turntables which type and kind do you members think are the best for atlas track n big engines?

Ross is the BEST in my book. I have had one for 8 years plus. No problems works flawlessly. I have a Lionel Big Boy and it goes on and off without a hitch.

A famous Rolls Royce quote will fit this turntable: The quality will remain long after the price is forgotten.

Millhouse River Studio - The Best Out There!

http://www.millhouseriverstudio.com/

I just got a 28 inch Millhouse river TT with the auto indexing system and I love it. I was able to install it myself in about 3 hours. The TT has Atlas track so it will match with your track. I use gargraves and ross track and my Big Boy can transition track on and off the TT without a problem. 

The Dude posted:

Millhouse River Studio - The Best Out There!

http://www.studiozphoto.com

Try:

http://www.studiozphoto.com/millhouse.html

I have the Millhouse River 34 inch and you will not finder a better product. It’s all welded aluminum frame with metal bridges make it practically bullet proof and the indexer is fantastic. The only thing better than the turntable is Al’s customer support. He’s been always willing to help me out on with any question or problems I’ve had

I don't have a turntable but do have a Millhouse River transfer table and as Matt stated the quality is fantastic and Al's customer service is second to no one.

Matt Makens posted:

I have the Millhouse River 34 inch and you will not finder a better product. It’s all welded aluminum frame with metal bridges make it practically bullet proof and the indexer is fantastic. The only thing better than the turntable is Al’s customer support. He’s been always willing to help me out on with any question or problems I’ve had

I also have the Millhouse River 34”   AND  agree with everything that Matt stated.

Al is fantastic to deal with!!

This is an older Diamond Scale kit.   It does well.  Smaller about 27"

Millhouse River as stated above. 

My 34" Millhouse has been the best investment made for the layout!

I’ve had my Millhouse turntable for a year.  Best investment I made and added another dimension to my model railroad.

Millhouse.

Al, Millhouse, is building mine right now. His are truly the best.

Just curious, as I built my own 33" (I'll ever do that again!), but I have considered replacing it with one of the manufactured ones, and I notice above that the Millhouse seems to be the crowd favorite, so I am wondering if any of you have any specific objections to or problems with the Ross version. Ross offers quality products, as many or most of us know, and I'm curious about the apparent large preference for Millhouse.

Both appear to be well-made, and I'm not looking to slam anyone, of course. Neither is inexpensive.

D500 posted:

Just curious, as I built my own 33" (I'll ever do that again!), but I have considered replacing it with one of the manufactured ones, and I notice above that the Millhouse seems to be the crowd favorite, so I am wondering if any of you have any specific objections to or problems with the Ross version. Ross offers quality products, as many or most of us know, and I'm curious about the apparent large preference for Millhouse.

Both appear to be well-made, and I'm not looking to slam anyone, of course. Neither is inexpensive.

Ditto.

I was 50/50 for a while on which TT to purchase. Having GG and Ross track the ross TT would make sense. However, I liked the aluminum construction of the Millhouse model as well as the various options available with it.  

Here’s my 2 cents as to why, all aluminum construction, weathering option, more detailed bridge as well as diferent bridge options.  The construction is such that you only need to make a round hole, and use the adjustable tabs for mounting.  This is a more compact option than the Ross.

the Ross wood construction is bigger, deeper that the Millhouse.  Ross makes many nice things, and at one point it was a top option, but since millhouse came out, I believe it surpassed the Ross.

Millhouse, hands down. The folks at Ross and Millhouse are both great to work with. I have a 34" Millhouse. The programmable indexing system is awesome and the turntable is far more robust built. It's built like a Sherman tank compared to the rest. It's the single most expensive item on my layout and you get what you pay for.

D500 posted:

Just curious, as I built my own 33" (I'll ever do that again!), but I have considered replacing it with one of the manufactured ones, and I notice above that the Millhouse seems to be the crowd favorite, so I am wondering if any of you have any specific objections to or problems with the Ross version. Ross offers quality products, as many or most of us know, and I'm curious about the apparent large preference for Millhouse.

Both appear to be well-made, and I'm not looking to slam anyone, of course. Neither is inexpensive.

I built my own too; 36" so I could fit the whole scale Allegheny and tender on it. I know it is not as good as Millhouse or Ross, but mine cost me under $100!!!

I used an antenna rotator for the motor and a lazy Susan bearing for stability. I made my own railings and used balsa wood for the skirts and pit walls. The control house is Plastruct. It worked out very well with some tinkering and careful measurement. I do not have an indexer, which makes operating it a little more challenging, but still fun. I could use a brake to lock the motor once positioned. The motor tends to retain some energy after power is cut, and it moves a bit too long. I haven't figured that part out yet but haven't tried too hard.

Enjoy your purchase! The Millhouse unit sounds great.

George

I too was in deep thought for a VERY long time about turntables. My wife did NOT like the price of the 33" Millhouse and tried very hard to convince me at every show or visit to a layout that Millhouse was over kill. WRONG! I finally bit the bullet and went with Millhouse and can not even imagine why I was looking elsewhere. Even she agrees after seeing it and helping me install it. I went full blown and got weathering and all the options. Al's support is worth the money alone. What a fantastic guy. He will do everything to make sure you have no problems. I ask him so many DUMB questions that I felt like Dopey from Disney Dwarfs. This turntable is absolutely the best manufactured piece of art work that works exactly like it is suppose to with NO PROBLEMS! I use atlas track and as my table was already built I had a problem with the plywood being 3/8 and a 1" foam on top. After many discussions with Al I purchased and installed with no problems. The answer was installing (simply cutting a hole from the traced line around the upside down turntable), installing and then framing a square around  the turntable for support of the plywood so it would not sag. I can only say It works, It's easy to install, it;s built to a very rugged standard, and man is it FUN!

I also have the MH River TT. I added the Indexer later on. I have been very happy with it and like others said above Al's customer service was great as I did have some installation questions. I believe that Ross also makes a great product. I picked the MH River TT because I liked the aluminum construction and Al offers the option of 2 rail track.

Since I didn't have one and wanted to be cool, LOL, I just got off the phone with Al and ordered me a 34" Turn Table.  Seriously I have been telling Al for years I'd be buying one and I finally can put the funds in place as well as some space to procure IMO the best turntable there is.  After spending last York in his booth demoing LCS operations it was a no brainer.

Thank you all for the wonderful comments regarding our turntables and me. I am honored to have you all as customers as well as friends.

Millhouse! Just ordered a 32 inch 2 rail can't wait

George S -

"I built my own too; 36" so I could fit the whole scale Allegheny and tender on it. I know it is not as good as Millhouse or Ross, but mine cost me under $100!!!

I used an antenna rotator for the motor and a lazy Susan bearing for stability. I made my own railings and used balsa wood for the skirts and pit walls. The control house is Plastruct. It worked out very well with some tinkering and careful measurement. I do not have an indexer, which makes operating it a little more challenging, but still fun. I could use a brake to lock the motor once positioned. The motor tends to retain some energy after power is cut, and it moves a bit too long. I haven't figured that part out yet but haven't tried too hard."

Yeah - I used a "turntable motor" (as in store window display) from one of the electronics remainders sellers; $35. Basswood; pine; plastic 50-cent Atlas HO bridge girders (I was going for a semi-ATSF/SP-look for some reason); styrene; dirt. The support track is Lionel outside 027 rails removed from the ties and spiked (small nails) down. Probably $100 spent.

It's 31" long as I recall - it has to handle the wheelbase of my Lionel AC-9 2-8-8-4.

Note the "natural weathering" on some of my equipment.

$100 and blood, sweat, profanity, regret and, believe me, I'll never do it again. It works; the indexing software/hardware is between my ears and through my eyes. The degree of precision required to build one of these surprised me; more even than I expected - which is why the expensive store-bought ones look like a bargain from the other side.

Maybe I'll just attempt to fine-tune it;  it's crude, but its mine.

. 

A material list for a turntable I built several years ago.

Turntable project slideshow.  Have fun with your project.  Click on the underlined phrase to link.

Parts list.

Another enthusiastic vote for Millhouse River Studio turntable.

However, I am not sure that it could handle "Nigeria", as I am not familiar with that locomotive.

Alex

Yes, the Millhouse Turntable and Transfer tables are simply the best of the best and will be the real focal points and Crowd pleasers of your layouts.  Trust me, be sure you place Your new Turntable in an area for your train friends to gather around. The indexing Control is amazing, accurate and fun to use. You can pull your Big Boy onto this table and be assured of no wobble, no hesitation, just slow motion Fun.....Go for it, you’ll be glad you did....Happy Railroading....

leapinlarry posted:

Yes, the Millhouse Turntable and Transfer tables are simply the best of the best and will be the real focal points and Crowd pleasers of your layouts.  Trust me, be sure you place Your new Turntable in an area for your train friends to gather around. The indexing Control is amazing, accurate and fun to use. You can pull your Big Boy onto this table and be assured of no wobble, no hesitation, just slow motion Fun.....Go for it, you’ll be glad you did....Happy Railroading....

 

Looks like you can buy the indexer separately. So, you could buy the table for about $1650, then add the indexer later if you are on a budget.

I wonder if I could get the indexer to work with my turntable? Does anyone have a schematic for it?

George

Not to sidetrack this post, but is it advised to build a round house with stall depths that match the diameter of the turntable?

Dave Zucal posted:

Not to sidetrack this post, but is it advised to build a round house with stall depths that match the diameter of the turntable?

Absolutely! No point in have a 34" long turntable bridge, capable of holding/turning articulated steam locomotives, with a roundhouse having only 24" deep stalls. Then on the other side of the coin, no sense in having a roundhouse with 36", or deeper stalls capable of holding large articulated locomotives, with a turntable of only, say 24".

Makes good sense HOT. I want to incorporate a model of the round house that was in St. Clair PA.  It was 360 degrees under roof. So now I will better understand the size of the area on the layout that I need to set aside for construction.

So, my engine shed (not a roundhouse) is not long enough for enough for my Allegheny, but my turntable is. However, I open the rear doors on my engine shed and the tender sticks out a little. This is an acceptable compromise.

George

"So, my engine shed (not a roundhouse) is not long enough for enough for my Allegheny, but my turntable is. However, I open the rear doors on my engine shed and the tender sticks out a little. This is an acceptable compromise.

George"

A compromise, but a prototypical practice from time to time, in certain situations. Compromise is the soul of progress - you still have a turntable.

We bought one of the first ROSS turntables, long before Millhouse came out with his.  It took a little tinkering to get it right, but now it works great and has a long trouble-free history on the CL&W. Detailed and weathered it somewhat.

Have a Ross, since they came out, no problems whatever.  Easy to install, no having to cut out a circle in order to install on the layout. 

Jack

  If anyone would like to add the indexing system to their Millhouse River Turntable, I have a complete set up that I bought used and never got around to adapting to my home built table.

Jim

Dr. Jack posted:

Have a Ross, since they came out, no problems whatever.  Easy to install, no having to cut out a circle in order to install on the layout. 

Jack

Hi Jack.  Having no experience with a turntable, I got quite an education regarding TT's in this thread.  I thought you would have to make a recess hole in your layout floor/base to accommodate the mechanism of the TT so that you could mount the TT flush to align its track with yours.  You indicated 'no having to cut out a circle to install on the layout'.  Maybe you could explain how you did that?  

I just acquired a Bowser turntable - and realized why they are not made anymore...