What TT is made better ?

[MarkInLA]

Hi.
Continuing my HO turntable lust that I'm going thru presently, which is made better: Peco LK55 or Walthers 90' TT ?
I know the W. is our US proto. Might the Peco be better made/more sturdy-accurate mechanism ? Or are they equal in that respect ?
 

[BOK]

I don't know about the old Walthers manual turntable but I heard stories about them being low quality and difficult to operate smoothly...even by hand.

I have one of their 90', DCC, automatic turntables and it's top quality, very smooth and worth the money. The instructions for setting up designated tracks is a bit less than inspiring but I only use it to turn a couple of steam engines on my modern, museum railroad so most of the time it's only rotating 90 degrees and lines right up on either end.

If you are looking for simple, reliable, economical and sturdy I would chose the PECO one. If you want to spend more money(about three times more) than the Walthers turntable is best. BTW, they basically, take up the same amount of room to install (about 13 inches square) and yes with the PECO one you can easily replace the rails with code 83 rather than the code 100 that it comes with. Oh, the Lego gears and linkage shown in one of the photos was my plan to manually rotate the table but then I purchased PECO's manual drive gear and am happy with it. If interested I can post a photo of it installed on my turntable.

This likely, more information than you need.

Barry

[MarkInLA]

Thanks Barry.
I've had the feeling the Peco TT is made better than the Walthers.  And, no, it wasn't more info than I needed.. I did not know Peco makes manual drive gear for theirs. Will check that. M

[BOK]

Hi Mark.

Here are three more photos showing the assembled manual drive and two wires from the split ring which connect to the track to provide power to the turntable bridge. BTW, I also purchased an extension rod to add more length for positioning the turntable up to 2' from the crank handle.

Enjoy,

Barry

[BOK]

Mark attached are some other photos of the Walthers DCC turntable in service on my museum railroad.

Barry

[MarkInLA]

Barry,
I'm confused. You show pix of the Peco TT not installed. But on your layout you have the Walthers (is it ?) installed..
Also you seem to imply that Peco has a manual crank mechanism..I went to ebay and couldn't find such an item...
Finally, what do you mean by 'museum layout' ? Is it in a museum ? Or do you mean that the layout is depicting a museum/tourist RR ?
I do like the track plan allot though..Very similar to my L shelfie I'm planning...

[u18b]

I like the reliability of the Flieschman TT. 
I picked one up for a good price.
My son doesn’t care for it because it is too deep for most American applications. 
It is also a little loud.

Overall, the Walthers seems to be very desirable though.

[Mark5]

Also you seem to imply that Peco has a manual crank mechanism..I went to ebay and couldn't find such an item...

Hi Mark,

Here's the cranker: https://peco-uk.com/products/turntable-well-type

Mark

[MarkInLA]

Mark5,
I went to the Peco site and saw the HO TT. But nowhere could I find the crank for it. No matter how I phrased the search, nothing came up for a crank..Odd too was when I put the curser (courser ?) over the Peco page numbers, clicking them did nothing. I don't know how you were able to find it.

[MarkInLA]

Mark5
This just in !!
I did just now find the Peco manual TT crank for sale on ebay !! About $35 + shipping... Sorry about that..

P.S.
Bok, as I said, I really like your [near] point to point RR as I am strict P to P..It's because it forces one to turn trains at ends of lines the way the 1:1 scale does..This can though, include a balloon track at one terminus.
I like RR Ops activity, as well as visually; like a 10 Mi. branch line's daily local steam going in one direction, loco doing run-around at end, then running in reverse the entire way back servicing earlier 'facing point' spurs, they now having become trailing point Indus. spurs...
If I finally get off my duff and get the lumber and shelf grid up, my track plan is very close to yours !!
The turntable I so would enjoy, is in direct conflict with my love of the wye..On a 10'x10'x1', having both might be redundant.
On the other hand, my wye, one leg into corner of room could depict an interchange on one leg, whereas TT would just serve a small engine house for the locos which switch the valley's spurs, operated separately from main line RR above where road engines roam (cars/loco 0-5-0 ed at right end,
in 1.5' x 4" upper staging).

Thanks very much to all of you,
M 

[MarkInLA]

! OMG !
I just looked at ebay ad, again, and the one manual drive I now noticed (!) says is for N scale !!! I'm HO !! This leaves me wondering !!
Likely diff is probably length of shaft. Or, might find Mech. is OK for both scales... Dang, that ! Sorry, guys....

[glakedylan]

https://www.ebay.com/itm/193071189556?epid=2255467445&hash=item2cf3f08e34:g:cqwAAOSw9TRfnCM8

https://www.ebay.com/itm/124679211381?epid=2255467445&hash=item1d0775c975:g:oJMAAOSwVO5gdcgl

[BOK]

Mark, as I understand it, the manual crank will work on all HO, HO N3 and N scales.

My railroad is based on the Monticello Railway Museum in Illinois. I have been a life member there for fifty years and at one time owned a Soo Line caboose which I kept there and followed me around the midwest as I worked for other railroads.

The real museum railroad is 8 miles long has a wye at both ends, has a 90' turntable which is awaiting installation and connects with the NS/NW/Wabash old Chicago main in Monticello. They also occasionally store freight cars for customers close by and the have a great variety of beautiful, operating locomotives, passenger cars and freight cars. It's not as big as the Illinois Railway Museum up in Union, IL but is a well run, immaculate property.

After working fifty years as a railroader I wanted a simple around the walls, HO railroad which was easy to construct, maintain and operate (I had originally been in N scale for 40 years) in retirement. While the plan I posted in error shows the sceniced portion of the railroad and the guest room extension and balloon track the real addition is attached here which shows the loops and off stage trackage for the main line connection.

BTW, you are correct the Walthers 90' turntable is the one currently in service on the Monticello Road with the Peco manual one reserved for a new module to replace the museum scene in the future. My railroad is not an exact copy of the Monticello museum and in my version does serve a few industries with a freight short line but it's close and allows me to enjoy modern railroading with vintage equipment at times.
Enjoy,

Barry

[BOK]

It appears that some of the photos I posted didn't open up.

I'll try again.

Barry

[MarkInLA]

BOK,
I finally put 2 and 2 together and came to the realization that the manual crank for your TT in first pix looked like the one modeler Jenny Kirk employs (check her YT videos from Britain), which is a Mehano...Not sure why you didn't point that out to me, that yours is, too.
I did contact Peco and got reply today they make no mechanical drive for their TTs. But these communications to one another sure can get confused. Thanks for the clarification of, and pix of your museum layout. Looks great..
All the best, M