Spent the evening spiking rail on my turntable project. I had already cut and marked the base and built a bridge. I used scrap flooring for the bridge so it’s pretty stout.
I’m using the turntable plan from the Bantam Model Railroading book as a basis. It’s a 20” diameter—large enough for my 736. The rail is from some loose o42 tubular, the ties are basswood. I used some large dividers to lay out and scribe the radius, Spiked with some small nails, and feels rock solid. Next step is to center and bolt the bridge and mount the wheels.
The wheels are from broken lionel trucks. drilled the bridge Axle and have a bolt through it that will have to be swapped for a longer one once the manual control mechanism is installed. With a a locomotive and track set on top it seems to turn ok. I will smooth the bottom of the bridge to give it a hair more clearance and probably shim the center shaft with washers so all the weight isn’t on the end wheels.
