Space for a Turntable

F

Floyd

Member
Sep 20, 2007
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Southeastern Colorado
Finally got through all of the items that I bought a an estate sale a couple of weeks ago and I ran across a turntable, new in the box. Information says it is a Diamond Scale Construction 134ft Turntable Kit. My question is, Does anyone out there have one of these on their layout? If so, how much room do you suggest has to be available to set this up? I had not planned on installing one of these but for $5.00 I could not pass it up:cry: The table is 20inches in diameter. Here is a picture of the item.

HOTurntableTS134.jpg
 
Wow!! :eek:

A Diamond Scale TT for $5! I think the list price for those is a couple hundred bucks!

It depends what you want to achieve with the install. That type and size of turntable would be the centrepiece for at least a mid-sized loco servicing area, with a couple of approach tracks and at least a 4-5 stall roundhouse, plus all the associated structures and features.

You might want to look up "The Maumee turns a Mike", which was a two part article in MR some time ago. It took you through all the features required to service steam and where they were placed in order to facilitate the process.

I am thinking you'd probably need a minimum of 2x4 feet to make even a half-way decent attempt at this.

If this all seems a little overwhelming, don't worry. Just send the TT to me...! ;) :D

Good luck!

Andrew
 
It's not the turntable that takes the space, it's the roundhouse. I would say 4x4 is the minimum. If the TT is 20", I would say allow at least 12" open track to the Roundhouse, and 20" or so for the Roundhouse itself.

Dave
 
I agree with Andrew...a DSM turntable for $5!()#*&!(^!@^&!!!!!!

I used to drool over those. I ended up getting a 100' Model Masterpieces table (which is fine for me), but I always wanted one of those. It's long enough to turn anything...the longest wheel base of any locomotive was the Pennsy's S-1...124'
 
Well Floyd lets work this out a little. How many stalls do you need/want? How deep? How long is your longest loco? I was thinkin 4'x4' for say a quarter circle
roundhouse.JPG

That is with a 1' grid, assuming a 20" turntable, 6" between the table and the RH, and 3" track centers at the doors. In 2'x4' you can see you can still have several stalls
roundhouse1.JPG

If you did, say, 2'x5', moving the RH away from the turntable to 18" you could fit in more stalls. If you use primarily short locos, you could shrink the RH to 12-14" deep. Maybe someone else that is better with layout design will chime in or provide more accurate drawings.

Then again, if I were you I would decide my minimun # of stalls, and buy that many pieces of flextrack, then set up the TT and mock up the RH until I found what I wanted.

Dave
 
In puddlejumper's first diagram, you could shorten the sidewalls of the roundhouse by up to a foot, and still have room in the centre stalls for moderate-size locos, or shorten the sidewalls to almost nothing, and use the front wall of the roundhouse strictly as a scenic backdrop.
I don't know what your operating scheme is, but it's too bad that it's such a large turntable - the CNR had 90' turntables at the end (in some cases, literally) of many branchlines in southern Ontario. Often, that's all that there was - no roundhouse, enginehouse, or even a tool shed, just a place to turn the loco for the return trip. These were either Armstrong (manually operated) or powered by air from the loco's brakepipe.
Does the turntable have the indexing system installed? While you should be able to adapt it to your needs, the current placement of the indexing contacts can also determine the way in which it can be placed without making the modifications.

Wayne
 
:oops: Can't believe that I did not reply sooner to the suggestions on my turntable installation. I have ordered a three stall roundhouse. Since I am still working on other aspects of our layout I have left an open space to try to fit the table and roundhouse. I appreciate your suggestions and want to say thanks.:thumb:
 
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