Hey all,
I'm building a small HO railroad and I wanted to include a turntable and roundhouse. Ive been reading a lot online and it seems as though the only two available in my price range are atlas' 9 inch TT and the walthers 90' kit. I've heard nothing but good about the atlas and nothing but bad about the Walthers. I would go ahead with the atlas, however 9 inches seems like it would be too short for my needs. I was hoping someone had some instructions on how to "pitbash" the atlas into a larger, more realistic TT. Thanks
By the way, if sombody out there has the walthers and wants it gone, I would be happy to take it off their hands, even just to tinker with
You might also look at the PECO HO turntable kit model LK-55. The bridge is nearly 1 foot in length (~87 feet in HO).
I know of only one or two people who ever were able to make the Walthers 90' kit work even marginally well. The Walthers 90' built-up is another matter, it seems to work fine.
The Atlas works, and I'm using the N scale version on a temporary project right now. But the pause-and-go Geneva-movement indexing makes me a little crazy and I couldn't live with it long-term.
Byron
Layout Design GalleryLayout Design Special Interest Group
newhavenroad I'm building a small HO railroad and I wanted to include a turntable and roundhouse. Ive been reading a lot online and it seems as though the only two available in my price range are atlas' 9 inch TT and the walthers 90' kit. I've heard nothing but good about the atlas and nothing but bad about the Walthers. I would go ahead with the atlas, however 9 inches seems like it would be too short for my needs. I was hoping someone had some instructions on how to "pitbash" the atlas into a larger, more realistic TT.
I'm building a small HO railroad and I wanted to include a turntable and roundhouse. Ive been reading a lot online and it seems as though the only two available in my price range are atlas' 9 inch TT and the walthers 90' kit. I've heard nothing but good about the atlas and nothing but bad about the Walthers. I would go ahead with the atlas, however 9 inches seems like it would be too short for my needs. I was hoping someone had some instructions on how to "pitbash" the atlas into a larger, more realistic TT.
The problem with bashing the Atlas unit is that the location of the motor (or manual crank) is fixed by the requirements of the geneva drive, and doesn't leave much room for expansion - perhaps an inch or so. And because of the geneva drive, the turntable has to stop at every indexed position. The only fix is to build a new geneva wheel with different spacing of the slots.
The typical complaint about the Walters (and some other commercial) 90ft kit turntable is that the pit isn't quite square or round or concentric. These are difficult problems to fix.
Have you considered scratchbuilding a turntable? It's not as difficult as it sounds, because the turntable you are making doesn't have to be self-supporting, especially in a box to be (dropped ) shipped. Use the article index, and find some of the past Model Railroader articles (and other sources) on how others built their own turntable.
You can start with a phonograph turntable or a lazy susan or just mount a bearing in plywood and go from there. 1/4" phono plugs have also been used as turnout bearings, with wipers on the contacts for easy wiring. I've even heard of using a CD and tray or drive as the basis of a small turntable.
A manual (or motor movement) and indexing by eye is a whole lot easier than installing an electronic drive and indexing system.
my thoughts, your choices
Fred W
The whole idea of needing complicated indexing seems to be a model railroad thing. Real turntables don;t work like that, the operator has to align the turntable at any stopping point. I supposeif the turntable is way in the back - but since turntables are such visually exciting elements, it ought ot be right up front where your visitors can marvel and you can see it to operate it. We have one mnaually controleld one on the club layout, it's I think the old Diamond Scale kits, powered with a simple DC power pack. Sure, sometimes you overshoto and have to jog it back a little - just liek the real thing. I got to see a real turntable operate and this is exactly what was done. A skilled operator can usually get it pretty close thefirst time but some final jogging to place it exactly is often required. On an empty move it seemed to move faster than expected, too. Didn;t get to go in the control cabin but it seemed like there were two speeds, the faster for more quicklly spinning the empty table into place, the slower for actual moves with the table loaded and for accurate positioning. One thing a real turntable has that models generally don't (although in larger scales you could probably do this easily) are lockign plates between the rails o the bridge that slide out between the stall or approach tracks to lock the table in perfect alignment as the loco rolls on and off. On a model with a decent reduction drive, the weight of a model loco moving on and off the bridge isn't likely to knock it askew and cause a derailment.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
On my current layout, I have the Walthers 130' turntable which is great. However, I avoid using the index feature and simply use the control box to turn the table manually to the spot that I want. I can do this fast and accurately.
On my previous layout, I had the old Walthers 90' kit. The motor sucked, so I abandoned that notion and simply spun the turntable by hand to the desired position. That actually worked pretty well. If you are on a tight budget, I would urge you to consider the Walthers 90' kit and manually operate it. The kit version actually looks pretty good and manual operation is not all that difficult.
As Randy pointed out, there is no automatic indexing on the prototype.
Rich
Alton Junction
richhotrainOn my current layout, I have the Walthers 130' turntable which is great. However, I avoid using the index feature and simply use the control box to turn the table manually to the spot that I want. I can do this fast and accurately. On my previous layout, I had the old Walthers 90' kit. The motor sucked, so I abandoned that notion and simply spun the turntable by hand to the desired position. That actually worked pretty well. If you are on a tight budget, I would urge you to consider the Walthers 90' kit and manually operate it. The kit version actually looks pretty good and manual operation is not all that difficult. As Randy pointed out, there is no automatic indexing on the prototype. Rich
There's never time to do it right, but always time to do it over.....
HaroldA Ditto on not using the indexing feature on the built-up. It seemed I was constantly adjusting the settings so I abandoned it and use the control box to turn it manually. Works fine for me. There have been a number of negative posts on the Walthers kit. I had one years ago and the problems were the same - bad motor, very difficult assembly, pit being out of round, etc. This was alos my experience. One more word about the built-up - keep the pit clean, don't let anything migrate into the pit rail, remove the bridge and cover the center hole before doing anything around the pit since ever a single grain of ballast will raise havoc with its operation.
Ditto on not using the indexing feature on the built-up. It seemed I was constantly adjusting the settings so I abandoned it and use the control box to turn it manually. Works fine for me. There have been a number of negative posts on the Walthers kit. I had one years ago and the problems were the same - bad motor, very difficult assembly, pit being out of round, etc. This was alos my experience. One more word about the built-up - keep the pit clean, don't let anything migrate into the pit rail, remove the bridge and cover the center hole before doing anything around the pit since ever a single grain of ballast will raise havoc with its operation.
Amen as to keeping the pit clean on the motorized turntables. Speaking from experience, even one grain of ballast in the gear track has the capability of bringing the turntable to a halt. Not fun trying to remove debris from the gears. It often requires partial disassembly to get at it and release it.
I took on the project of "pit-bashing" an Atlas turntable.
I documented the whole project, and posted it as a thread a few years back. You may get some insights from the comments that others made.
http://cs.trains.com/TRCCS/forums/t/99558.aspx?PageIndex=1
I agree about the difficulty of making the turntable longer, although it's not impossible. An inch or so on each end would probably be doable. However, if you're going to put in a roundhouse, it's important to note that this turntable indexes at 15 degrees, so the only kit that will work is the matching Atlas one. It's small, corresponding to the small turntable, and if you make the turntable longer you'll be cutting into the "apron" in front of the roundhouse.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Thanks for the insight. Ive decided to use the walthers kit manually. It seems like this usually gives ok results and the TT is the ideal size for my layout and motive power, along with my incredibly tight budget.
richhotrain HaroldA: Ditto on not using the indexing feature on the built-up. It seemed I was constantly adjusting the settings so I abandoned it and use the control box to turn it manually. Works fine for me. There have been a number of negative posts on the Walthers kit. I had one years ago and the problems were the same - bad motor, very difficult assembly, pit being out of round, etc. This was alos my experience. One more word about the built-up - keep the pit clean, don't let anything migrate into the pit rail, remove the bridge and cover the center hole before doing anything around the pit since ever a single grain of ballast will raise havoc with its operation. Amen as to keeping the pit clean on the motorized turntables. Speaking from experience, even one grain of ballast in the gear track has the capability of bringing the turntable to a halt. Not fun trying to remove debris from the gears. It often requires partial disassembly to get at it and release it. Rich
HaroldA:
HaroldA richhotrain: HaroldA: Ditto on not using the indexing feature on the built-up. It seemed I was constantly adjusting the settings so I abandoned it and use the control box to turn it manually. Works fine for me. There have been a number of negative posts on the Walthers kit. I had one years ago and the problems were the same - bad motor, very difficult assembly, pit being out of round, etc. This was alos my experience. One more word about the built-up - keep the pit clean, don't let anything migrate into the pit rail, remove the bridge and cover the center hole before doing anything around the pit since ever a single grain of ballast will raise havoc with its operation. Amen as to keeping the pit clean on the motorized turntables. Speaking from experience, even one grain of ballast in the gear track has the capability of bringing the turntable to a halt. Not fun trying to remove debris from the gears. It often requires partial disassembly to get at it and release it. Rich One more thought about keeping the pit clean, I speak from experience about the single grain of ballast gumming up the works. Walthers' instructions say to cover the center hole but as of yesterdau I cover the entire TT with a very clean cloth. It helps to keep things out of the pit but I will inspect it before I try running it again.
richhotrain: HaroldA: Ditto on not using the indexing feature on the built-up. It seemed I was constantly adjusting the settings so I abandoned it and use the control box to turn it manually. Works fine for me. There have been a number of negative posts on the Walthers kit. I had one years ago and the problems were the same - bad motor, very difficult assembly, pit being out of round, etc. This was alos my experience. One more word about the built-up - keep the pit clean, don't let anything migrate into the pit rail, remove the bridge and cover the center hole before doing anything around the pit since ever a single grain of ballast will raise havoc with its operation. Amen as to keeping the pit clean on the motorized turntables. Speaking from experience, even one grain of ballast in the gear track has the capability of bringing the turntable to a halt. Not fun trying to remove debris from the gears. It often requires partial disassembly to get at it and release it. Rich
HaroldA: Ditto on not using the indexing feature on the built-up. It seemed I was constantly adjusting the settings so I abandoned it and use the control box to turn it manually. Works fine for me. There have been a number of negative posts on the Walthers kit. I had one years ago and the problems were the same - bad motor, very difficult assembly, pit being out of round, etc. This was alos my experience. One more word about the built-up - keep the pit clean, don't let anything migrate into the pit rail, remove the bridge and cover the center hole before doing anything around the pit since ever a single grain of ballast will raise havoc with its operation.
One more thought about keeping the pit clean, I speak from experience about the single grain of ballast gumming up the works. Walthers' instructions say to cover the center hole but as of yesterdau I cover the entire TT with a very clean cloth. It helps to keep things out of the pit but I will inspect it before I try running it again.
I have the 130 foot version and do use the automatic indexing feature. Keeping the pit clean AND making sure the rails from the stalls and radial tracks do not creep into the pit opening definately increase the reliablity of the unit. Early on, I also had a problem with the rails on the bridge creeping and catching. I properly centered them and put a drop of super glue on each rail at a couple points.
I modified an Atlas turntable by using an Atlas bridge and styrene to form the pit walls. The bridge is 11" long.
I was pretty proud of myself! Then I actually applied power to the thing. What a monster!!! The noise made by the drive system is ridiculous, and the 'stop at every track' mechanism is painfully slow.
If anybody can suggest a method for changing the drive system to something that doesn't rattle my tooth fillings I would be very grateful. If not, pay the postage and the beast is yours!
Dave
I'm just a dude with a bad back having a lot of fun with model trains, and finally building a layout!
This is the way mine looked in a test fitting.
By surrounding the motor unit with pink foam and covering it with the little shed building, I greatly reduced the rediculous grinding noise that this motor drive makes. It's still not what you would call "quiet," but it's tolerable.
I thought of doing that. How do we get together
If you click on another user's name, you will get a page that has a link to "Start Conversation." That will send him/her an e-mail and start a private thread. Works great.