Is there satisfaction in gimickry?

CCDW · **Joined:** Wed Jan 28, 2009 4:30 pm **Posts:** 211

Battling turn tables comes to mind.

Dennis Storzek · **Posted:** Mon Dec 21, 2015 4:19 pm

That's got to be in Germany. Since the German mindset is wait for orders from headquarters, it worked just fine. Not so sure it would work here.

boilerwash · **Posted:** Mon Dec 21, 2015 5:19 pm

My question is are both tables interlocked in some way to keep one from swinging into the other at the point where their paths cross??

John E. McNamara · **Joined:** Sun Aug 29, 2004 9:21 pm **Posts:** 105

I did a Google search on this and came up with http://www.marklin-users.net/forum/yaf_postst8978_Double-turntable-in-Hamburg.aspx. Unfortunately, the posts are rather old, and at least some of the links are dead. Nevertheless, there is some interesting stuff posted there.

-John

joe6167 · **Posted:** Mon Dec 21, 2015 6:14 pm

Quote:

"On the other hand, two turntables with the circumferences of their pits intersecting each other (German: Doppeldrehscheiben) was uncommon. There were only two of them in Germany, at Bw Hamburg-Altona and at Bw Köln Betriebsbahnhof. Originally, turntables at these two loco sheds were not Doppeldrehscheibe. These sheds had two turntables that were close (touching) to each other. The roundhouses for these turntables connected to each other at one end. During the 1920s there was a need for longer turntables to accommodate larger locomotives. At Altona and Köln it was impossible to install two new turntables side by side, or even one new turntable in the middle without realignment of the tracks leading to the roundhouses (which I suspect would have led to the rebuilding of the roundhouses as well). Therefore, the DRG chose to build two turntables intersecting each other at these two sites (you may say as a compromise or as a lesser of the two evils) instead."

philip.marshall · **Posted:** Mon Dec 21, 2015 6:39 pm

I'm curious what the frogs looked like where the two ring rails intersected.

10stewi · **Posted:** Mon Dec 21, 2015 7:05 pm

Maybe nothing at all if there were no flanges on the turntable wheels. Might have just been that the rails were closely cut to fit right against each other

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

Speaking of "gimmickry" and overlapping German turntables as an example got me to thinking. I have seen maps or drawings of locations which show "half turntables". The pivot is at one end and a track leading on to it and then the 1/2 table services tracks going into a roundhouse or shop building. These maps dated back to the 1800's and probably serviced 4-4-0's, Moguls, 0-6-0's, Ten-Wheelers and other small engines or other equipment. Why a half table, and not a full one? Lack of space perhaps, or no need to turn engines but just get them into the house or shop. Also, possibly to save cost. But were any of these ever built? Do any photos exist? Possible "gimmickry" for sure!

Les

steamerdon · **Joined:** Sat Oct 02, 2004 1:45 pm **Posts:** 68

Thought this might be of interest to the model railroaders out there.
Here is the Hamburg-Altona roundhouses in model form, I'm not sure of gauge.

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

Quote:

I have seen maps or drawings of locations which show "half turntables".

Hi,

FWIW, there was a car repair shop in Duluth GA that used a flat car with one truck turned 90 degrees to use as a half turntable. I have not seen it in a while but I think the level of the turntable away from the shop is about the 2nd story of the houses beyond the pivot points.

The Southeastern Railroad Museum now owns the property.

Here is the link for the satalite view:

https://www.google.com/maps/@33.9912068 ... a=!3m1!1e3

It looks like the flatcar/table has been removed.

Doug vV

QJdriver · **Posted:** Tue Dec 22, 2015 1:56 am

Les,they not only have "half turntables", but also turntables with an detachable extension on one end, that swings around in a section of pit which is wider than the basic pit is. Things like this were done when there was no room for a bigger turntable, but they needed to handle bigger power. Got a foto, but no way to post it.

Double roundhouses were pretty common, there was even a triple roundhouse with three turntables. One of these had a pair of tracks in each stall, which was common as well, with some examples surviving today.

Sorry I don't have fotos or links. Modelleisenbahner has a lot of good articles and special editions concerning (mostly) German engine terminals. The most fantastic thing I've seen in there lately was a double decker turntable, servicing leads and stalls stacked one above the other. They don't offer subscriptions in the US generally, but I believe that Reynauld's in Chicago might be able to help out with single issues.

The Krauts are REALLY clever.

dinwitty · **Joined:** Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:18 pm **Posts:** 2226

...yes the diesel on the turntable is definately a gimmick....

joe6167 · **Posted:** Tue Dec 22, 2015 8:40 pm

Museo Ferroviario Nazionale Pietrarsa in Italy has two of these tables:

Les Beckman · **Joined:** Tue Aug 02, 2005 1:25 pm **Posts:** 6482

Joe -

Thanks much for these photos. Although an Italian example, it shows exactly what was on the drawings I had previously seen. Would be interesting to know if any American examples were ever built, and if any photos of them exist.

Les

softwerkslex · **Posted:** Wed Dec 23, 2015 7:30 am

The double table roundhouse in Hamburg is long gone, but you can still see the foundations when arriving to the end of the line, Altona, by train. The land has been partially used to realign the high speed and s-bahn mains.

The two tables can still do a lot of work without conflicting each other, so there is some productivity improvement with the two tables.