Atlas O Turntable Redesign

I'm glad to hear they have made some upgrades to it. For the money, it just cannot be beat. Bearing in mind you do get what you pay for. I just wish they would have made it bigger. At least 30 in. Because even smaller O scale steam engines are pretty long. I realize that would have been more money but you really need it for steam engines. Still I've got one of the old ones and I'm glad to have it. I needed it to be I needed it to be functional to store engines.

Jay:

I owned an Atlas O turntable for a few years. It looks like they fixed the two biggest problems I had - the motor/belt drive and the connection strap between track.

I had to dis-assemble the table once. Can't remember why but did not know about the ball bearings. I spent two hours crawling around the kitchen floor looking for those suckers. Now they have more....................

Joe

Dang, that almost makes me want to replace the one I've got. Where has this been all of our lives?

Too bad it does not have a pit.  For $300 it should.

Charlie

Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Too bad it does not have a pit.  For $300 it should.

Charlie

You can buy 24" turntables with pits.  The Atlas one has a mechanical indexing system, so to get a somewhat comparable 24" turntable with a pit from one manufacturer with a fully indexed system costs $1,350, another manufacturer sells that size turntable with an add on indexing kit for $1,725 (web site prices).

Maybe $300 isn't so bad, plus the Atlas is easier to install as long as you have a good, solid flat surface for it.

I wasn't aware Atlas was redesigning their O turntable? Nice to know about it, thanks for posting!

I bought an original when they were first announced and have always considered it the "Best Postwar accessory Lionel never made". I soon removed the motor not because of the belt slipping, but because it spun a little too fast for my tastes. I use the manual crank for mine and have no complaints.

Besides, where are you going to find something that dependable with perfect indexing for that price? I'll accept the limit on size (although my MTH Railking Challenger, Lionel F3 AA or AB's  and the 783 Hudson can ride on mine with no problem).

I believe the actual model Atlas copied did not have a pit.