Removable roundhouse/turntable? Has anyone here either seen an article or done this themselves?
I was wondering if there was a way to make one’s roundhouse and turntable removable from the layout without having to have grades up to the lip of the turntable? I’d like to see if there’s a way to mount the whole shebang on a removable plywood piece or some other ingenious ideas so the whole thing could be brought to the workbench…
Pics would be wonderful if you’ve done this. Thanks.
Removable roundhouse/turntable? Has anyone here either seen an article or done this themselves?
I was wondering if there was a way to make one’s roundhouse and turntable removable from the layout without having to have grades up to the lip of the turntable? I’d like to see if there’s a way to mount the whole shebang on a removable plywood piece or some other ingenious ideas so the whole thing could be brought to the workbench…
Pics would be wonderful if you’ve done this. Thanks.
Multiple posting will not help people to see your posts. Most will not even bother to look.
Aww, give the guy a break, Johnnny_reb. [;)]
At least the multiple posts are on the same forum, suggesting an inadvertent dupicate post.
Rich
If you want to construct a removable roundhouse/turntable combination on your layout that can be moved to the work bench, you better use something lighter than plywood like foam board.
I have the Walthers 130’ turntable and a 9-stall roundhouse on my layout, and it occupies and 6’ x 6’ space. It is permanently placed on plywood, so it is not removable. But, even it were, moving a 6’ x 6’x section of the layout, even it is on foam board, is quite a task. I wouldn’t advise you to do it.
Rich
Build the turntable/roundhouse on a separate piece of plywood or baseboard of your choice. Secure from below. Hide lifting points/handles under buildings or scenery. Depending on the rigidity or the size of the liftout, it might require some sort of framing around the baseboard. That would also help protect the turntable pit and mechanism. Be sure to make any linkages or electrical conncetions able to easily disconnect.
The easiest way I could think of to do this would be to make the entire section including the support structure (legs) removable as a unit. This would involve wheels under the section and having the section continue to the edge of the layout so it could be disconnected and rolled over to your work bench. Even if it would not sit on the work bench per say it could be brought to it and accessed from all sides.
Example, if using the 130 turntable and extended stalls one could get this monster onto a footprint about 42 inches by 72 inches if the approach tracks run close to the side of the round house and the roundhouse is only on one side of the table when perpendicular to the narrow dimension. Even so this will still be a difficult move and will involve some very clever work to hide the joints between the rest of the layout and the related sections.
One way to do this would be to have some narrow sections that lift out between the joints of the terminal and the rest of the layout. The sections that have no approach tracks could have a narrow strip of trees and brush that lift out first and the overhanging branches hide the joint. On the side that has the approach tracks a creek could be hinged down and the tracks connected with a removable bridge. The scenery dropping down was discussed in John Armstrong’s many books and articles to provide access hatches. The joint between the drop down section and the bridge could be between the footings and the masonry pier on top of them and may not be very noticeable because of the many mortar joints in the piers.
One instance where things like this have already been done is a large layout in one of the California museums that models tahachipi (spelling) loop. This layout was featured in some books by Kalmbach if my memory is correct.
If you try something like this expect to do some very involved carpentry and scenery work so as to have everything line up. You may also have difficulties with seasonal expansion and contraction if your ar
It was not me your honor. There is a ghost in the machine. [:'(]
Cyberspaced by unknown glitches again. Time served for former good behavior?
Actually this has happened twice before on this forum. Since the latest fix.
What’s a poor boy to do?
Well, back to the original topic we hopefully go. I’ve got TWO roundhouses to put in.
Just kiddin’.
Well, here’s what we’re trying to do at the club. It is a narrow gauge turntable project. We wanted to make the table removeable, so first we needed a locating flange. This was made from 1/2 inch plywood. The ID of the hole was made to fit the OD of the scratch-machined turntable pit.
We felt that the advantage of this flange was that the hole in the base platform structure did not have to be perfectly cut, since the flange would do the actual locating of the table. The following photo shows the pit:
Then we removed the the top 1/2 inch layer of homasote and screwed the flange in place (following two photos):
The pit then mounts from the underneath as shown following:
If all works out okay, we plan to shim the pit to the proper elevation. This will be done with adjustable screws from the bottom. As I look at the photos, it becomes obvious that we will have to deal with the short sections of rail that will span over the pit ring. That is a project for aother day.