Sheepscot Turntable - Official Work Thread

[Jason M Lamontagne]

Honestly, we're not worried about wear balancing- but we do plan to turn frequently, perhaps every trip, as a means of improving visitor experience.  That said- we'all watch wear patterns to see if there's a change.  The wear patterns over the past 20 years of operation already appear quite equal.

See ya
Jason

[James Patten]

The only problem with #9 facing north is that when giving signals yesterday to start the train I couldn't recall which way it was facing!

[Harold Downey]

I would really like to compliment the team that assembled the bridge. 

When I was helping Rick Sisson decide where to cut the rails, we set a stake and marked one main beam corner, then rotated to the other main beam to check it, finally rotating the whole bridge 180 degrees to check both beams on the other end.   Relative to the mark on the stake, the other three beam corners were within the width of the line on the stake.   

This is nearly unbelievable accuracy.  The structure is amazingly square and the pivot is perfectly centered. 

[Ken Fleming]

I mentioned this before, but "spinning" the cars is also a good practice for weathering.  It also will present a different look to train lineup.  B end of cars all
North or South.  Especially the caboose.  

[Bill Sample]

Weather exposure is very evident on the RMNE's former Rutland #260 combine, donated to us by the Vermont Rail System.  The wood-bodied car's present west side certainly had far more "weather-wear" than does the east side.  The west side is also the station platform side so it is being repaired, including a new baggage door prior to our Christmas operation.  Unlike the WW&F the RMNE's Naugatuck Railroad has no turntable or wye so we don't have any easy way to turn our equipment. 

[Philip Marshall]

I took the shop tour at the Strasburg RR two summers ago and was told they have a terrible problem with uneven weathering. Their line runs east to west and they have no turning facilities, so the south sides of all of their wooden cars really suffer -- and the paint shop is always busy.

[Ed Lecuyer]

Wayne Laepple has an article about our turntable in Trains' Newswire:
http://trn.trains.com/news/news-wire/2016/10/19-wwf-volunteers-complete-turntable-construction-project

You do need to be a subscriber to Trains to read it.

[Bill Baskerville]

The great thing about the Car Barn is that all weathering will now be minimal.  Since we appear to have enough curves in both directions that wear balance isn't an issue we should be in good shape on both fronts.

[Steve Smith]

Wayne, that’s a fine article on the turntable in the Trains newsletter. Thank you for that one and the various others on the WW&F you’ve written for Trains. What a great way to spread the word!

[Ira Schreiber]

I could not agree with Steve Smith more.
Thank you Wayne.

[Mike Fox]

Lincoln County new did an article on the Turntable project.
http://lcnme.com/currentnews/alna-railway-museum-completes-turntable/

[Ed Lecuyer]

[Moderators Note]
A discussion on which way a locomotive faces, etc. was split off to:
http://forum.wwfry.org/index.php?topic=2825.0

[Brendan Barry]

Decking has been installed on the turntable walkways. Boards still have to be ripped to fit next to the rail stringer. The center section between the rails is being left open.

[Mike Fox]

[Fred L. Kuhns]

 Mike, The grading around the turntable appears to look completed, will the generator be returned to the west wall of the shop building?