A few months back while just starting to get my “stuff” for my new layout. I bought a “walthers” kit form turntable along with the motor drive. After much grief and modification, (bearings) I did have a working turn table but found it to be quite “cheap” especially from such a company.
the other weekend my wife and I went to the syracuse NY train show. and found a ready to run Walthers turntable. Bought it at a good discount price and had it running the following week.
Now, No comparision on the construction and quality of this product. YES, I know that there is quite a price difference but when you spend that kind of money of such a hobby.
the only negative I have is that it comes with a code 83 track and all my tracks are code 100. I believe it would be easier to modified a code 100 bridge track to 83 sidings that the other way around. But I did manage to taper 12 siding tracks to the right height. Now I have a good working yard.
thanks to all the advise on this site, I was able to accomplish this in a few months. But it seems that the layout is never complet. I am now on my 3rd modification.
I also have code 100 track and the 130 foot Walthers HO turntable.
I used a piece of “transition track” from code 100 to code 83.
Am using code 83 in my round house yard.
Really wasn’t any effort at all.
Code 100 up to the transition track and onto the turntable.
From the turntable into the roundhouse bays it will be code 83.
Picked up the transition track at the LHS.
I wouldn’t even want to think about tearing up the track from the turntable and replacing it.
Walthers did such a nice job on the TT , I decided to leave it alone and just use a transition track. I think it was $3.95 or $4.95.
You discovered the major factor with a turntable…it costs to get a quality product that works reliably. The cheaper ones vary from worthless to so-so. I think the $300 bucks for the Walthers assembled tables is money well spent toward an enjoyable layout.
I converted the bridge of an N scale table to HO code 83 as the length is just right for my railroad. Another one is about to be converted/installed at the other end.
hmmm interesting thought . i was thinking of doing a conversion of the atlas HO turntable but an N walthers might be nicer . what is the length of the bridge , and do you have any photos of your finished turntable ?
You are 100% right Roger!
It was money well spent the way I look at it instead of having to go through a lot of frustration.
This one works fine right out of the box.
I will say this whether models or tools, I have NEVER been sorry I bought QUALITY!
On cheap stuff, you pay your money and you take your chances!
Kind of like dealing on Ebay.
I have heard nothing but negative comments about the Walthers kit turntable. I bought one of these several years ago with plans to use it on my still uncompleted branchline. Is the main problem trying to use the add on motor to drive the TT. I am thinking of making it an armstrong TT and rigging up some type of manual control to drive it. Would that alleviate the major problem with this thing or are there other issues.
Jecorbett,
I mounted an Atlas TT under my CMW 130’ TT using theAtlas’s built-in 10 degree indexing to align tracks. I works fine even though this is a temporary set up till I get my electric stepper motor drive figured out. I found this idea on the Web some where, but I don’t recall the address. Tweet
Interesting idea. I’ll look into it to see if it is a feasible alternative for my TT. I had even thought of using the Atlas TT for my branchline since the locos that will operate on it are short ones. The problem I see is making it look realistic. There are prototype TTs with covered pits so that is not the problem. It’s figuring out how to disguise the notches in the outer ring which to me look very unprototypical. With everything else I have going on, I am probably two years away from completing the branchline so I have lots of time to look at options. I might even see if I can work out a wye and eliminate the TT.