Steam powered turntable

[Terry Toenges]

In looking for ideas for my turntable, I ran across these drawings for a steam powered turntable. Would something like this have been used in many places? I think Altoona would be a busy place so I could see them keeping a boiler fired up.  In more remote places with very little traffic, in wouldn't really make sense right? They would have to keep the fire going. If not, they would have to get the fire going to heat it up to build up enough steam to get it moving. I don't know how long that would take but it seems like it would be quite a while.

[Len]

From what I've read and seen on line, I suspect turntables at most small shops were human powered by a long lever on the end of the bridge. Some beng upgraded to electric motors when electrical lines became more or less common place. I would think the cost of upkeep and fuel would restrict a steam powered setup like you showed to larger, high volumen, roundhouses.

Len

[rich1998]

I agree. I see a high usage setup with all the rails. Altoona was really busy at one time. Interesting though.

Rich

[jward]

Wouldn't it be possible to harness the steam in the locomotive to be turned to power the turntable?

[Terry Toenges]

Getting the steam from the loco sounds like a great idea to me. 

[rich1998]

I do recall reading at one time British railroads used vacuum from locomotives to turn the TT using vacuum motors.
Even a Google search might turn up something.
It was fairly easy to pull steam from the steam dome that could be controlled by the driver.

Rich

[ebtnut]

There doesn't seem to be a date on the diagram, but I'm assuming it is from the late 1800's.  I agree that this type of installation would only be really practical in a heavy-use situation.  It is likely that by 1900 most terminal turntables had been electrified.  Some lighter-duty units used compressed air from the loco's brake system and, as noted, some were "Armstrong" - several men shoving on poles extending from the end of the turntable. 

[Terry Toenges]

I thought about the armstrong method. If I extended a pole out, the guy would have to by jumping over the tracks around the TT. I guess I could mount him on the inner ring that spins. Then I would have to make some kind of handle for him to push on. It wouldn't look right because, in real life, he would down in the pit at that position. Plus, the TT makes noise when it moves and I would hope the guy who is pushing doesn't have joint's  that are that noisy.
I was thinking about mounting a "hit and miss" engine or some other stationary engine next to the motor part that stick ups on the TT. I plan on building a platform over the motor box for the operator to climb up on and control the TT. I'm not using the building structure that goes over it because, for one reason, it's HO.
I'm going to paint the the apron, pit, and ring all the same color. Then I'm going to cover the top and sides of the deck with stained balsa wood strips. Hopefully, that will give the illusion of just the deck moving. I already removed the tab on the deck that holds the little enclosure.

[Trainman203]

Some turntables used locomotive air to operate.

[Terry Toenges]

Do you know of any examples Trainman that I could check online?

[ebtnut]

I don't have a ready reference handy, but I once came across an article that included the description of the turntable.  It used brake air, which was hooked up to a cylinder under the table.  The cylinder operated a form of ram mounted on an angle.  The ram pushed against the tie stubs that supported the ring rail, one at a time.  A guesstimate of 49 tie stubs for half of a 65 foot turntable and 5 seconds per pulse comes to about 4 minutes to turn a loco. 

[Terry Toenges]

This talks about the "air" one.
http://www.spikesys.com/EBT/Tour/turnt.html
This one has air tanks underneath.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3VfZC_AWbQ8
I also found that Railtown 1897 has a compressed air turntable and Keokuk Iowa used to have one.

[bbmiroku]

Well, even the relatively busy B&O railroad always used humans to turn their 60' TT under the 22-sided roundhouse in Baltimore.  Then again, it would've been mostly used to turn small engines and cars.

[Len]

Also on the B&O, this is generally the size of 'armstrong' powered turntables I've been able to find pics of:



Len

[ebtnut]

Just for accuracy's sake, that 0-6-0 is Ma and Pa No. 30 on the Baltimore turntable.  The roundhouse still stands, but in poor repair.  It was taken over by the city's highway department as a maintenance depot but maintenance apparently doesn't extend to the building.  The Baltimore Streetcar Museum track runs alongside Falls Road in front of the building.  The turntable pit was filled in long ago.  Take a look with Google streetview.