Turntable question....

[MudHen_462]

I'll have to see  if I can find any photos or drawings of the "control lever" device that controlled the air flow and therefore controlled the T/T's movement. I would guess the T/T air connection would be located at both ends of the turntable, so they could easily access the air hose on the tender/locomotive, and that the controll lever was only on one end of the "bridge" area... 

 Thanks again...  Bob

 

 

[wjstix]

Last night I watched the old video "Chicago and NorthWestern: Left-Hand Railroad" that showed a CNW engine turning on a turntable under it's own power, but didn't get to see any close-ups on how it was connected up to get the air from the engine to the turntable...but I have heard of this often enough to believe it was a fairly common mode of operation for turntables. It would be a good idea I would think for remote turntables, because the power supply was the engine, they wouldn't have to have a separate electrical or other power source.

[MudHen_462]

Thanks Tom, Mark, and Wayne...  that fills in a lot of blank spaces for me. The info that I had on the Montana Western was that it was steam "powered", but possibly air operated. They only had three pieces of motive power during the period I'm modeling... a 4-4-0; a 4-6-0, and a 65 ft. Gas-Electric. (I wondered how they turned the D/B, if they used steam to operate their turntable.... and using air, I think that problem is solved also).

 Thanks for your help...  Bob

 

 

 

 

 

 

[doctorwayne]

The CNR used air-operated turntables on many of the branch lines in Southern Ontario.  In Ian Wilson's book "To Stratford Under Steam", there's a picture of a loco (Pacific) being turned on one at Goderich.  The hose is connected to the tender's brake hose, and appears to connect to a fitting with a valve on the turntable.  There are a few other pipes visible, and the fireman who's operating the turntable is standing on a small platform welded to the outside face of the turntable bridge.  There's a long handle projecting from the maze of pipes, but it's unclear in this and other photos, exactly how it's attached to things.  It appears that this handle is the control for operating the turntable, as the photo with the fireman shows the handle almost vertical, while another shot of the empty turntable shows it projecting horizontally at a very shallow angle.

 Wayne  

[TomDiehl]

Thanks, Tom... that clears up a big part of my question.  Do you know how the connection was made to the loco to "tap" the steam to power the T/T?  I also noticed in the photo, there was a pipe sticking up higher than the level of the deck...  could that have been part of a valve arrangement that controlled the flow of steam, thus controlling the T/T motor? If there was such a control located next to the rails, it would be easy to allign the transfer tracks to those on the turntable.

Thanks again for the great info...  Bon 

I don't recall any pictures of this arrangement being connected or actually used by the East Broad Top. The turntable was second hand from the New York Central and the motor may have been a left over from the original owner. There probably were air connections (other than brake or signal lines) on the locomotive, many steam locomotives currently operating have connections on the bottom of one of the tanks on each side to connect air tools for servicing/repairs out on the line, but I don't know if this practice went back to the steam days or not. Some old photos of the turntable show a control valve on a stand at the corner of the table and we've always heard that was the valve to control the air motor.

[marknewton]

The length of pipe has an ordinary angle c.o.c.k. on the end of it, which tallies with the OP's statement that this t/t has an air motor. Assuming that EBT engines weren't fitted with main reservoir hoses - were they? - a direct connection would be made to the engine's train pipe hose to power the air motor.

I'm not dismissing the possibility that steam was used to power turntables, but I would consider it unlikely - I've certainly never seen any examples in thirty-odd years of visiting engine sheds around the world. I'll also note that steam-era trade publications have numerous advertisements for air motors to operate turntables and traversers, but none for steam engines. If anyone can cite examples, I'd be very interested.

Cheers,

Mark.

[MudHen_462]

Thanks, Tom... that clears up a big part of my question.  Do you know how the connection was made to the loco to "tap" the steam to power the T/T?  I also noticed in the photo, there was a pipe sticking up higher than the level of the deck...  could that have been part of a valve arrangement that controlled the flow of steam, thus controlling the T/T motor? If there was such a control located next to the rails, it would be easy to allign the transfer tracks to those on the turntable.

Thanks again for the great info...  Bon 

 

 

 

[TomDiehl]

The one at the East Broad Top has what I am told is an air motor on it. The motor hasn't been used since the common carrier era (pre 1956) and the turntable is an "Armstrong" type now.

A close up of the motor while the turntable was being redecked, taken by fellow EBT fan Lance Myers:

http://www.railfanusa.com/pics/mine/ebt/ebt_1446.jpg

 

[MudHen_462]

In the MR/Kalmbach book by Marty McGuirk titled "Locomotive Servicing Terminals" states on page 41 that RR's got inventive with the T/T's, and "Compressed air and steam tractors were powered by the locomotives they were turning"....

 "An air or steam-powered motor would be connected to the locomotives compressor and used to turn the locomotive". (These methods, as opposed to electricity, were only used on smaller turntables).

 Does anyone know of such an application, or photo's/text regarding such usage?

Bob