle.

[Jacktal]

The problem with turntables is that they eat up a large amount of layout room in no time.I was planning to install one on my layout and then dropped the idea.The Atlas turntable,for instance,is 8 1/4 in. in diameter and ends up taking over 14 in. of space,not counting the access track,when you install the proper roundhouse.And since I enjoy big steamers (Big Boy's,Challenger's and Mallet's),building a smaller one was not appropriate either.

A small turntable could be custom made,but as N-Maniac stated it (wisely),the angles are going to play havoc with your roundhouse access tracks,unless you have them cross eachother,which means you'd have to custom build them too.Not easy but feasible,and certainly a challenging alternative.

[tstage]

John,

How much are you wanting to spend? Custom Model Railroads (http://www.cmrtrain.com/turntable.html) makes a very nice 105' turntable but it'll run you about $110 - and be big for your daughter's 0-4-0. To get one smaller than that, you'd probably have to custom build it yourself.

Actually, CMR may be able to custom make a turntable for you but it's mostly likely going to cost you some serious $$$. CMR does sell matching roundhouses to go with their turntables.

Tom

[Anonymous]

Thanks folks,

It is looking like a scratch build job! I have an Atlas here, but it is about double the size I need, or more! Fleishcmann and another Gern\man manufacturer have them, but still way too big. The smallest I can find is a Peco from the UK, but it is still 5 1/2 inches in diameter.

What makes it more difficult is that the tankengines work (in prototype terms) just as well backwards as they do forwards, so lots of small facilities never had turntables anyway and the engine sheds were not roundhouses, just big sheds! But she who is my client on this matter has decreed that the layout shall have a turntable and a roundhouse, so I am stuck!

as for the roundhouse, I figure if I buy 2 kits of a three stall for a larger tunrtable then I can make a single 2 or three stall one for a smaller turntablke out of it. Oh what fun!

John

[Anonymous]

As I said in my first post,you're gonna end up scratchbuilding the roundhouse,too.You CAN NOT use a roundhouse for a 10 inch turntable on a 5 inch turntable.To understand why,grab a piece of n track,a ruler,and a compass.[or,for that matter,2 bowls,one twice as big as the other.]Draw 2 circles,one inside the other.Take the track,and put it across the middle of the inside circle.Put a mark on the both sides of the track,on the first circle,and then draw a line from the center of the circle,up the middle of the marks from the track.Now,move the track over so the left side of the track lines up with the old right side mark,and repeat the process,until you've done 5 or 6 tracks.Now,starting with the original line back up the middle of the track,repeat the whole process on the outer circle.Once you decide how big of a turntable you want,bye the way,that's exactly the way you would lay it out to get the centerlines for your stalls.You can use a roundhouse with a larger turntable than the one for which it was intended,but not a smaller one.Also,really,there's no such thing as a small roundhouse.If you made say,a 4 inch table,you'd probably only get,maybe,10 tracks on it.Don't forget,ya gotta have a track to get in and out,and the whole thing would have tracks around it.You'd end up with a roundhouse that completely encircles the table,so you'd hafta look down into it to see anything.If you had a 4 inch table,with 4 inch tracks outside the roundhouse,and the roundhouse had 4 inch stalls,you just ended up with a 20 inch[minimum] circle to store 10 locos[or less] and you won't be able to see them!! If you draw a 4 inch circle,or smaller,and lay the tracks around it,you'll see what I mean.Maybe you should consider a shed with switches,and a seperate turntable,off to the side somewhere.

[dgwinup]

There is no rule that says you have to have a ROUND roundhouse. Just use one (or more) of the 2-stall engine houses. Two tracks will come off the turntable. One goes straight into one stall, the other comes off at an angle, then curves into the other stall. You can even have one track from the turntable feeding into a regular turnout for the second stall. Use any one of the turntables, even the Atlas you already have. Most railroads built turntables to a distinct size, especially manually operated ones. They didn't need the length for the engines, they needed the extra length of the turntable to act as a long lever when rotating the table.

You won't have a big area used up by a round roundhouse, just a long one with turntable, tracks and a straight engine house. It should still satisfy your daughter to have the turntable and a place to put the engines.

Hope this suggestions helps.

Darrell, turning around, but quiet...for now

[Anonymous]

Thanks N-maniac and dgwinup,

This is why I come to forums like this! For tunately I have no need to worry about a prototype at all. This is a realisation of my daughters fantasy world (complete with dragons) and a fictional character of my invention who explains how things work and how things are made in stories after lights out each night.

Their are some really nice, rustic looking two stall engine sheds somewhere on the net. I found them when searching for turntables. I think we can get away with this unless I feel up to scratch building that as well. The desire for a roundhouse comes, naturally, from Thomas shows and from her own wooden railway (not Thomas) which has a 5 stall roundhouse.

N-maniac: I understand the geometry as you have discussed it. Fortunately I will only need two stalls. At 100mm diameter, a 22.5° track spacing would have the track centres something like 19mm apart, that should be doable.

Now all I need to do is figure out how to build a turntable!

Well it is off to the Toronto CHristmas Treain show this afternoon, maybe I will find some inspiration there.

John

[BR60103]

John:
I must have missed you at the train show. Why not get the Peco one? The OO table I have is quite good. She may eventually get a larger loco.
Heard a story about one branch (on the Southern?) where the turntable was a bit on the small side. Tank engines ran forward in both directions, but tender engines had to return tender first.

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by BR60103

John:
I must have missed you at the train show.

It turned in to a bit of a bust for me. Brenda loved the layouts, but got bored as soon as I wanted to stop and look at stuff.So we didnt end up staying long. Also I was tired from lack of sleep th enight before which didnt put me in a good mood, so I just went along for the ride in the end.

QUOTE:
Why not get the Peco one? The OO table I have is quite good. She may eventually get a larger loco.

Yes, I came to the same conclusion last night. Time is one factor - I don't have a lot! SO I think the layout is re important than making idealistic little things!

QUOTE:
Heard a story about one branch (on the Southern?) where the turntable was a bit on the small side. Tank engines ran forward in both directions, but tender engines had to return tender first.

Neat story. But I think your suggestion is realistic, Even if she wants to use one of my loco's she could be in trouble.

John