Walthers roundhouse project

[hon30critter]

Ed:

Different times for sure!!! I can just hear what the crusty old mechanics were saying under their breath, and it wasn't "What a nice bunch of kids"

Thank you for showing me the HOn2 industrial tracks. I hadn't seen them before, and I can definitely use something like that to run between my various shops in my service facility. Alternately, it would be an interesting scratch build with some N or even Z scale rails. 

Now you have me thinking about bashing a Z scale engine to use as a mule. Do any Z scale locomotives come with just two axles?

Interesting possibilities!!!

Dave

 

[gmpullman]

I don't know about "proper" but for some reason that name seems to have caught on...

And another thought. Back when I was the ripe ol' age of six my dad took me on a CN fantrip to Stratford, Ontario, where we were allowed to run around the roundhouse and shops like a bunch of crazed lemurs! One of the things I remember was the very narrow gauge shop trolleys they had for moving materials around.

Here I am pushing one of the carts.

Then a fellow offered to push a couple of us around like on a carnival ride! It was definitely different times, then!

These are screen-grabs from an old 8mm film. So what this is leading up to is that I noticed Walthers is offering a slim-gauge industrial track system and I'm trying to work it into my present roundhouse/machine shop/ backshop area.

I thought you might consider fitting something in like this if you have room for it.

There was a little turntable like that at Stratford and I remember one at the B&O shops in Dubois, Pa., too.

This is the B&O at Martinsburg, West Virginia.

 

https://www.walthers.com/track-set-light-industrial-rail-series-kit

All I bought were two of the track kits and one set of the three flat cars.

http://www.modeltrainstuff.com/product-p/949-3007.htm

For me there wasn't the need for the non-operating locomotive in the higher priced set.

I'm sure, being the HOn3 critter, you have sources of narrow-gauge stuff but I thought you might consider this "Pre-Towmotor" material handling tram.

Have Fun! Ed

[hon30critter]

OK, thanks Ed.

I knew what they were but I never knew the proper name for them.

Dave

[gmpullman]

hon30critter

Please tell me what the term "garden track" refers to.

If I may...

Some facilities had outdoor tracks for storage or quick servicing that didn't require being inside the roundhouse. Kind of an "overflow" parking area. Sometimes boiler washouts were done out there so the wash water wouldn't be a problem.

I added the pipe gantry for interest. There would be air, steam and water lines there.

Regards, Ed

 

[hon30critter]

Hi Grinnell:

Thanks for your post. You gave me several things to think about.

I need to ask a question. Please tell me what the term "garden track" refers to. I don't think I've heard it before.

Thanks,

Dave

[grinnell]

I’m just finishing up building the larger Walthers “modern” roundhouse, a nine-stall version with 3 extended stalls. With 20-inch garden tracks and an 18-inch turntable, the roundhouse is far enough away from the front of the layout that I’m not worried about interior details. I have an access hatch at the side, but building it in place would have been too awkward. I used ¾ plywood on sawhorses for a sturdy work surface (with waxed paper so I wouldn’t glue the building to the plywood).

After gluing all 9 sections of the base together, the assembly was a little “floppy”, so I used a sheet of foam board to support it while carrying it back and forth to the layout for test fittings. I cut all the rails to the exact length needed to fit from the back of the stall to just shy of the turntable track and used a couple of PCB ties to maintain the gauge. I ACCed the track before installing the support beams and walls.

I should have painted the windowsills a concrete color before assembling the walls. I painted the stall doors brown and should have painted the doors in the walls as well. Canopy glue worked fine for cementing all the window material in place. The roof sections are not glued down in case I need to access the interior. The tracks are spiked to wooden ties, so the roundhouse is now fixed in place.

I was in a hurry to use the turntable for operating sessions, so I built the garden tracks well before I built the roundhouse. In retrospect I should have built the roundhouse first, because despite my careful measurements only six of the nine stall tracks exactly match the garden tracks on the other side.

Even though there were things I could have done better, I'm really happy with the way that the roundhouse turned out and would recommend it to someone who has the space for it.

Grinnell

 

[hon30critter]

Randy:

The closest roundhouse to me is in Toronto, which is less than an hour away. It is open to the public but I have never been in it (been under it in a parking garage). Maybe we are due for a day trip into the city!

Dave

[hon30critter]

Kevin:

I love large roundhouses!

Dave

[hon30critter]

Mel:

Thanks for sharing your roundhouse and turntable pics. None of my locomotives will come anywhere near overflowing the roundhouse. I don't plan on having a lot of steam engines and they are all of the 4-6-0 or 0-8-0 sort of sizing. The roundhouse will also service diesels but the largest will be GP7s and FP7s and 9s.

Thanks also for the compliments on my work. Much appreciated.

Dave

[rrinker]

 You made me think of a very nifty idea (combined with some articles I recently read). Instead of brick sheeting for the inside - phot prints, made by taking some pictures of the real interior wall of a roundhouse (there's one at Steamtown, not far from me, or I could do the shop tour again at Strasburg - really any grimny brick wall will do) and replicate it to print full sheets. Then use that for line the interior walls.

 Otherwise following along because I probably will be using the Walthers kits.

                             --Randy

 

[SeeYou190]

Dave,

.

Thank you for the information. I plan to use the 90 foot turntable and roundhouse pretty much exactly like you are. I plan a 12 stall roundhouse, but only 6 or 7 stalls will be functional. The remainding stalls will be cut too short by the backdrop and just have dummy tenders installed.

.

-Kevin

.

[RR_Mel]

I kitbashed my roundhouse, its made up of two Korber #104 three stall kits.  I wanted to house multiple Cab Forwards in my roundhouse.  The Korber 104 is 15” deep, by continuing the roof line 4⅜” I ended up with the inside 18¾” deep leaving room for a Bowser Big Boy if necessary, I had a big boy at that time.

 

Korber Roundhouse:

https://korbermodels.myshopify.com/products/korber-models-104-ho-scale-3-stall-roundhouse 

 

Your roundhouse is looking very good.  Do keep posting pictures during construction.  I’m fascinated with Roundhouses, as a teen I spent two summer vacations (1951/52) at the Southern Pacific Roundhouse in El Paso climbing allover Cab Forwards and AC-9s.

 

My Roundhouse:  

 

 

This is a picture after the install about 4 years ago.  I'm in the process of removing the turntable and roundhouse to make it easier to install SG90 servos to open and close the doors.  While I have it on my workbench I'm also going to add more detail and coat the roof to look like tar and gravel.

 

 

I have a sugestion for you Dave, make yours easily removable for future mods or maintenance.  Mine comes out by removing four screws and three conectors.  Working at your workbench beats the heck out of crawling under!

 

You do great work!!!  Keep the photos coming!!!

 

Mel

 

Modeling the early to mid 1950s SP in HO scale since 1951

 

My Model Railroad   

http://melvineperry.blogspot.com/

 

Bakersfield, California

 

I'm beginning to realize that aging is not for wimps.

[hon30critter]

Hi Kevin:

I have the 90' turntable and the bridge measures 12" long. The rails in the roundhouse are 13" long so for my purposes everything that will fit on the bridge will fit into the roundhouse. However, you raise a good point. There wouldn't seem to be any advantage to installing a 110' or 130' turntable with the older style Walthers roundhouse #933-3041. Walthers also offers a 'Modern' roundhouse which is 2" deeper overall and includes an extension that adds another 20 scale feet to one bay only. It would make sense that the 'Modern' roundhouse would be able to fit anything that the 130' turntable could hold, but only in one stall.

https://www.walthers.com/3-stall-modern-roundhouse-kit-16-x-20-1-8-x-5-1-2-quot-40-6-x-51-1-x-14cm

Dave

[SeeYou190]

I believe the bridge on the 90 foot turntable is about 13 inches long. Are the roundhouse stalls at least that deep? So, if it fits on the turntable, will it fit in the roundhouse?

.

-Kevin

.

[hon30critter]

Hi gang!

Most of you have seen my threads on how I built my Walthers 90' turntable kit. I'm sure you are bored to death with it by now, but just to add insult to injury, I have decided to start a thread on building my Walthers nine stall roundhouse rather than hijacking WPF everytime I want to explain how I did something or ask for advice. This thread is very similar to my recent posts in WPF so I apologise for the duplication. Please don't expect daily entries, I don't work that fast.

Last fall I made the decision to get rid on my Atlas roundhouse and turntable. I had re-designed my service facility with a much simpler track plan and in the process I realized that I could fit in a much larger roundhouse. So, I'm going from three stalls at 15 degrees to nine stalls at 10 degree intervals. Also, I never liked the Atlas turntable because of the mechanical action where it stops every 15 degrees when rotating so I won't miss it.

First thing I discovered upon opening up the three roundhouse kits is that a nine stall roundhouse is rather large. For that reason I have decided to build it in three segments. It will be much easier to handle three stalls one at a time rather than nine stalls all at once. This will give you an idea of the size of the roundhouse:

My next step will be to finish the interior walls properly. The mouldings as supplied don't look much like an interior brick wall. I have Plastruct HO scale brick sheets on order (far too expensive IMHO). This is what the supplied walls look like:

When done, the interior will look something like this:

I'm waiting for the Plastruct sheets to arrive so in the interim I'm working on some interior details. I need a bunch! I want the roundhouse to look reasonably cluttered like some of the prototypes I have seen. I started with some shelf units:

Don't look too close. They're not very precise. Next step after painting will be to figure out how to make them look reasonably full without having to make dozens and dozens of little bits. Frank and Ja Bear gave me some good suggestions on the WPF thread. Frank suggested using printed images which he has done quite effectively, and Bear suggested using bits of sprue to simulate cans and the like. Both good ideas. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.

That's where the project sits right now. Like I said, please don't expect ground breaking progress every day. I like to take my time.

Regards,

Dave