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Turntable

I needed a way to turn my locomotives with my new RR design - an out and back. I became inspired when I visited the East Broad Top in Orbisonia, PA.

The turntable was built in October 2006.

Below, my turntable turns my Mikado, based on the EBT Mikado.

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I got some plans for the EBT Turntable at Orbisonia.

October 5, 2006. I settled on a 3 foot diameter turntable. Using 1x3 TUF board (a composite plastic), I cut two long side pieces and two shorter ones for top and bottom; then tapered the two side pieces.

October 5, 2006. For my pivot, I got some parts from McMaster-Carr: 2 delrin sleeve bearings, a 3" steel rod, and a collar to hold the rod in place. Here it is shown upside down...

October 6, 2006. My idea was to make this a continuous 3 point balance turntable, with wheels on each end contacting the rail. I used some brass pulleys from my scrap box along with a brass rod for an axle. These were sandwiched between two spacer blocks.

October 6, 2006. I clamped the pieces between the sides.

October 7, 2006. Finally, I added plastic "T" beams along the bottom, and vertical angles along the sides. These were held with glue; then escutheon pins - to give the idea of rivets. A styrene hatch (held on by bolts) covers an access hole in case I ever need to get to the collar holding the pin in place.

October 11, 2006. I made a base from wider strips of TUF board, reinforced with strips underneath. I glued everything and then used deck screws to clamp it in place.

October 14, 2006.
I first glued the support blocks in place, first making allowance for my wall material, making sure that the wall would not cross the line. (My wall material was about 1/8" thick). Then, I used those holes to put some decks screws from below - one in each block.

October 14, 2006. I used Precision Products Perfic panels for the walls. I used 3" x 15" inch long sections and just used glue to attach them to the supports; 15" is the max width of the panels. I normally like to use glue and some mechanical fastening, but I felt that it would mar the surface too much. I wanted it to look like poured concrete.

October 15, 2006. I built up the walls using Precision Products Perfic panels cut to size and bent and glued to supporting blocks that were screwed in from underneath. I sprayed the base assembly with Krylon gray primer and the bridge with ruddy brown.

October 18, 2006. Next, I added some spacers and ties and spiked the rail in place. I used code 250 brass from AMS.

October 31, 2006. I retraced the lines for my rail, then put down some ties and rail. I did end up putting some spacers under the ties to get the rail to the right height. I then capped the walls with 5/8" square stock and painted the whole mess with a textured paint from Rustoleum.

October 23, 2006.
Next, it was time to plank the bridge. Well, first I glued and nailed the ties, spiked the rails in place, and then glued down redwood strips. I nailed these in place with very small brass ship nails. I really don't like relying on just glue alone.

November 1, 2006. Naturally, I needed a builder's plate... I used my Brother P-Touch Printer: Gold on Black.

November 1, 2006. After drilling some drainage holes, I put down some landscape cloth and then covered it all with crushed gravel, built up thicker under the rail. It's held in place with Titebond II glue.

November 1, 2006. So, it's now ready for some finishing touches.

November 2, 2006. I finally adopted this approach for making railings. I cut 1/8" brass tube into 1/4" strips, drill 1/8" inch hole in each of the tube pieces. These will act as the top of the TEE -- cut tube into 1/8" long pieces for the vertical piece of the TEE -- Next I put 5 of the top TEE pieces with the hole, on a 36" 3/32 brass rod -- Bent the 36" rod at each end -- Cut vertical posts out of same rod -- Threaded each rod -- Drill holes in the bridge, making sure to align with the ties -- Insert pieces into bridge. I have "almost" a mechanical connection, making it easy to keep everything in place -- Solder The result looks something like this.