Roundhouse Project

[JWB]

My roundhouse project has reached the point where I can show a photo, though it's by no means complete. I mostly run diesels, for much the same reason the prototype does, but I have some steam, and while I was planning this part of my layout, I realized there was just enough room for an Atlas turntable, a Kibri roundhouse, and a small coaling and ash pit apparatus, which are out of camera range to the right and not far enough along to photograph. For reference, the diameter of the Atlas turntable is 9 inches.

The main problem with the Atlas turntable is, of course, that it doesn't have a US-style pit, although fully covered turntables like this do exist, especially in snowy parts of Europe. I've heard that there is one like it in the US upper Midwest, though I've never heard anything more specific than that. The prototype Atlas claims for it is in the B&O Mount Clare shops in Baltimore, in a fully covered roundhouse. The pit is covered over so workers could walk across it. There is a similar covered turntable pit in Hawaii, on a tourist line, presumably so that drunks won't fall into the pit in the middle of the night and sue. I decided to use the Atlas turntable because the whole roundhouse idea was an afterthought, it was the right size, it was inexpensive, and there was a joist under the baseboard that I would have had to relocate if I added a turntable with a pit anyhow. Eventually I'm going to add a gallows type frame to it, as Irv Schulz did on a layout in the 1950s.

 

The Atlas turntable also matches the angle of the Kibri roundhouse stalls. The Kibri roundhouse is, of course, a German prototype, though the Germans may have been inspired by US practice, and it's so similar to 19th century US brick roundhouses that I just added a US style paint scheme to it.

 

The next stage is to add more roundhouse-style details around it, like these on the Sierra Railway:

What I'm aiming at will be something not-quite museum and not-quite working railroad, not too much different from the scene at Jamestown itself.

[F-UnitMad]

Neat idea for a 'working diorama' sort of thing. It's a bit difficult to make out the deck surface; would painting/scribing it to resemble wooden planking help it look authentic?

[dave1905]

Some people recess the Atlas turntable in a pit and then attach a bridge to the deck. It looks like a "pit" turntable but uses the Atlas mechanism. The bottom of the pit turns with the table, but since its covered with ballast or what ever and down in the pit, its less noticeable.

[JWB]

The Atlas turntable deck has wood planks molded in. I airbrushed them over to get rid of the shine.