HO scale turntable

Paul’s been back in touch. He’s added a HO scale turntable to his layout.

You may remember Paul’s last post from the pics, which you can see here.

“Hi Al,

I thought I would send you photos of a recent project. I wanted to have a turntable on my layout which would be available near my shunting layout to turn the switcher engines.

I also needed a work area for car and engine repairs and a place to store idle engines. Adjacent to the shunting layout was my mountain and it looked like prime real estate for the project.

In presentation of my still photos you will see how I recaptured this space.

I installed the turntable after determining that the location of the roundhouse would dictate where is sat.

The problem was that there wasn’t enough room for the roundhouse until I decided to cut through the wall into my workshop.

Once the RH was in place I was able to bring tracks into the turntable. I also needed a WIP (work in place) area for minor repairs.

Looking to the left side you can see a boxcar up on jacks while the work crew replace some damaged wheels using the jib crane that I fabricated out of scraps.

Paul”

HO scale turntable

HO scale model railroad

HO scale model railroad

space for turntable

HO scale rock scenery

rock scenery

space for turntable

HO scale turntable



HO scale turntable

HO scale turntable

freight car

freight car

HO scale turntable

A huge thanks to Paul for sharing his HO scale turntable.

I think it’s a fab addition to his layout, and as we know, they are never finished…

I do like seeing how you solve the problems your layouts come up with. Just goes to show, where there’s a will there’s a way.

That’s all for today folks.

Please do keep ’em coming.

And if you want to get going on your very own layout, the Beginner’s Guide is here

Best

Al

PS Latest ebay cheat sheet is here.





15 Responses to HO scale turntable

  1. Colin Edinburgh says:

    Paul Drastic action to get your turntable and roundhouse installed. As we do not have a room layout then difficult to comment. Did you look at the possibility of adding an extension to the layout table ?. You do say you wanted it close to your fiddle yards so perhaps no other alternative. Anyway well done.

  2. Brian says:

    Well done for squeezing in an excellent diorama

  3. Ken says:

    Necessity is the mother of invention and our hobby permits most of us to think outside the box. If you could send me your crowbar, I have 2 Round Houses and 2 Turntables I am trying to jam into my built, unbuilt, rebuilt, reshaped demo’d and soon to be rebuilt layout. Sometimes it takes a lot of effort to go nowhere.

  4. Arthur Jones says:

    Great job. The new addition to your layout shows how creative you are in solving your problem of space on the layout.

  5. DJfromNJ says:

    Nicely done, Paul. Fits in very well.

  6. Gregory Schaefer says:

    Very nice Paul. You don’t really need to see the roundhouse, you just have to have the impression that it is there. The viewers mind automatically adjusts to see the backside.

    I reread your last post and really liked the soft layout edges. But with the mountain preempted by flat space, the edge doesn’t look as good as it did. Are you planning to do anything to this edge?

  7. Bill in Virginia says:

    Paul it looks good. Change is constant and the only constant is change :D. It apples to our model railroads too 👍🏼👍🏼

  8. Doug Fuller says:

    Well done. Wasn’t sure at 1st it would work, but it turned out great

  9. NJ Mark says:

    This is what model railroading is all about. It is just a work in progress. Just when you think you’re done, you’re not. Cheers! NJ Mark

  10. Mark T. Pianka says:

    Great Job really nice with I had more room for a larger layout and a turn table way to go..

  11. Clever work…
    The added detail to the classic Atlas turntable helps it tremendously…

  12. Nice work, all around.

  13. Paul Case says:

    Hi Gregory, I don’t understand what you mean by the statement about the mountain and the soft edge I installed around about 80% of the layout. There are some edges such as behind the village buildings and around the waterfront that just aren’t able to support the soft edge look. The original photos behind the mountain prior to the surgery have the hard fascia edge, but later on you can see the soft edge in that area.

  14. Now that’s dedication! Impressive.

  15. Jeff Borst says:

    Al, I noticed a small typo in your comments about Paul’s ingenuity. You accidentally said “where there’s a will there’s a way” Surely what you meant to say is that “where there’s a wall there’s a way” Am I wrong? LOL
    I enjoy this newsletter a great deal! Thank you for being so committed to it.
    I often look first thing in the morning to be sure I got one. There is only one other email that I get that excited about!
    Take care, from the West Coast of the USA..

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