A new turntable for the LCNGRR

trw1089 · January 10, 2010, 11:29am

Hi all I’ve been very busy with my work over the lead up to Christmas, but having a week off between Christmas and New Year, plus this weekend just gone meant that I’ve finally been able to finish a turntable for my railroad. It’s based on drawings by Ted Brewer of Brewers Plans, but modified to be closer to the NCNGRR’s one at Grass Valley, CA. It’s certainly no prize winner, but hopefully will perform adequately once installed on the railroad. It was constructed out of 1" x 5/8" dressed oak stringers, with 5/8" square oak for the A frames and hardwood 1/2" sleepers for the deck with some stainless steel 1/16" welding rod for the support wires. All up, I think I got out of it for under $100, the most expensive bit was the brass rail for the deck and the pit.

Once its in place on the railroad I’ll post a few more pics, but I’ve got to do some rearranging of yard tracks etc, so maybe a couple more weekends to finish off and commission. Cheers Tony

Ken_Brunt · January 10, 2010, 11:52am

Very nice! What did you use for the base?

Rooster · January 10, 2010, 1:51pm

Cool…the base looks like tile backer board?

AndyC · January 10, 2010, 2:37pm

What Ken said…

John_Bouck · January 10, 2010, 3:58pm

Very nice!
One of them is on my to do list.

dottney · January 10, 2010, 4:38pm

Very cool.

Bruce_Chandler · January 10, 2010, 4:41pm

Tony,
It sure looks good to me! What did you use for the main bearing?

blueregal · January 10, 2010, 6:20pm

Lazy Susan’s work really well for a base!! Regal

trw1089 · January 10, 2010, 7:53pm

Hi all

Thanks for all the comments!

The base for the pit is compressed fibre cement sheeting like they use for tile underlay. It’s supposed to be good for wet areas, so I’m trying it as a bit of an experiment. If it doesn’t work, it won’t take long to whip up a new pit and a 6 x 4 sheet was less than $20.

The main bearing is a lazy susan bearing from one at IKEA (do you have them over there?). I painted it, gave it a bit of extra grease then fitted it to some 1/4" ply on the base of the turntable, then fitted the pivot bolt back into the nice bit of solid pine that came with it, gave it all another lick of paint then two coats of bonded sealer, so hopefully the whole job will stand the weather.

We shall see!

Cheers
Tony