Comments on Turntables?

[Anonymous]

I want to put the bite on the kids to get me a turntable for Christmas, instead of ties..(just kidding). I see Atlas, Walthers, Cornerstone and CMR, and at least another which is way pricey. I do want it motorized and indexed. Obviously I want it accurate. I hope to use DCC and Railroad & Co, in conjunstion with it.
Any comments/suggestions on what I should ask for?
Thank you!

[cacole]

Unless Walthers has made significant improvements to their turntables, they are extremely noisy, wobbly, and are not indexing. Atlas turntables are self-indexing, but are also noisy and do not look very realistic, so they require a lot of touch-up or modification. One idea I have read about is to sink an Atlas turntable and then mount a more realistic looking bridge on top of it. The top of the Atlas can then be weathered to look like the bottom of a turntable pit.

[CP5170]

I purchased a Walthers turntable and have had nothing but problems with it. I am not impressed with Walthers products. I don't think they are worth the price they demand.

I may try Cacole's suggestion.

[hminky]

Look at the Heljan 14" turntable. The Atlas turntable has a very lurchy indexing. There is a low rpm motor that mounts to the Heljan. I have seen this type motor used on an Nn3 turntable and only using eyeball indexing works quite well.
Just a thought
Harold

http://www.pacificcoastairlinerr.com

[Anonymous]

Diamond scale Models makes several models. They also make an indexing kit and a hand crank assembly. Not cheap and not shake the box, but good quality and realistic.

http://www.diamond-scale.com/Products/products__turntables.htm

Guy

[richhotrain]

My dealer went to a showing in Milwaukee last week where a Walther rep demonstrated the new 130' turntable which is now allegedly due out on Jan 28 2005). I say allegedly because it is a year overdue. The turntable is motorized and fully indexed.

According to my dealer, the demo worked flawlessly and the rep told him that they have demonstrated the demo hundreds of times recently without any failures. The turntable will cost $300 and will require a separate DC power pack to operate it.

[Anonymous]

Re the Atlas conversion you should go to http://uk.geocities.com/barry_pate/html/turntable.html
It looks like a nice conversion that I am thinking of trying myself
Alex.

[robengland]

The trouble with the Atlas is that it stops and pauses at every position in a most unrealistic way.

[Anonymous]

You might also consider the Fleischmann turntable. Not cheap - the only cheap turntable that works, is the Atlas one - but nicely executed, and the price includes an indexing system.

[Anonymous]

You need to find out how much they can afford first. $28 or $300-big difference. I personally would choose a good looking turntable and operate it manually. After all, how much use is it really going to get? I think most are for appearance anyway. Just my opinion, though.

[NZRMac]

haven't seen Rex on here lately so I'll comment for him.

He's just got a 16.5" turntable from http://www.custommodelrailroads.com/index.html and motor from http://www.berkshirejunction.com/ the motor does .45rpm doesn't index tho

Ken

[Anonymous]

I just picked up the Atlas turntable and plan I modifying it as suggested by ozziladd. For $25 how could you go wrong. If it doesn't work, at least it was good training for assemblying one of the more expensive models.

[Paul Milenkovic]

Manual turntable operation:

I would like to operate a turntable manually because it will be for turning engines in a "fiddle yard" rather than meant to be prototypical. What do I need to know about its operation that I don't put engines on the ground? Are there some rugged buy non-prototypical turntable designs for this applications?

[ndbprr]

If you want it for a fiddle yard and it won't be seen try getting a rubbermiad lazy susan for a kitchen cabinet. It is only a couple of bucks and uses ball bearings in plastic tracks. You can glue a piece of plywood on top to hold you track. It could do what you want cheaply and easily. My personal preference on engine terminals is to avoid them. Having made one that could handle a Big Boy I found the entire engine terminal took up far too much space. Interesting - yes. Worth the real estate - not in my opinion. I know I am in the minority here but I prefer off line terminals and use staging loops to turn stuff now.

[Anonymous]

For rugged non-prototypcial I would buy the Atlas TT with the motorizing kit. All you need is an extra powerpack and two track wires. On ebay you can get the two of them for less than $25

[abbieleibowitz]

[:(] I'm a fairly good model builder, but I bought a Custom Model Railroads turntable kit and while it looks great in the picture, I can't put the kit together. It has about a million pieces (Ok, maybe just a couple hundred) and the skill level exceeds my abilites. The lesson is, make sure you get something you will ultimately be able to use. $350 later, I've got a box of acrylic parts that I'll probably never be able to use. Be willing to sacrifice realism for something that you can use. Riverosi used to make a great pre-assembed N gauge turntable I used years back when I modeled in N. Not sure it's still available.

[MisterBeasley]

Wow, I'm just getting back into this. My trains have been in the attic for 35 years. I bought an Atlas turntable back when JFK was in the White House. It hasn't changed significantly, if the pictures are any guide. I really think the conversion of the Atlas to a pit turntable is a great idea. The big drawback I remember is the small diameter, only large enough for a single engine, and certainly not for a steam engine with tender. My solution then was to always park the Mikado directly across from the track out to the main line, so it didn't require rotation. Any comments on larger-diameter turntables?

[Anonymous]

Forget about the Walthers or the Heljan as they are about the same and are nothing but junk. They don't even make good Frisbee's.
The Diamond Scale Turntables are great and they have a very nice manual operation.
I've seen these in use several times and they are very nice.
Good luck,
gtirr

[Anonymous]

I just completed a Custom Model Railroads 135' turntable model. It is a more advanced kit, but not that hard of a kit. I did not buy a motorizing/indexing add-on as I plan on powering mine manually. Abbieleibowitz, contact me if you would like some help with your kit. I'm no expert, but I think I could help you get your turntable assembled.

[cp1057]

I bought a Walthers turntable years ago and my opinion would be: So-So.
It looks nice and wasn't too hard to assemble and it matched the Walthers roundhouse that I received as a gift shortly after.
Unfortunately, it seems to be somewhat wobbly and even with my pulse throttle switched in to power the turntable it requires a very delicate touch to align properly. I also have had continuous problems with the contacts supplying power to the rails.

Overall in the future I think I would go for something simpler, reliable, less expensive even if it was less realistic looking, or hide something like a lazy Susan offstage somehwere. A nice-working turntable is fun to show to visitors, but it's been frustrating to fine-tune such a model to be mechanically reliable.

Sinking an Atlas turntable and mounting a bridge structure on it sounds like a good compromise as long as it could handle the length of a steam loco with tender.

Charles
Hillsburgh On

[Anonymous]

I have an HO Diamond Scale 134' turntable that I built around 15 years ago. It looked great but was never a reliable performer. The white metal castings holding the wheels tended to bend with the weight of larger engines and I could never get a nice smooth rotation. I also found it frustrating without indexing. The uneven operation made it even more difficult to align manually. The bridge got damaged during my move 12 years ago so I lost interest in trying to make it work properly. While I was into 3-rail O gauge I picked up a partial 24" Bowser turntable with the idea of rebuilding it but I found it was a pretty klutzy design and not reliable or substantial enough to be a worthwhile project. It was one of the older ones and I have heard they have been reworked for improved performance but I was really disappointed with the one I had. Now that I'm back into HO, I am really hoping that the new Walthers Modern 130' turntable will be a reliable one. If so, I am going with it. Proper operation is the most important aspect of a turntable. Although it does need to have at the least the potential to look realistic, if it doesn't perform the function gracefully and reliably, it is worthless to me.

[Anonymous]

I'm goona do the atlas conversion like the guy from the U.K. . I need a 115 ' to 120' bridge to mount it on, but have not seen any. Does anyone know of any suitable bridges in this length that are available ?

[rockythegoat]

Aw heck!

Are you guys saying my 2 month old, 95' Walthers turntable is going to be nothing but grief???? [V]

Double aw heck!

[jrbarney]

QUOTE: Originally posted by rororo

I'm goona do the atlas conversion like the guy from the U.K. . I need a 115 ' to 120' bridge to mount it on, but have not seen any. Does anyone know of any suitable bridges in this length that are available ?

Rororo,
You didn't state whether you wanted truss or girder, but you might want to check the Diamond Scale Products site at:
http://www.diamond-scale.com/Products/products__turntables.htm
Haven't built one of their kits, but it's my understanding, based on earlier threads on the topic of tuntables, that some skill is required.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[tomytuna]

Hi all..glad to stumble on this topic as i was about to go and purchase the Wlthers roundtable in the 2005 catalog.....Anyway....is this the turntable richhotrain is talking about...my dealer says that this turntable is supposed to be very good....thanks for any comments... Tom

[Anonymous]

If you sink an atlas turntable whats to stop you making the bridge longer to accomodate
steam with tenders?

[rockythegoat]

ozzieladd: Yea, I was kinda wondering the same thing. I currently have a Walthers 95', and since it appears it will be a challenge to get it to both work properly and reliably, I think I will get an Atlas, sink it, and put the Walthers unit on top. I don't need to worry about steamers, but, plan on having (2) MP1500's coupled together, and I don't think 95' is long enough.

WITHOUT having an Atlas TT to look at, I was thinking of sanding/grinding off the top of the Atlas pit, the part that has the alignment curbs for the tracks. Adding more plastic to the circle to enlarge it to the size I need, then sink it. Build a wall to track height. Then use the Walthers turntable bridge to mount on top of the Atlas deck. I think extending the Walthers bridge may not be too hard, by either getting a second bridge or using structural shapes or Micro Engineering bridge sides. But, its been awhile since I've had the box open, so, this may be harder to do then I think.

[Anonymous]

Rocky,

I think it is possible to extend the Walther's bridge. I tried doing this several years ago, but in my haste I messed the whole thing up. The key, I learned is to have the bridge properly centered. If it isn't, it won't look right in the pit.

If you are thinking of sinking the Atlas turntable and then using it to turn a Walthers/modified Walthers/sratchbuilt bridge, I don't think it is necessary to grind down the Atlas table. There was an article in one of the magazines, bunches of years ago, where a guy mounted the atlas table under his layout and extended a center shaft up through the pit floor. I think he used a 35mm film canister for this and then ran feeder wires from the rails of the atlas through the can to the rails of the new bridge. Doing it this way, although I'm sure it was kinda tricky mounting the shaft, he didn't have to worry about changing the size of the atlas table nor worry about the pit floor revolving around with the bridge.

alll,
I think the TT that folks are raving about is the new one that Walthers is introducing. The 95foot table I believe is the same, or close to the same one that Heljan has been marketing for years. The new Walthers one looks way cool, but a little too long for my use.

[rockythegoat]

dkelly:

I like that method. Sounds a whole lot easier. Thanks for the "Heads up!" [tup]

[Anonymous]

Rocky,

No problem. Given the massive amounts of information and assistance I have received on this forum, it's pretty cool that I can say something that will help someone else for a chance!

Besides, as a member of the Navy/Marine Corps team I've grown used to showing you Air Force types the way lol. Just avoid those Tim Taylor hijinks and have fun!

Dave