Turntables

 I model 1952 and will use my “good” running Steam locomotives for coal operations. What this will mean is turntables!

I’ll need turning facilities. Interestingly the engines I’ll be using for my coal trains, USRA Y Class 2-8-8-2’s won’t fit on any of the 90’ turntables I own. I’ll be turning those engines on a Wye. But I want the 90’ turntables to turn diesels: they will accommodate two F-Units, so an A-B set can be turned.

These 90’ turntables will act as a reminder of the steam era past on my layout, and if and when I steamilize  then these turntables will come in handy.

Now as to the turntables themselves, on AIR1 I had one turntable, at Littlerock engine service. It was an “Armstrong”(1*) version. That is, you turned it with your hand. It was not indexed, had no motor, no electronics. You drove the engine up on the turntable, turned the bridge, lined it up with the Mark 1 Eyeball, made sure the polarity was correct, and that was it.

The way polarity was aligned was the doghouse on the turntable bridge. The DPDT switch on the fascia was thrown which ever direction the dog house was lined up with. This system was fool-proof, and in fact only once in ten years did someone get it wrong.

What I want to comment on is the decision to use “Armstrong” turntables was because of my absolute horror at adding any layers of electronics to my layout. Inevitably whenever a complex electronic system is installed THAT I DO NOT KNOW HOW TO FIX BY MYSELF,  it will fail during a session. The more layers of wiring you put under the layout, the greater the chance for failures, shorts, generally bad things.

Large segments of the model railroad community embrace complex electronics and I personally see two results. First, their layouts are never ready to operate. Two, when they do operate guests sit for hours while glitches are tracked down and the layout is made functional. I can little more tolerate multi HOUR delays due to electronic foul ups than I can for TTTO foul ups.

I digress, the layout yesterday, a Beautifully sceniced 1965 era Erie-Lackawanna layout had all its turntables the Armstrong type, and they operated beautifully.

I’ll be doing that too.

(1*) An Armstrong turntable is a turntable that is turned by hand, or on the prototype, the use of strong arms. Strong arms, Armstrong. Get it? I didn’t make that up either.