Carriage before the horse? Turntable

I did the same thing, bought the turntable and worked the layout around it.  Of course, this was easier than your challenge since mine is an Atlas and does not require a hole in the layout.  Seems you have even more reason to start with the turntable since the legs / structure need to be planned around it. Looking forward to see what you do.

@hokie71 posted:

I did the same thing, bought the turntable and worked the layout around it.  Of course, this was easier than your challenge since mine is an Atlas and does not require a hole in the layout.  Seems you have even more reason to start with the turntable since the legs / structure need to be planned around it. Looking forward to see what you do.

I got the Old layout completely down today ..TT is due by mid May if it takes the full 5-6 weeks Im not worried about a hole..Im worried where Im going to put!!!

My TT was a last minute change, I originally didn't think I could put one in.  I'm also using the 24" Atlas, better than no TT, and it does the job.  I can't park all my articulated locomotives  or things like the Veranda locomotive on it, but that's the breaks.

Do you have a track plan yet?  You might want to see how much space you need for TT and whisker tracks since placement will be crucial to everything else including potential future acquisitions.

Ron

Please, please, please look at the other threads here about turntable placement (and the amount of space needed to support the entire operation).  Without knowing anything about the esthetics of your space, I would highly recommend that you plan an around the walls layout with a peninsula holding your engine area and maybe a small yard.  Enter your peninsula with a wye (or maybe even a double track wye) so that trains running in either direction can enter the peninsula.

Be sure to create an easy way to enter the center of your ovals (lift bridge, hinged sub-roadbed, etc.) and consider putting your engine area on a "bubble" off of the peninsula.

Chuck