Finished up my RR turntable

Glenn Brooks

Glenn Brooks

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Finally got my Railway turntable installed in the pit and aligned to a couple of bridge structures that span my back driveway. This is for my backyard 12" gauge shortline Railway that I've been working on since last year.

I welded the structure out of recycled 8" trailer frame 'I-beams' and angle iron for lateral support. Dimensions are 12' overall x 28" wide x9" deep. Ties are used 4 x 4 recycled county sign posts. Rail will be 12 pound mining rail, 2" tall, 2" wide base. turned down and fabricated four antique mining car wheels and mounts to run on tight radius rail inside the pit. The center of the turntable spins on a 3" pivot bearing I turned down out of some old large diameter shafting. At some point I need to fab a couple of wheeled undercarriages, so I can move the bridge pieces off the driveway now and then. Also some sort of overhead lift to pick the darn things up. (500-600 # each, once the rail is laid down.)

Next up is to start laying rail across the structure, and lead it out and around the back yard. The turntable will connect two or three sidings with my 500' mainline'.

Here are several pics:
IMG_1522.JPG IMG_1525.JPG IMG_1526.JPG IMG_1528.JPG
 
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Glenn Brooks said:
Finally got my Railway turntable installed in the pit and aligned to a couple of bridge structures that span my back driveway. This is for my backyard 12" gauge shortline Railway that I've been working on since last year.

I welded the structure out of recycled 8" trailer frame 'I-beams' and angle iron for lateral support. Dimensions are 12' overall x 28" wide x9" deep. Ties are used 4 x 4 recycled county sign posts. Rail will be 12 pound mining rail, 2" tall, 2" wide base. turned down and fabricated four antique mining car wheels and mounts to run on tight radius rail inside the pit. The center of the turntable spins on a 3" pivot bearing I turned down out of some old large diameter shafting. At some point I need to fab a couple of wheeled undercarriages, so I can move the bridge pieces off the driveway now and then. Also some sort of overhead lift to pick the darn things up. (500-600 # each, once the rail is laid down.)

Next up is to start laying rail across the structure, and lead it out and around the back yard. The turntable will connect two or three sidings with my 500' mainline'.

Here are several pics:


Now that is a project! Do you have any pics of the other parts of your Rail Yard?
Click to expand...
 
It doesn't look complete to me Glen, I don't see any rail on that yet. ;)
Looks good.
I'm surprised you only used a 3" center, I don't know anything about RR in that scale, but 3" seems small to me.. Got any pics of that stuff so I can understand?
 
Thanks All,

Jeff, ahaha, laying rail is the holy grail of railroading! The rail is going in next. First need to do some right of way clean up brush removal to start laying rail up to the structure- then mate the ends so the turntable aligns with the mainline. Nothing to complicated- just one step after another, with the occasional two steps backward. After building the structure, getting them in place was the euphoria moment!

The 3" pivot pin 'should be' adequate for the gauge and scale of locomotives I will be operating (12" gauge, 1/4 scale). The pin sits in a 6" x 1" bearing, welding to the frame. Mostly the pin acts as a fulcrum to pivot the structure as it rotates about the outer ring, which you can see in the third picture. The four wheels at the outer edge carry weight at each end and add considerable rigidity. I made the wheel mounts and axles on the outer edge extra stout. They stabilize the load on 12# rail and guide the table around the pit. So there isn't much in the way of side loading- just rotational force. The heaviest loco I have weighs around 1000#, so the loaded weight shouldn't be excessive for a 3" OD pivot point.

Here's a couple of photos of the center pin assembly and wheel/axle assemblies.

IMG_1635.JPG IMG_1191.JPG IMG_1192.JPG IMG_1302.JPG

IMG_1328.JPG
IMG_1441.JPG

Todd, here are a couple of shots of the loco's. The first is Albert Campbell's 1904 4-4-0. The Campbell loco needs some restoration - a new boiler and the machined surfaces freed up - from sitting in storage for 100 years. In these photos, I've removed the front truck to free up the axles and journals. I plan to bring the loco back into service next winter. Looking forward to working on it! The other one below is a 1950 Ottaway. Both are coal fired steam engines, but Iam contemplating converting to propane, once my coal supply runs out. The Ottaway is ready to go now, just awaiting laying track and conducting the annual boiler test for safety. Sorry I don't have a decent current photo. Lost them off my iPad apparently.

IMG_0390.JPG IMG_0875.JPG


These last photos are the Ottaway in its heyday - steaming around Mr. griffins backyard up in Everett,Wa in the mid 60's.

IMG_0489.JPG IMG_0502.JPG


-glenn
 
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Jeff, come on down and grab a hammer -er, maul. Always room on the extra gang!

Glenn
 
HiGlenn,
my son would go nuts seeing the RR
very nice work
i wish i were closer, i'd swing a hammer for ya!
 
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