Is there satisfaction in gimickry?

G. W. Laepple · **Joined:** Mon Aug 23, 2004 5:10 pm **Posts:** 1182

The double-turntable building is an ovalhouse, not a roundhouse. Just sayin'........

Dave · **Posted:** Wed Dec 23, 2015 7:14 pm

Yes Chris, apparently there is.

scottychaos · **Posted:** Thu Dec 24, 2015 2:25 pm

CCDW wrote:

Battling turn tables comes to mind.

I dont see anything gimmicky about it at all..
it can do more work than a single turntable, and much of the time both could be working without interfering with each other..and when they did need to overlap, it just takes some coordination so they dont run in to each other..

looks really efficient to me actually..One roundhouse, two turntables, almost double the locomotives in and out compared to a single turntable.

Scot

CCDW · **Joined:** Wed Jan 28, 2009 4:30 pm **Posts:** 210

I should like to argue that there isn't any increase in efficiency, storage, function.
The most you can get with a round house is 360 degrees of stalls minus one track for access. Put a tangent in and you get only as many more stalls as the length of the tangent allows. In this case there are about 6 maybe 7 more stalls than a one turntable could service. Then there is the club house occupying perfectly good stall space. Also the round (oval)house isn’t closed so that space isn’t stalls. So to recap, one more turntable small percentage gain in storage. If you wanted more stalls the round house could be larger in diameter, more circumference more stalls.

In my somewhat arrogant opinion this really smacks of tom-foolery.

Dougvv · **Joined:** Sat Aug 21, 2004 10:52 pm **Posts:** 914

Hi,

As long as locos are not being turned or the turntables are in conflict, you can move two locos at once from stalls to the lead tracks.

Maybe a 20% increase in throughput?

Doug vV

Dave · **Posted:** Thu Dec 24, 2015 5:46 pm

One of my favorite record albums! I was humming the Christmas carol from it today.

484Mike · **Joined:** Wed Mar 27, 2013 3:55 am **Posts:** 173

As far as I know, the double turntables have been working successfully without any specific problem. Would they have been uneconomic, they would have been replaced by a single one. And only one accident comes to my mind, a steam locomotive falling in the pit in the post-WW2 time.

BTW, the model is in Z-scale.

Merry Christmas!

Mike

scottychaos · **Posted:** Fri Dec 25, 2015 10:38 pm

CCDW wrote:

I should like to argue that there isn't any increase in efficiency, storage, function.
The most you can get with a round house is 360 degrees of stalls minus one track for access. Put a tangent in and you get only as many more stalls as the length of the tangent allows. In this case there are about 6 maybe 7 more stalls than a one turntable could service. Then there is the club house occupying perfectly good stall space. Also the round (oval)house isn’t closed so that space isn’t stalls. So to recap, one more turntable small percentage gain in storage. If you wanted more stalls the round house could be larger in diameter, more circumference more stalls.

In my somewhat arrogant opinion this really smacks of tom-foolery.

The increased efficiency doesn't have to do with the number of stalls or storage space, it has to do with the number of turntables and the rate that locomotives can be moved in and out of the roundhouse..Two turntables can do twice the work of one. Although in practice it wouldn't be quite double, because they would need to conflict at times, in which case only one can operate..but overall its clearly more efficient than only one turntable..probably most useful in a commuter of heavy passenger area, where lots of locomotives need to be cycled in and out quickly.

Scot

Termite7 · **Joined:** Thu Aug 21, 2008 8:29 pm **Posts:** 397

Currently offered on Ebay there is a vintage blueprint of a double-turntable on the Reading RR, in Reading, PA.

Was this table actually built? Any background?

T7

Dougvv · **Joined:** Sat Aug 21, 2004 10:52 pm **Posts:** 914

hi,

What that seems to be is a double roundhouse. PRR had some double roundhouses. I think one was at Harrisburg.

These are not double turntables that are nested.

Thanks.

Doug vV

Is there satisfaction in gimickry?

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