First of all, I apologize if this has already been posted. Pretty neat...
https://restoring1702.wordpress.com/2015/09/
https://restoring1702.wordpress.com/2015/08/
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Awesome! I love turntables.
I visited Bryson City once, on the other side of the Smokies (east side), getting there as the train was leaving. No time to stay and ride. I hope to have an "armstrong" manual A-frame turntable at the end of my line, when I get there. All of the kits for same are for On30/On3, and tiny, so it looks like a kit-bash/scratchbuild. I wonder
whether any prototype tourist road/short line is still using a manual turntable? I assume this one, Bryson City, is powered?
Originally Posted by colorado hirailer:
I visited Bryson City once, on the other side of the Smokies (east side), getting there as the train was leaving. No time to stay and ride. I hope to have an "armstrong" manual A-frame turntable at the end of my line, when I get there. All of the kits for same are for On30/On3, and tiny, so it looks like a kit-bash/scratchbuild. I wonder
whether any prototype tourist road/short line is still using a manual turntable? I assume this one, Bryson City, is powered?
We use one every day at Greenfield Village in Dearborn, MI to get our locomotives in and out of the shop and its associated servicing tracks outside. There are also three times a day visitors can go out and try it themselves with the guidance of one of the historical presenters stationed in the roundhouse.
Great, now they need to get SRR 722's long-delayed restoration going...
I haven't been to Greenfield Village in years, and think I was last there in the winter
when things were dormant, or maybe it was at a wedding when they held a reception
in a mansion on the property, when there was no time to check out the sights. How long is the armstrong turntable there, and what locos are they turning on it? What wheel arrangement is Southern? #722?
Southern 722 is a Ks-1 Class 2-8-0 which is the same class as Southern 630. which
Both operated on the E.T & W.N.C
Originally Posted by Southern Railway Sean:
Southern 722 is a Ks-1 Class 2-8-0 which is the same class as Southern 630. which
Both operated on the E.T & W.N.C
Made by different companies so there are minor differences, but yeah, they're the same class.
630 was 207 at the ET&WNC and 722 was 208. They ran on the ET&WNC until 1967, the last locomotives in America to interchange with other steam (North American Rayon had a Porter fireless 0-6-0 which ran until 1991).
Here's 208 (722) alongside NAR # 1 in the 60s:
I'm unsure of the exact length of our turntable. It was built in 1901 for the Pere Marquette and was installed in Petosky, Mi. I believe it weighs 42 tons.
Our biggest locomotive is the 1897 Baldwin 4-4-0 that was shown in the video I posted. There's not much extra space on the table with that locomotive on it (it weighs about 65 tons for reference). Our smaller locomotives, a 35 ton Mason 0-6-4T from 1873 and a 25 ton 4-4-0 that was built from a converted 1860's Manchester 0-4-0 by the Ford Rouge plant locomotive shop, both fit with no plenty of room to spare
Our biggest locomotive is the 1897 Baldwin 4-4-0 that was shown in the video I posted. There's not much extra space on the table with that locomotive on it (it weighs about 65 tons for reference). Our smaller locomotives, a 35 ton Mason 0-6-4T from 1873 and a 25 ton 4-4-0 that was built from a converted 1860's Manchester 0-4-0 by the Ford Rouge plant locomotive shop, both fit with no plenty of room to spare
4-4-0's are small engines. The Pere Marquette had some big power, didn't it, Berkshires, etc.? Brings to mind a thought about turning Big Boys and some of
their 12 drivered steamers on the UP? Presume it had turntables for its big stuff?
Originally Posted by colorado hirailer:
4-4-0's are small engines. The Pere Marquette had some big power, didn't it, Berkshires, etc.? Brings to mind a thought about turning Big Boys and some of
their 12 drivered steamers on the UP? Presume it had turntables for its big stuff?
Keep in mind, the turntable is from 1901. The Pere Marquette Berkshires didn't come along for another 36 or so years, so the short length wasn't an issue at the time. In fact, if I remember correctly, the roundhouse we operate out of (a reconstruction using SOME original parts) became too small for practical use in the 1930's and the railroad left it. While the reconstruction is scaled down from the original slightly to fit the current location, it's still easy to see why it became too small as locomotives got larger. I'm sure turntables ended up getting replaced in the same manner.
