Has anyone seen the photos of the new Atlas roundhouse in HO? 15 degree spacing to work with the Atlas turntable. Wonder if they will make it in N scale. I hate my Walthers table. No easy/cheap way to index the darn thing. Even though the Atlas table doesn't look the best and has 15 degree spacing instead of 7.5, I'd use one if Atlas made a roundhouse to go with it. That geneva movement on the Atlas table really works well. What do you guys/gals use?
Modern equipment, no turntable. I did use the Atlas table on my last layout, with the powered drive. A little noisy, but just add some grease and it'll work fine. It does index very well. BTW - I'm willing to part with these cheap. ------------------ Corey Lynch VP - Rensselaer Model RR Society NEB&W RR http://www.rpi.edu/~lynchc/Railfanning/railfanning.htm - My Site http://www.union.rpi.edu/railroad/ - NEB&W
VP of Rensselaer Model Railroad Society? Nice layout, and impressive school! A locally produced(Milwaukee) PBS show (Tracks Ahead) did a spot on the Rensselaer layout a few years ago. As for the Atlas turntables, I only plan on using a couple if they make a roundhouse to go with it, as I'm not much for scratchbuilding. I have already purchased one just to check out the operation of the mechanism. I guess they recently came out with an improved/quieter drive motor for it too.
And EXPENSIVE!!! Yeah, heard the new drive is a rubber-band drive. That's not making the noise though, the plastic gears in the table are. The gears right under the turning handle should quiet down with some grease. I have not tried this though. Nice to know we're getting some publicity! We need more active members, though, seems only a handful of us are doing the work. For example, I'm the only one doing locos (repair, paint, etc.) and with four new undec P2K PAs in (among other stuff), there is no way I can get to the DSM turntable or ECW coach I was working on. ------------------ Corey Lynch VP - Rensselaer Model RR Society NEB&W RR http://www.rpi.edu/~lynchc/Railfanning/railfanning.htm - My Site http://www.union.rpi.edu/railroad/ - NEB&W
DSM turntable? As in Diamond Scale? I had heard they were out of production, and were going to be starting up soon once again. I tried to get a 130 footer in N scale a couple of years ago an couldn't find one ANYWHERE. Sorry to hear that you're so short handed on the layout. But I would imagine that engineering is a tough study, besides there being a lot of "high tech" and other distractions(computers, women, beer) keeping the students busy. It's a real shame. Is model railroading going to eventually go the route of the dinosaurs? At least at places like Renssalaer?
I haven't seen the Atlas unit in HO. What I have found is a wonderful book called "Engine Houses and Turntables on Canadian Railways 1850 to 1950 by Edward Forbes Bush. The turntable and round house I will be building for the M.A.T. will be based on the one at the St. Luc yard in Montreal. I am a scratch builder and finding the cost of indexing well beyond my budget, built a worm gear drive unit that is speed controlled. I tested this on a turntable on my previous layout. It works like a charm and I found it easy to line up tracks. The round house will have 16 stalls and I will make the roof removable so the interior detail will be visible. I know this doesn't answer your question directly but it is another option. Robin http://members.xoom.com/Matthyro/index.html
Yes, Upac, the Diamond Scale Turntable, but in HO. The NEB&W is an HO club. Don't know about going the route of the Dinosaurs, there is still a group that works on the layout, just very time consuming. A recent influx of new engines also does the trick, so... Happy Modeling! ------------------ Corey Lynch VP - Rensselaer Model RR Society NEB&W RR http://www.rpi.edu/~lynchc/Railfanning/railfanning.htm - My Site http://www.union.rpi.edu/railroad/ - NEB&W
Robin, thanks for the info. Currently, my loco facilities consist of the walthers turntable with a 36 stall roundhouse on a 4.5'x4.5' module. Even if I had a finely speed controlled drive, it would be difficult to line up the tracks as they are too far away from the edge of the module to eyeball accurately. Maybe my eyes are getting bad from old age. I had heard of someone hooking up an Atlas turntable UNDERNEATH a Walthers table to take advantage of the Walthers tables looks, while taking advantage of the Atlases Geneva indexing movement. Maybe my solution lies in something similar. I just hate the fact that the Atlas has such wide spacing(15 degrees). I could only fit in half as many stalls in the same area I now have 36.
