Heljan 14" manual TT

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

I was looking at one of these in the Walthers sales flyer. Looks pretty nice for $25. Anyone have any experience with these? It says it’s manual. How do you turn it? Can it be motorized? The 14" size would be perfect for my layout.

I was thinking about the Walthers 90’ but I’ve heard assembly and operations nightmares and I can’t afford $300 for a RTR.

Thanks

2

I had the Heljan a long time ago and have the Walther’s manual 90’ TT but have yet to assemble it. Both have/had a motorizing kit that could be purchased seperately. From what I remember of the Heljan, the Walthers kit seems to be a bit better designed although I’ve heard the same horror stories about it that you have. I never motorized the Heljan TT so I can’t comment on how well it would operate that way. I do remember that the bridge was hard wired so that polarity was determined by which end of the bridge you were entering or exiting from. If I remember right, it had to be wired like a reverse loop or a wye.

3

Now here’s a strange one. I was just searching the web about it. The photo on the Heljan box is the exact same photo that Walthers has for their 90’ Cornerstone TT.[%-)] What’s up with that???

4

Hello-

I have a Hejan Turntable, and it is powered (although when I bought the layout from a friend, I accidentally broke it!) It has a custom built motor from a local company that is rated for 1rpm. The turntable pivot was extended, and the motor shaft was stuffed inside of it.

I am still making a wooden mount for the motor, so it will actually turn the turntable, and I need to make the wheels spin again.

It is a nice turntable, and for the price, should work good on any layout.

Phil

5

I bought one about 8 years ago, and the Walthers motorizing kit. I found the kit did not connect properly to the motor, and over-all the kit was of poor quality. I actually gave up trying to get it to work, and generally I’m pretty handy. Maybe they have improved the kit since then, but I pesonally would say forget it.

6

It would not surprise me to learn that the Walthers 90 TT is a recycled Heljan kit but I can tell you the Walthers is different than the Heljan I originally purchased in the earlier 1980s. Perhaps Heljan re-engineered it prior to it being sold under the Walthers brand. Many of Walthers earliest structure kits were recycled Heljan and Pola kits.

7

There seems to be constant questions about these turntables.

  • The original 14" TT was produced by Heljan, and there was a motorizing kit for it. IIRC, Con-Cor imported it in the 70;s. There is a matching roundhouse and it is supposed to be a copy of the Northumberland facility on the PRR. It may still be in the Walthers catalog.
  • Walther comissioned a 90’ TT and matching roundhouse in the late 80’s/early 90’s. There is a motorizing kit available for this one as well. The construction/motorizing kits are different than on the 14" one.
  • Walthers then intoduced the 135’ RTR with indexing TT (The $300 one). There is a seperate matching roundhouse for this one as well.
  • A couple of years later, Walthers released a 90’ RTR with indexing TT(also $300). This is NOT an assembled copy of the original 90’ one.

Both the Heljan 14" TT and the original Walthers 90’ TT have ‘issues’ with construction. The 90’ pit sometime is warped and it has a plastic bearing like the Heljan one. I have one of the original 90’ units and had to rebuild it with a ball bearing and and Atlas indexing TT underneath to get good operation. The Atlas unit indexes at 15 degree intervals so it matches the Atlas roundhouse I have.

Jim