QUOTE: Originally posted by tomikawaTT Turntables can be scratchbuilt - takes time, but reduces the cash outlay (and can result in a much more satisfactory result if you're modeling a specific prototype.) OR - you can avoid turntables if: 1. There is a wye available with a wide enough radius and a long enough tail track to turn your Class A. 2. There is a reverse loop (balloon track) ditto - which might be off-scene. [Road loco cuts off, runs (possibly in reverse) to the engine terminal half a mile down the road, returns facing the opposite way ready to take another manifest or cover for a J on a passenger run. (Yes, the N&W sometimes ran the A on passenger trains.)] 3. The A is motive power for run-through freights that don't turn locally. Turntable pro - nothing says 'Steam Railroad' like a turntable and associated service facilities. Turntable con - nothing else on the railroad requires as much precision construction, demands as much attention to maintenance detail and has as much potential for trouble as a turntable. More than one locomotive, model and prototype, has wound up nose down in the pit when it tried to roll onto a turntable bridge that wasn't there.
QUOTE: Originally posted by Jeorge If you want to save a bit of Ca***ry this http://cgi.ebay.com/N-gauge-Train-Round-House-and-Turntable_W0QQitemZ6038532611QQcategoryZ19127QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem
QUOTE: Originally posted by jecorbett I think the main question is are you modeling an area where a turntable would likely be such as a division point yard. If so, you almost certainly would have one in the steam era. If you are modeling an area where few if any locos would be turned, it is not necessary. But if you do need to turn locos, you need either a TT, a wye, or a loop and all are space hogs. As pointed out, a loop or one leg of a wye could be a hidden track and not eat up a lot of your visibile space. I have already installed Walther's 130' TT on my layout. It is pricey but I am very happy with it. I also have a the old 90' TT which will be installed at the end of a yet to be built branchline. The branchline engines will have to be turned at the junction to the mainline. I didn't have room for a TT there but just beyond the junction, the mainline disappears into a tunned which is the entrance to a loop staging yard. Theortetically, the mainline forks on the other side of the tunnel and there is a wye junction there. My branchline engines will travel through the tunnel to turn around on the wye which is actually a hidden loop and they will return to the modeled junction pointed in the right direction to travel back up the branchline.
QUOTE: Originally posted by Jeorge you could always build your own http://cgi.ebay.com/H-D-Scale-Models-Modern-Turntable-No-30-HO-up-to-125_W0QQitemZ6038377428QQcategoryZ117370QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem or try something like this? http://cgi.ebay.com/HO-TRAIN-TURNTABLE-ENGINE-HOUSE-LIMA-MODEL-POWER_W0QQitemZ6037872134QQcategoryZ11646QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem or is this more what your looking for http://cgi.ebay.com/MARKLIN-410-NG-TURNTABLE-NEVER-USED-TURN-TABLE_W0QQitemZ6037675189QQcategoryZ1557QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem Im just thinking of what you could get for the least amount of Cash....
QUOTE: Originally posted by selector Jarrell, they add a great deal of pleasure to operating your roster of locos. You bridge and stall the ones that need "service', and turn them off (our friendly double-tap on F9 for QSI). That leaves you whatever is still in service to run your road, and they are wherver you send them. It adds variety, and a prototypical way to keep your rails uncluttered. My advice? Pay for the indexed pre-builts and be done with it. Paint it up nice and weather it, and it will be a showpiece.
QUOTE: Originally posted by jacon12 I'm gonna have to research indexed vs. undexed. Thanks guys Jarrell