Small layout-turntable OK?

[tomikawaTT]

Some years ago, John Armstrong had an article on 4 x 8 layouts for all purposes.  One of them had a largeish turntable, AND a transfer table.  It was a major engine terminal and backshop....

in O scale!

The equivalent in HO would be about 27 by 54 inches.  N scale would fit in a large suitcase.

If you want a turntable, by all means include it.  Nothing makes a better display point for a steam locomotive.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964 - with turntables)

[Fortkentdad]

I've put a Turn Table on my layout and it is 32 square feet.  I started with a 4 x 8 sheet but cut off 7" from the length of it and added that to the end which results in a table 41" wide by 110" long - that way I can actually reach the middle - and the run is just a little longer than 9 feet which gives it that "longer look". 

Anyway you can see my track plan here:

http://www1.webng.com/fortkentdad/layout_planning.htm

and you can see a couple more pictures of the Turn table here:

http://fortkentdad.fotopic.net/c1218642.html

I started with a Walther's Turn table, and then switched to a vintage Arnold Rapido Turn Table which I picked up cheap at a Train Show.  It came with Roundhouse and full index control system, could not pass it up.  I had been finding it hard to make the Walther's non-indexed turn table bridge track align with the other tracks.  It also had a tendancy to get stuck.  I have yet to power up the Arnold Rapido - need to install the controls and wiring yet, so I can't say how it will work. 

[wickman]

Unfortunately, I have realized that it can help my little loop railroad simulate a point-to-point run better, so I might be doomed to use it after all.

I've come to the realization we're all doomed to the hobby.

[Autobus Prime]

I have a 4X8 with one oval and a passing siding. I have no plans for scenery nor do I have a particular theme in mind. Since there is no reverse loop, and I model the steam era, is a turntable overkill?

BB:

Well, do you want to turn engines?

At a train show a couple years ago, I spent $5 on an Atlas TT.  It was too cheap to pass up, so ever since I started my latest RR I have been trying to make an excuse not to use it.  Even that little TT takes up a lot of space, since it needs to be attached to track and look reasonably at home in its surroundings. Unfortunately, I have realized that it can help my little loop railroad simulate a point-to-point run better, so I might be doomed to use it after all.

 

 

[wickman]

Personally speaking I think a TT is a great idea on a layout , I have 2 reverse loops on my layout making turning engines around possible without touching them, but I couldn't hold back any longer and took the inside of a big loop and turned it into service area , 3 stall RH and 90' TT , no regrets.  I have steam and diesel all worth alot of money ( in my eyes ). I prefer not to touch them with my fingers , it removes the built up natural dirt look( haven't gone into weathering yet ).I've seen many pics where there is a TT and thats it , no engine house , at least not in the TT area , the area was off to the side kinda overgrown but still used.

Do yourself a favour if you like the look and feel of a TT and all that goes with it, just go for it and may the force be with you.   

[PASMITH]

OK on my 4X8.

Peter Smith, Memphis

[pcarrell]

Sure, why not?  Run your turntable.  And BTW, there are still MANY turntables in use even today, so you can run them with steam or diesel.

[IRONROOSTER]

Why not.  If you look at 101 Trackplans many of the small (4x8 and less) plans include a turntable and roundhouse.  My feeling is that you should include the features you want most and can fit in.  I know realism and prototypical correctness seem to be the order of the day, but in the end this is still a hobby and you should put in whatever is most fun, interesting, etc. for you.

Enjoy

Paul 

[Anonymous]

Bruce... The Atlas turntable would probably be your best bet, providing you will be operating small lokeys. You can use the Atlas "straight-up", or bash it to be a "pit style" or a modified above ground turntable. I have modified mine to be a "covered" above ground model.

http://s23.photobucket.com/albums/b371/IronGoat/?action=view&current=IMG_4618SmallSmall.jpg

Bob

[DigitalGriffin]

You could do it, but you wouldn't have much room for scenery.  I would think you would be purely modeling a service facility.

With some modification of the plans below you should be able to put in a loop.

Tom (tstage) was nice enough a couple years back to help me design a small roundhouse facility.

Here's what Walthers did in a 4x8

[Anonymous]

Brad:  Up till very recently (I haven't been there lately, but I imagine its stil in use) the Indiana Harbor Belt was using not only a turntable, but also a genuine roundhouse at one of its Chicago area yards to not only turn, but also to house in classic fashion some of its vast fleet of SW type engines.  The IHB never used steam motive power much bigger than NYC's later classes of 2-8-2s, so the table and roundhouse are not large by late steam power standards.  Anyway, it's a perfect protoype example for a diesel period guy who wants a turntable and roundhouse.

  I'm probably not a good example, but I've got plans to eventually have two turntables on my 5x9. The lower level one is already installed.  I'm using an Atlas, but have plans to eventually change it out.  The other turntable will go on the rear upper level yard.  I ran down an old Cliff Line gallows table, which I'm planning on using there.  Since I model old time, these small tables work just fine for my dinky motive power.  Layout design is and out and back with provision for continous running.  Since I have to turn at the end of each run, the table is needed, and takes up a lot less space than a loop or wye, plus provides at least some  storage space for my rapidly multiplying amount of motive power.

JBB

[twcenterprises]

Realistically, modern-era railroads don't turn engines on turntables.

Maybe, but there are a few turntables left even in the modern era, and some still in use.  The need to turn a modern diesel locomotive is extremely rare, and usually that is done on a wye.  There are a handfull of turntables left which occasionally turn steamers, cars, and possibly a diesel, but I would expect many are at museums and such now.

How often does BNSF actually USE the turntable in Spokane (and I'm referring to actually reversing a locomotive or car, not just positioning it for another track)? 

Brad 

[challenger3980]

Realistically, modern-era railroads don't turn engines on turntables. 

I Guess that I will have to stop at the BNSF yard in Spokane, WA Friday and make sure that they are not using their turntable unrealistically

     May your flanges always stay BETWEEN the rails,

                                       Doug

[selector]

Of all the things you can put on a model railroad, in my mind, nothing rivals a turntable and roundhouse...

 

Almost to a word, this is precisely what John Armstrong said in his masterpiece that we all refer to now and then.  I had already decided to have an engine facility with turntable and roundhouse on my first layout, and had it up and running by the time I found a copy of Track Planning for Realistic Operation locally.  I nodded emphatically because I had no other way of turning engines. 

So, Bruce, I would say that it could almost be a showpiece on something as modest as a 4X8, and key to refraining from handling your engines or else running them in the same direction all the time.

Please, do yourself a huge favour and get the built-up indexed model.  You won't need any power reversing device if you wire the bay tracks with the same wire to rail orientation as the approach to the turntable.  The device does its own reversing, so it is foolproof.

-Crandell

[tomikawaTT]

More than one small layout has been nothing more than a loop of mainline with a complete steam servicing facility filling the rest of the space.  OTOH, I have visited several places where the turntable stood in lonely splendor, with nothing else around it.

The "end of the railroad" module I have been operating just about continuously since 1980 has a short turntable, used for turning a single-ended car (open-end observation) between runs, and occasionally used when a freight car shows up 'wrong way around,' with a load that can only be unloaded from one side or one end.  The one thing it doesn't turn - locomotives!  The line runs teakettle tank steamers, which always run with the firebox downhill to keep water over the crownsheets.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[dehusman]

Sure.

Where most people kill a lot of space is putting huge shop facility and round house and all that with the turntable.  It was common, especially at the end of a branch NOT to have all those support facilities, just the turntable to turn the engine.

Dave H.

[Alantrains]

I think it's a great idea to have a turntable particularly on a small oval layout. If you keep running your engines around in the same direction you'll wear out the flanges on the outside wheels, so you need to turn them around occassionally and run them the opposite direction to even out the wear.

Well that's my excuse anyway!

Cheers 

[wm3798]

Any more turntables are found in proximity to small car shops.  They make it easy to work both sides of the car in a small area.

They also appear at the end of some steam tourist operations to enable the locomotive to be turned for the trip back to the "home" station.

Here's Allegany Central 1238 coming off the turntable at Frostburg, MD getting ready to return to Cumberland.

Lee 

[BlueHillsCPR]

I tend to agree with those who say, "it's your layout do what you want".  I want to incorporate a turntable for some of the reasons mentioned already.  I mainly want to model the Diesel era and I have been told that a turntable is not a practical prototypical scene in most yards today.  Because I am not obesessed with protypical operation and design in my layout I think I will just go ahead and add a turntable when I am ready to do so.   Once I am satisfied with modeling diesel I might start a steam layout just for fun. 

[jeffrey-wimberly]

I had a good friend back some years ago who modeled in N scale. He wanted a large turntable but nobody made one in that scale of the size he wanted. He rebuilt a HO turntable well enough that it fit in with the rest of his layout. The point is, it's your layout. Do what you want with it. If somebody doesn't like it they can go build their own.

[MisterBeasley]

Of all the things you can put on a model railroad, in my mind, nothing rivals a turntable and roundhouse.  They are such an interesting focal point, both as scenic and operational elements, that our eyes are instantly drawn to them when we look at a layout.

That said, though, there is the issue of practicality.  They do take up a lot of space, particularly combined with a roundhouse.  However, they can be tucked into a corner, or, in the case of an oval loop, placed inside the curve so the space they occupy is not necessarily useful for anything else.

Then, you need to ask yourself what's being run on your railroad.  Small steam can turn on a small turntable;  big steam takes a big turntable.  The roundhouse, too, must be scaled for the engines.  Realistically, modern-era railroads don't turn engines on turntables.  They usually use either double-ended locomotives, or pairs of engines coupled back-to-back.

For reference, I've got an Atlas turntable, one of the smallest made at 9 inches in diameter for HO scale.   With a 3-stall Atlas roundhouse and 2 additional stub tracks, the whole facility is about 24 inches long by 22 inches wide, not including the lead track.  This turntable barely holds my P2K 0-6-0 switcher, but it does fit, and will tuck into the roundhouse stall as well.

I had a lot of fun turning my Atlas deck into a pit turntable.  This is the photo essay I posted a while back on this project:

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/1162765/ShowPost.aspx

 

[luvadj]

I have one on my 5 X 7 N layout and I need it as I have no wye or reverse loop on it.....I say, do what you'd like. It's your layout....enjoy it.

 

[dinwitty]

A reverse track will involve a little more complex wiring if he wants to get involved with that, not impossible, but not too many prototype mainelines used reversing loops. tho they did exist.

Turntable? Sure!  maybe make a little roundhouse area and small servicing facility.

 

[bogp40]

It's your layout to enjoy and do as you see fit. You could even still run a diagonal reversing track as well as the turntable. This way you can reverse on the fly.

[concretelackey]

A fairly acceptable story would be that this is the only well outfitted maintenance shop within xxx miles. Doing so would mean simulating a roundhouse or other type repair structure(s)

[faraway]

You should "invent" a story why some/all steam engines make a turn at that small station. Ones the story is made up you need the turntable urgently;-)

[Blind Bruce]

I have a 4X8 with one oval and a passing siding. I have no plans for scenery nor do I have a particular theme in mind. Since there is no reverse loop, and I model the steam era, is a turntable overkill?