Bob,
Sounds like a trip for my bucket list, and I already own a Jeep. While the covered turntable looks neat, it probably isn't a good idea for an operating model railroad. If I really wanted a model of it, I'd probably make the whole cover easily removable and take it off for an operating session. At least it was on the tail of the switchback and so it only was used to turn locos and cars 180 degrees. Dave Heine From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Bob Werre Sent: Friday, February 17, 2012 10:44 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: {S-Scale List} Turntables +Corkscrew Gulch Dave, You just brought up an interesting discussion about the Corkscrew Gulch turntable that a narrow minded friend and I had just last weekend. On a family vacation about 20 years ago, I rented a Jeep and we took a couple of those trails. If you've never tried those trails you're missing a big chunk of whoop-ass fun! The Jeep I had wouldn't say running without a foot on the gas pedal, so I did most of my rock crawling with my feet on all three pedals with the occasional stalling on steep grades--pretty exciting to say the least! I was told of things to look for in finding the remains of that turntable. I'm not sure I ever did see it because the forest does grow back and take over the area. At any rate, I did see the area--I swear! In modeling such an endeavor, you certainly would need a perfect line-up of the rails to avoid derailing within the turntable itself. It's no fun fishing out engines from beneath a low roofed building. I would also guess that it's probably a reason that most of us avoid building the versions with the girder bracing above the pit also. I have the New York Control drive and it's a wonderful product, but does take some work to install properly. Mine does need some additional work as the locking mechanism doesn't always work the way it should. So when an engine enters onto the bridge it will sometimes force itself slightly to the side derailing the remaining wheels. So the only solution is to reach over and 0-5-0 the engine. That is fine for a typical single diesel engine, but a large fellow like an 4-8-4 isn't fun. Rusty Paulus, one of our senior members had used the Bowser turntable on his past layout (past MR in the mid 80's and an ad for SHS's exclusive RS-3's in the Gaugian). He never had his motorized, but to line things up he used a piece of plastic as a 'bridge plate' and seemed to work perfectly. So sometimes a no cost solution can match a $500+ product! Bob Werre PhotoTraxx On 2/16/12 9:28 PM, David Heine wrote: And then there were the covered ones, which was another option to keep the snow out. My favorite example being the one the Silverton Northern had on its mainline at Corkscrew Gulch, if a switchback, or for that matter anything on the Silverton Northern could be called a mainline. There was actually a paper published on it in the American Society of Civil Engineers Transactions in 1890. Dave Heine Easton, PA
