Turntable end shims not too noticeable

As I wrote last night, the ends of the turntable need a little more adjustment in vertical alignment. Tonight I built some styrene platforms under the ends of the turntable, and laminated some .008″ phosphor bronze sheet onto them to form a sliding bearing. Then I tipped the turntable back over and reinstalled it in […]

Further adjustments to turntable height

The mystery of the misaligned turntable is solved, and the suspect finally apprehended. Last night I realigned the turntable lead on an actual radius of the turntable. I found the radius by drawing a line from the centre of the turntable and then measuring half a gauge-width to set the first rail. It looks like […]

Suspect identified in turntable alignment mystery

Last night, I dropped tools when I realized that I didn’t understand why my turntable was not properly aligned with the first rail of the roundhouse tracks in one orientation. Thanks to both Neil and Mark who wrote in with some suggestions. Neil’s suggestion that my turntable rails were off center was true – by […]

Turntable misalignment poses mystery

There are times when you should just put down the soldering iron for the night and take a breather. One of them is when you completely wreck something – clearly you’re not at your best, and it’s a good idea to quit before your frustration gets the better of you. Another good time is when […]

First rail is critical for Pembroke turntable

Tonight I finally started laying rail for the turntable. As with the staging yard turntable before it, the sequence of rails is carefully planned. Unlike last time, it’s only in my head — something I may regret. Tonight I glued down one end of the turntable rails themselves, as well as the near rail of […]

Cinders not quite right on Pembroke roundhouse tracks

Last night I glued down ballast for the tracks around the turntable. Now engine service areas are often ballasted with cinders from the engines, but I assume that it takes a little while for these to accumulate. After six years, would they have had enough to cover the area? I didn’t know, so I mixed […]

Joint bars at the limit of 3D printing

VanRail 2015 took up the whole weekend, and so, nothing much happened with Pembroke. I received a some test joint bars from Shapeways on the Friday. This made for some fun times as I handed them to people and made them guess what they were looking at. Packed together to minimize material usage, they look […]

Six-year old turntable ties require delicate staining

I got up early this morning to do a little sanding on the ties around the turntable. It turned out that the edge timbers were particularly proud – on one side, they lost about .010″ (.25mm). There is still a step of about the same to get on one end of the turntable. I think, […]

Wood screws not to be trusted for Pembroke turntable realignment

Just once, I wish something would go easily! I installed the turntable in its pit the other day, and the observant among you may have noticed something is not quite right with the vertical alignment. It’s more than I can easily correct with sanding, but fortunately, the reason was easy to diagnose: the wheels were […]

Let a decorator choose the fascia colour?

I spent yesterday painting the garage. At one point, I had a roller full of primer, and so, I went about the house looking for things that needed to be primed. The fascia has been waiting for just such a moment since Andrew and I installed it seven months ago. So, I quickly spread out […]