I have a friend who bought one of the newer Walthers 130’ turntables but mentioned to me today that he’s having a problem with it. He told me that the top of the rail on the bridge section sits lower than the round house tracks; significant enough to prevent a locomotive from leaving the bridge.
Has anyone else run into this problem before and/or have an idea what may be the issue here? My friend was quick to add that “I always suspect myself before others so I may have created this problem somehow myself”. He has tried contacting Walthers but has not gotten much result from them. (Please do NOT turn this thread into a Walthers bashing! Thank you!)
I did verify with my friend that he did have one of the newer Walthers turntables. He told me yes and mentioned that “It’s the newer one with the circuit board at the base of the turntable shaft, below the floor of the well.”
Anyway, on behalf of my friend, many thanks for the help and the insight.
I seem to recall reading that the turntable needs to be situated so the top of the rim is at the same level as the bottom of the approach tracks. I trust he doesn’t have his roundhouse track sitting on a tie on the lip of the turntable…that’s all I can think of now.
The ties should be absent and the base of the rail lies on the pit lip. However, the bridge rail is Code 83, IIR, and if the roundhous bay tracks and TT approach are Code 100, adjustments will have to be made. In my case, I used the thin sanding stone on a Dremel tool and ground grooves into the styrene on the pit lip in which to lay the rails so that they were lower. I then glued all of the rails into the groobes and weighted each one of them well to make sure they dried at the right heights.
If the previously mentioned suggestions don’t remedy the situation, It may be that the plastic “Bushing/Bearing” between the Bridge and Pit is missing, thus making the entire bridge too low in the pit. I find this unlikely, as it sounds as though this was the “assembled” version, and not a kit, but anything can happen during production.
Edit: My apologies for the last “Walthers” thread. I should have taken the High Road. I am quite ashamed of my posts and actions.