Ugly Turntable Repair

A few months ago, as I was turning the engine for another run, there was a clatter and an odd-shaped piece of brass tube tumbled onto my desk below the layout. It took me a moment to realize it was one of the indexing tubes for the turntable. After repeated locking and un-locking, the stress […]

Turntable Improvements

To avoid any nasty crunching sounds as I was disrupting traffic on the main these past few days, I undid the three screws that secure the turntable module and levered it out and onto an open drawer. While it’s accessible, I will be making some improvements. First of all, the lock has not worked properly […]

Turntable Video Posted

Okay, you asked for it! Here is the video showing the operation of the Pembroke turntable. I looked for appropriate turn of the century background music, I really did, but this was the best I could find.

Turntable operational at last!

It’s been eleven months and 76 blog posts, but Pembroke at last has an operational turntable! It has been quite a journey, to say the least. There is a step up onto the turntable on the side that had the great MDF debacle; I’m hoping it will not need shimming, but I will reserve judgement […]

Turntable lock: Rube would be proud

It’s been a bit of a battle, but I think I finally have the turntable lock control finished. The original plan called for a flexible shaft to drive the pin into the sockets around the turntable edge. However, when push came to shove (so to speak), I found that the shaft had to flex too […]

Turntable Crank

November is always a slow month for the trains in our house. It’s getting close to Christmas, and for the past eleven years, I’ve given photobooks that summarize the past year of the kids’ lives to all our family. I spend most of the month, therefore, editing and curating photos. Anyway, this morning, while the […]

Dentistry on the Turntable Pit

Those who saw this turntable at the Vancouver Train Expo this weekend already know about the disaster that befell the pit wall when I was completing the scenery. That part of the MDF that was not sealed before was still not sealed, and the swelling was nothing short of hideous. At the show, I talked […]

Turntable Clinic at Vancouver Train Expo

Here is the presentation for my presentation at Vancouver Train Expo, Sunday, November 8 at 11.

A little scatter around the roundhouse

I’m getting ready to show the turntable at Vancouver Train Expo this weekend, and so, I spent some time between working on my presentation to glue down some more ballast, basically covering the board. The gravel is my usual mix of light grey sanded grout and Pembroke dirt. The cinders are made from “Charcoal” sanded […]

Finishing up the turntable tracks

Vancouver Train Expo is just a few days away, and as I’m speaking about turntables on Sunday, I’d better finish this one! Last night, I put the final touches on the tracks. I painted the PC board ties with acrylic paint. I really struggled to match the colour of the nearby ties. In the end, […]