Curious about the Walthers 120’ turntable

[SleeperN06]

I have the Walthers 130’ DCC turntable on order for my Steamer layout extension, but I noticed that the Walthers 120’ turntable is just a fraction of the cost at under $30. For that much I was thinking about picking one up for my diesels. I’m not so sure if I can fit it in on the layout and I don’t know if it would be appropriate for my diesels.
 
My question is are there still turntables in use today and if not what years did they go away?

[Hyperion]

There are absolutely still turntables in use today.  I don't know exactly how many are left on the BNSF, but I'd bet we've got at least a couple dozen.  I can think of north of 12 off the top of my head.  There's even a small handful of roundhouses still used.

[wm3798]

However cheap the 120' TT is, it's not worth it.  Its tooling is about a million years old, so it looks way too chunky, motorizing it is a challenge at best, and the pit is notorious for warping.  The 130' is a bargain, even at $300+ because it's a much better model on top of all the technology packed into it.

Lee

[John]

Turntables are all over the place still

Baltimore, Cumberland Md, Altoona to name a few ..  still roundhouses also ..

[altohorn25]

Wisconsin Southern still uses their turntable in Janesville WI.

Nate

[SleeperN06]

Thanks, guys. I’m glad to know they are still in use. I saw one on the Google Maps in Pittsburgh, but when I called my brother-in-law who lives near it and actually works for the Railroad there, he said that it was shut down and there was talk of removing it to build some commercial/industrial park. He didn’t know of any others in that were in use. http://i256.photobucket.com/albums/hh176/SleeperN06/Roundhouse.jpg

I probably don’t have room anyway. I was thinking of a place to put some more locos in my service area, but I can only squeeze in one more switch and a small turntable might do the trick. I have the Walthers template for the 130’ turntable and I laid it on the diesel service area, there was absolutely no way it will fit.

I think I’ll forget about it and look for an alternative. I’ve been trying to avoid building a staging area under the layout, because it’s too hard for me to get under there to do anything, but I probably don’t have much choice because my train collection has doubled in the last year.

[Mark5]

The Heljan 120' Turntable (sold by Concor for decades, now sold by Walthers) can be made to work, but it takes a lot of work. I have one, and I am using a cheapo Atlas turntable under it to provide indexing. But again, its a lot of work!

Mark

[SleeperN06]

I pulled up my layout in XtrkCad and they had a template for the Atlas. There isn’t any information about it, but I think it’s the same size. I tried fitting it in and I would have to rearrange and remove another section, but I think it would give me 2 or 3 tracks to store locos.



It’s just way too much work for me right now and my service area just has too much going on as it is. I’m going to pass on this idea. 

I’m counting down the days until Walthers releases the new 130’ turntable. I just hope it doesn’t get postponed like it did a few months ago.  Anyway I was going to reserve that section for steam engines only, but I might have through some diesels in there for a while anyway.

[Bremner]

I saw a turntable yesterday! it is near Chase Feild in Phoenix (just east of the first time that you see the I17 on the eastbound I10)

[wm3798]

Why the tiny roundhouse?


 ;D

[SleeperN06]

I saw a turntable yesterday! it is near Chase Feild in Phoenix (just east of the first time that you see the I17 on the eastbound I10)

How far east? I was looking at Google Maps http://maps.google.com/maps?q=33.443546,-112.098638&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&hq=&hnear=0x872b13d463dd3e93:0x283531958af12fb9,%2B33%C2%B0+26%27+36.92%22,+-112%C2%B0+5%27+54.90%22&gl=us&ei=JsAhTsySIYuGsgLn7tXPAw&sa=X&oi=geocode_result&ct=image&resnum=1&ved=0CBYQ8gEwAA and I can’t see it.

[SleeperN06]

Why the tiny roundhouse?


 ;D

WOW Lee! That is something else! Unfortunately I don’t have room for anything like that. 

I don’t have mine built yet and I’m still working out the fine details, but my 130 ft round table is actually going to be on top of my helix.

[Bremner]

sleeper, you were REAL close....the I-10 is to the north, the I-17 to thewest and south, Chase Field to the east

[SleeperN06]

sleeper, you were REAL close....the I-10 is to the north, the I-17 to thewest and south, Chase Field to the east
.....................
Oh I see it now. I got 33.455878,-112.10132 for the coordinates.

That’s very cool thanks.

[Bremner]

hereis a better link... http://www.flashearth.com/?lat=33.455851&lon=-112.10132&z=18.3&r=0&src=msl