walthers roundhouse

[trainguy4466]

I am considering purchasing one of walthers' old roundhouse kits (not the modern one, the older one that was released with the turntable kit) can anyone give me any ideas to the kits quality, how easy it would be to expand, etc?

[hon30critter]

Hi trainguy4466:

The Atlas roundhouse is a good kit. It is very finely molded and fits together well.

There are a couple of things that you should check out before you purchase.

First, the kit is expandible according to Atlas but they don't list the expansion kits on their website. I'm not sure if that means that they are out of production or not. Getting them online or from a hobby shop should not be a problem but right now there are none listed on eBay.

Second, the Atlas turntable, which is designed to match the roundhouse's 15 degree track offset, is a noisey piece of junk if motorized with the Atlas motor kit and looks ridiculous with the hand crank supplied. It also lacks a pit so it does not resemble a typical north american turntable at all. Further, the mechanical action causes the turntable to stop every 15 degrees whether there is a track there or not.

Third, there are no pits built into the roundhouse floor. This is easily rectified with styrene but you have to do some scratch building or install a Peco pit http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=&scale=H&manu=Peco&item=&keywords=pit&words=restrict&instock=Q&split=30&Submit=Search (not sure about the fit of the Peco).

Finally, the inside of the walls do not have any brick detail. I attached brick sheeting to make it look more finished.

Dave

EDIT - For those of you who read my post already - sorry, in my third point I meant to say 'roundhouse' instead of 'roundtable'

[rogertra]

I have the Walthers three stall brick roundhouse kit.

It best described as a "Not too bad a kit".

Unfortunately, like many a Walthers kit, it relies a lot on butt joints rather then some form of interlocking joint as they are much cheaper and simpler for the die makers to make when building the dies.  This does sometimes make construction a little awkward as you need to hold the butt joints togther while the cement dries.

Given the above, I did purchase a second kit and it will be used to expand the one shown in the photo below to six stalls for use on the new GER.

Here's a photo of mine just after installation: -

[trainguy4466]

thank you both for the help. rogerta, that is the kit I am purchasing. I am mainly concerned with the level of detail inside the building. Does it have a floor, inspection pits, supporting beams and rafters,etc?

[skagitrailbird]

There is an excellent article beginning on page 34 of the September 2011 Model Railroader.  Although I have yet to build mine, I have three of the kits which I plan to make into a severn stall round house.  On the basis of close inspection of the parts I would rate the kit a good to very good for exterior detail and average to below average for interior detail.  That;s OK with me since I don't plan on interior detail other than the inspection pits.  I may add lighting as the author suggested and maybe some shop equipment later.

Good luck.

[skagitrailbird]

I forgot to mention that, as described in the article I referenced, the kit does have floors with inspection pits and interior posts, beams, rafters, etc.

 

[trainguy4466]

thanks for the info! The reason I asked about the interior is that I intend on placing the rounhouse on my layout so that the left edge of the structure is flush with the edge of the benchwork, allowing me to cut out the wall to allow for a nice view inside the roundhouse. For this reason I intend on detailing the interior as much as possible. I dont know if this has been done before and would really like to hear what you all think of the idea.

[hon30critter]

Hi again:

Further to the aspect of interior details, except for the posts and beams, there aren't any. As I mentioned above I glued styrene brick sheets to the interior walls. If I was doing this again I would do my wiring before the interior brick so the wires could be hidden inside the walls.

There are no pits. I referenced the Peco RTR pits or the scratch built option in my previous post.

As for work benches etc, Scale Structures built a kit specifically for this purpose:

http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/650-7204

I balked at the $99 price so I made benches, storage shelves, tool racks etc from scratch. Scale structures also offer lots of other things like bench vises, hand tools and more:

(scroll down the page a bit for the Scale Structures stuff)

http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=Part&scale=H&manu=&item=&keywords=tools&words=restrict&instock=Q&split=30&Submit=Search

You might also find these pictures interesting:

http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/data/CHUCK%20DOAN/2005712101420_IMG_0249c1.jpg

http://www.railroad-line.com/forum/data/CHUCK%20DOAN/200571210151_IMG_0261cr.jpg

I doubt that a functioning roundhouse would have had that much clutter but the materials shown might give you some ideas on how to fill up the blank spaces and corners.

Hope this helps.

Dave

[doctorwayne]

hon30critter

......I doubt that a functioning roundhouse would have had that much clutter but the materials shown might give you some ideas on how to fill up the blank spaces and corners.

Dave

 

Dave, I think that the Sierra's roundhouse is still a functioning one.  When I looked at the first picture, I thought it was the East Broad Top's roundhouse at Orbisonia, also still in use.

 

Wayne

[hon30critter]

Hi Wayne:

I should have been more detailed in my comment. I recognize that the roundhouse pictures do represent a roundhouse which is being used, but I was thinking more of a situation where the roundhouse was being used by a revenue producing railroad where there would have been several (many?) locomotives in and out each day. Maybe I am wrong but I don't think that a roundhouse with high (i.e. profitable) turnover could function with piles of supplies in the bays. If the OP wants to model an active roundhouse on a profitable railroad then I think the piles of 'stuff' would be relegated to the corners or to a dedicated storage area. Hence my less than well articulated comments. 

Dave

P.S. Thank you for the additional roundhouse pics.

[doctorwayne]

You're right, Dave:  for a full-time railroad, keeping things running is a priority, and there wouldn't be all those supplies stacked in the way.

This is the only photo I have of a "working" roundhouse, and it didn't have much clutter at all. 

 

Sadly, roundhouse, shops, turntable and coaling tower are all gone, along with the roadname, although the line is still in service, operated by CP Rail.

Wayne

[rrboomer]

Real roundhouses do have full walls inside for the purpose of firebreaks.  How far apart the firewalls are vary by the road's individual standards.

Dick

[MisterBeasley]

I like the idea of viewing the interior of the roundhouse from the edge of the layout.

I put an interior into my Atlas roundhouse.  It's hard to see from the layout edge, but it is illuminated so I thought I should have something there.  Besides, I like doing interiors.

I think I had a rather fanciful idea of roundhouses when I built this.  A wood plank floor would probably be inappropriate, and there are no inspection pits.  The pits wouldn't be visible, though, and the planks look better than the gray plastic floor the kit came with.

I made the cinder block interior walls by printing an image on cardstock on my computer.  The interior beams were part of the kit.  I added the workbench at the back and some other details, including "centerfold" pictures on the walls.

If you're going to add lights, then some sort of inner wall is going to be an important item.  Not only will it look better, but it will also keep light from passing through these thin plastic walls, giving you the "Chernobyl Valley Railroad" effect when you turn the lights on.  For your application, I'd also recommend getting some brick sheet (Walthers makes it) and cutting it to fit the inside of the roundhouse.

[Geared Steam]

hon30critter

 looks ridiculous with the hand crank supplied. It also lacks a pit so it does not resemble a typical north american turntable at all. 

I wish the photographer would have included the hand crank in this picture

I bet it was a big sucker!

 

[hon30critter]

Geared Steam:

As usual I painted with too broad a brush! Your example of a turntable without an open pit is quite interesting. I used the term 'typical' because when I think of a turntable I think of the open pit style. As far as modeling is concerned I would rather have the added depth that the open pit provides to add texture to the scene.

You were right about the size of the crank needed! One of the things that has always amazed me about turntables is the fact that many were turned by hand with a pole to push on. Amazing!

Dave

[farrellaa]

I have the Walthers roundhouse and am building a six stall version. I have the floors in place with all the tracks glued and wired. This is a very nice kit but as mentioned by others there is no interior wall detail. I am building mine with a removable roof and some interior lighting. I haven't put the walls up yet as I have a loto of other work to do first but have included some photos of the 'pre installation site work' that needs to be done. The pits are too deep to be used with just cork roadbed material and I had to cut recessed slots to accomodate them. I used a router with a custom template to cut the slots. Also, I used CA liquid cement to attach the floor sections to the plywood, which worked really well (to my surprise). I soldered my feeder wires to the underside of the rails and pushed them through drilled holes in the bottom of the rail recesses (this was a very well designed and executed detail of the kit!). My Walthers 130' turntable and roundhouse is the featured area of my  layout and would recommend these models to anyone considering putting them on theirs.

    -Bob

 

[hon30critter]

farrellaa:

I see inspection pits in your roundhouse floor! Is this how your kit came or have you built them yourself? Mine had no inspection pits. Please let us know if yours came with inspection pits. That may change the info provided to the OP.

Thanks

Dave

[don7]

hon30critter

farrellaa:

I see inspection pits in your roundhouse floor! Is this how your kit came or have you built them yourself? Mine had no inspection pits. Please let us know if yours came with inspection pits. That may change the info provided to the OP.

Thanks

Dave

You have the Atlas roundhouse, he has the Walthers, the Walthers have the inspection pits. 

[farrellaa]

don7

hon30critter:

farrellaa:

I see inspection pits in your roundhouse floor! Is this how your kit came or have you built them yourself? Mine had no inspection pits. Please let us know if yours came with inspection pits. That may change the info provided to the OP.

Thanks

Dave

 

You have the Atlas roundhouse, he has the Walthers, the Walthers have the inspection pits. 

Yes, mine is a Walthers and it comes with the inspection pits.

   -Bob

[hon30critter]

AH HA! Walthers vs Atlas! Never a day goes by where I do not learn something new. Problem with my brain is that it has to be banged hard on something for several minutes before the light dawns. Even then the light seems to be rather dim!

Dave