Fitting a small locomotive on a small turntable

[NevinW]

There is a 60 foot Sellers turntable on the market that would be perfect for my new layout.  My engines are in storage. 

Can someone measure the Spectrum 4-6-0 and tell me the total length and if it will fit?   I know the 2-8-0 is too long.   If someone can measure a Roundhouse Old-timer 2-8-0 that would be very helpful too.  thanks -  Nevin

[SteamGene]

A 60 foot turntable for a 20th century standard gauge railroad is pretty small.
Gene

[NevinW]

Yes, but I model the Tonopah and Tidewater RR, a Nevada Shortline, which used small turn of the century 4-6-0's and 2-8-0s very similar to the Bachmann and Roundhouse engines.  The Sellers turntables are interesting and were used in Nevada, most notably by the V&T.  I don't have lots of room with a 16 inch wide shelf layout.  So a 60 foot turntable might work in my situation. -  Nevin

[japasha]

Nevin, the Seelars turntable from Freshwater Models is O scale. That makes it 120 feet long in HO. The smaller one is about 25 feet in ), so it's under 50 feet. You could build one using an Atlas turntable for motion. It will need to be about nine inches in length, the MDC locomotives are slightly longer than that so a ten inch turntable would be better.. The atlas mechanism automatically aligns at 12 degree intervals.  I use them to drive my Walthers 90 foot tables. Not a hard mod.

[Pacific Northern]

Bachmann Spectrum HO Ten-Wheeler data

Dimensions:
•   Boiler: maximum diameter over jacket, 71"; jacket diameter at the smokebox, 62½"; smokebox diameter, 62"; pitch (center line above rail), 101"; firebox (outside), 40" x 109"
•   Length: locomotive, 36'-0"; tender, 28'-6"; overall, 66'-6"•   Height: cab, 14'-2"; coal bunker, 11'-10"; smokestack, 14"-5½"; tender water tank, 10'-6"
•   Width: cab, 9'-10"; cylinders, 9'-11"; tender, 10'-2½"
•   Wheel diameters: drivers, 63"; engine truck, 28"; tender, 33"

[NevinW]

Nevin, the Seelars turntable from Freshwater Models is O scale. That makes it 120 feet long in HO. The smaller one is about 25 feet in ), so it's under 50 feet. You could build one using an Atlas turntable for motion. It will need to be about nine inches in length, the MDC locomotives are slightly longer than that so a ten inch turntable would be better.. The atlas mechanism automatically aligns at 12 degree intervals.  I use them to drive my Walthers 90 foot tables. Not a hard mod.

Actually Freshwater Models now makes a HO version. -  Nevin

[Tim]

Japasha

Correction, "Freshwater Models"  makes a 60' TT in "HO" also.

Tim Anders
Souderton, PA

[Ten Wheeler]

Nevin...  The 4-6-0 in this photo is on my kitbashed Atlas turntable (which was not completed when I took this picture) and the Atlas T/T is 65 scale feet in length. As you can see it fits nicely on the Atlas with approx. 4 or 5 ft. to spare.

The second photo shows my completed "bashed" turntable

I hope this information helps you.

Bob/Ten Wheeler

[Spule 4]

While mostly geared for the European market, Hapo make some nice (expensive) turn tables.  I have one (6496) that a H0e Bachmann Liliput U/Uh class JUST fits on, common for turning locos at stations in Austria.  The model is no bigger than a coster on your coffeetable!  Resin and brass construction, painted and weathered with electrical pick up for the rails.

They have both flat (gedeckte) and well (offene) types, powered and manual, and models of steam powered ones:

http://www.hapo-bahn.de/0000009167082b209/index.html