Layout Turntables - Do you Have One on Your Layout


Greg@mnrr

Greg@mnrr

Section Hand
I'm planning a freight yard and I would like to add a small turntanble to turn the diesel locomotives after they entered the yard and are ready to leave. I'm not sure of which turntable to consider and what controls to use to operate the table and electrical polarity to the table's tracks.

If you have a turn table, which one manufacturer's turntable did you install and how does it operate? Any problems or tips to share on its installation?

Thanks.

Greg
 
I ahve 2 turntables on my layout. Both are 90 footers. One is a scratch built and the other is a Walthers 90 footer. I tried to use the Walthers motor kit and it was a disaster. I ended up using an old crank drive from a Diamond Scale turntable to operate it.
 
I have a layout I made for my son with the Atlas 9" turntable. It operates fine. It has a built in track centering mechanism so it is easy to align the tracks. It has two wires for track power that switch polarity automatically as the table turns.
Installation was as easy as:
open the box.
Position and anchor the table.
Make "ramps" to get the track up to turntable level.
Connect two wires and run.
Add two more wires with a DPDT switch if one selects the powered instead of manual crank option.
 
I had bought a Walthers 90 ft turn table about 15 years ago. It was only $29.00 dollars at the time. It took a lot of work to make it work, it had it's issues. Here's a video of it. There's a few still around at shows but beware it will not work out of the box. Far from it.

 
I had a Bowser 130 footer and I used an RC airplane servo running on 1.5 volt to spin it. It was slow enough to eyeball the position to match the slots. I still have it for sale.
 
Thanks everyone for your input...I heard from friends that the Walthers turntable is a bit hard to install and adjust properly. There is a installation video on Walther's website of the Walthers turntable that John Tews installed on his railroad.

I like the Atlas, but rather have a turntable with more of pit than what the Atlas offers. But, first I have to construct the freight yard where the turntable would be installed.

Thanks again.
 
I installed the new (then) 'built-up' programmable turntable that had an optical reader and small motor drive issued by Walthers in 2006. Installing it was a piece of cake, and so was programming it for indexing. The trickiest part of the job was sourcing a suitable power supply locally. At that time, Walthers didn't provide one. I don't know if that has changed.

index.php
 
I have a Walthers 90ft turntable that I bought new in April 2013, and it has served me well as long as I keep dust and micro-debris out of the pit and off the gears. I use a plain ol' 12v wall wart to supply power. As Crandell mentioned, it was easy to install and program - except for the part where I had to saw the round hole thru 3/4" plywood to fit it into.
 
Selector: Nice turntable....I like the pit and the handrail details. Good job on the weathering too.

Greg
 
I started out with a Walthers 90ft turntable, but had two problems: First, the wiring and indexing gave me fits. I finally wound up, for awhile, manually turning it. However, the second problem had to do with the length of my larger steam locomotives. (Guess I should have checked on that first!) I don't have room to replace the 90-footer with a 130. But, since I generally run counterclockwise around the folded dogbone, and have a wye that I can use to turn the engines. Also, I have only a two-stall "roundhouse". As a result, I don't really need the turntable, but really didn't want to remove it. My solution was to fix the turntable bridge in place, lined up with on stall, and modified the bridge with a turnout that leads a track to the second stall! I don't have to worry about track alignment, and the rationale is, like the actual problem, the 90 footer wouldn't handle the bigger steamers. I know the real railroads encountered a similar problem of length of their more modern, bigger hawgs. ;)
 
Thanks, Greg. I have not had it installed on a layout since 2012, and may have misplaced the power arch. I hope it still works when I get around to installing it in a month or so. If it doesn't, I think I'll get the new Walthers 110 foot model. It would be a better fit for my longer steamers.
 
Since I dieselized my home layout, I've removed and sold my turntables. Both were more trouble than they were worth. One was the large Bowser turntable, that after I broke a couple of minor pieces, I found out there are no parts available for it any more. The other was a Walthers 90' model, and after the third time the motor/mechanism went up in smoke, I pulled that one, as well. I "filled in" that one, and replaced the roubdhouse with a three stall backshop/engine house. I use a pair of turnouts to route engines into the building, and a fueling rack occupies two of the three tracks leading in to the building. I left the water tower, and weathered it heavily.
With diesels being bidirectional, I've found it doesn't matter which way they are pointing. I do have one engine facing opposite of the other two.
 
montanan said:
I ahve 2 turntables on my layout. Both are 90 footers. One is a scratch built and the other is a Walthers 90 footer. I tried to use the Walthers motor kit and it was a disaster. I ended up using an old crank drive from a Diamond Scale turntable to operate it.
Click to expand...

Did you have that laying around, or did you have to find one?

I have a nice big Diamond Scale one that I am seriously considering making it manual control,...just for the simplicity of it.
 
I happened to have it laying around. I had helped a friend who lives out of state install a 130 footer and we ended up motorizing it and he gave me the mechanism. Works just fine.
 
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