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Walthers TT and Atlas Round house

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  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Wednesday, June 25, 2014 6:02 AM

The Big Boy, and all of its wheels, will fit on the 130' turntable.  But the couplers will extend over the lip, so resist the temptation to place workers on the lip.  I once decapitated one poor soul.

Rich

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    September 2004
  • From: Dearborn Station
  • 24,281 posts
Posted by richhotrain on Wednesday, June 25, 2014 6:04 AM

tomcat

I was thinking of saving myself the cost of getting an extension for my Round house and if I did own a big boy I could just have him sitting on a storage track in the maintenence yard.

 

Good idea!

Alton Junction

  • Member since
    March 2013
  • From: Australia
  • 158 posts
Posted by tomcat on Wednesday, June 25, 2014 6:25 AM

I hope there was a Union workplace investigation into that accident!!!Big Smile

Can I place stall tracks at every point around the TT ?

Is there an area which is a no track zone ?

  • Member since
    January 2010
  • From: Chi-Town
  • 7,712 posts
Posted by zstripe on Wednesday, June 25, 2014 6:32 AM

Tomcat,

Yes to both questions. The turntable has two...no track zones.

Should not put track there.

Take Care!

Frank

  • Member since
    January 2010
  • From: Chi-Town
  • 7,712 posts
Posted by zstripe on Wednesday, June 25, 2014 6:45 AM

richhotrain

 

 
tomcat

I was thinking of saving myself the cost of getting an extension for my Round house and if I did own a big boy I could just have him sitting on a storage track in the maintenence yard.

 

 

 

Good idea!

 

 

Yeah! It's better than to have this happen. Whistling

 

Take Care!

Frank

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, June 28, 2014 4:23 PM

The Walthers "modern" roundhouse comes with the stall extensions (1 per roundhouse kit + 1 per additional stall addon kit).  I clearer terms: for every 3 stalls you buy, you get to have one lengthened stall (2 short, 1 long).  My roundhouse has 9 stalls (had to negotiate and addtional 1ft of space from the property manager, who asked for the additional 3 stalls to begin with) so I will have 3 extended stalls and 6 short stalls. 

 

Frank,

 That is better than the opposite happening which puts the locomotive in the pit and the TT out of service for several hours.

  • Member since
    April 2003
  • 305,205 posts
Posted by Anonymous on Saturday, June 28, 2014 4:26 PM

tomcat
Can I place stall tracks at every point around the TT ?

Yes you can still put tracks there, they can be display only tracks, but you will have to use the 0-5-0 switcher (your hand) to move trains (edit: locomotives or MOW equipment before someone corrects my use of trains) to and from these tracks.

  • Member since
    January 2010
  • From: Chi-Town
  • 7,712 posts
Posted by zstripe on Saturday, June 28, 2014 4:31 PM

BMMECNYC,

Glad you got the property manager straightened out on that issue. Smile, Wink & Grin Smile, Wink & Grin

Take Care! Big Smile

Frank

  • Member since
    February 2015
  • 6 posts
Posted by TimReturningMRR on Monday, February 22, 2016 8:03 AM

I'm using SCARM to layout my new layout and will have to fit my Walther's 90' turntable, storage tracks and possible roundhouse into the space available.  I'l be setting the tracks at 15 deg angles and use the Atlas roundhouse to minimize the space required.  I understand I may have to trim part of the apron.

However for planning purposes, how far back from the edge (or if you prefer center) of the turntable  is the front of the Atlas roundhouse set so that the tracks line up in the middle of the door openings?

Incidentally, I've built the Walthers 90' from a kit.  I know there are many who have problems.  Admittedly I haven't test it installed, but I have run it on a table.  I've been using and plan to use a variable voltage.  One needs to go very slow when trying to align with the tracks but I want to go considerably faster when making big movements.  Unfortunately for the cheap power pack I tested, the current drawn by the Walther's motor is so low that with the power pack even set at the lowest voltage, its either on at full speed or off.

The main problem with the kit is the molding of the bogey wheels on which the bridge rests at either end.  The way they are molded in 2 halves, the centers are sgnificantly off.  I spent a couple of hours filing down the wheels to get them round.  My test was to run the motor and look for hesitations and keep filing bogey wheels until there aren't any.  Also some tabs on the large geared wheel caused the driver pulley on the motor to skip until I filed them into the tooth pattern.

I've recorded video but I haven't put it together as I was waiting until I installed it.

Moderator
  • Member since
    May 2009
  • From: Waukesha, WI
  • 1,764 posts
Posted by Steven Otte on Monday, February 22, 2016 10:04 AM

TimReturningMRR

I'm using SCARM to layout my new layout and will have to fit my Walthers 90' turntable, storage tracks and possible roundhouse into the space available.  I'l be setting the tracks at 15 deg angles and use the Atlas roundhouse to minimize the space required.  I understand I may have to trim part of the apron.

However for planning purposes, how far back from the edge (or if you prefer center) of the turntable  is the front of the Atlas roundhouse set so that the tracks line up in the middle of the door openings?

 

Put the assembled roundhouse on a sheet of paper and use a straightedge to extend the track centerlines to where they meet in the middle. Where they cross should be the center of the turntable.

--
Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editor
sotte@kalmbach.com

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