Turntables

[NorthWallDocker]

9 hours ago, Irishswissernie said:

I've been sent a number of negs from the June 1961 Joint Irish Rail Tour, unfortunately not very good quality but there are some interesting and reasonable views. This one reminded me of this thread. An interesting turntable with a pit but no deck or handrails etc. Ballaghadereen 8 June 1961

 

Neat little MGWR turntable, engine shed, and water tank.  Could anyone (@jhb171achill ?) recommend to me
(1) a source for working turntable wheels and castings, including
an overhead shop crane that might match the turntable sides and frame? 
(2) a source for a site plan of Ballaghadereen (or similar Midland branch line) that would give diameter and structure dimensions?

Edited November 21, 2021 by NorthWallDocker

[David Holman]

Try Kitwood Hill Models. Laser cut ply, so really intend for the American market, but easy to put together and adapt. Supply dependent on demand though, so you may have to wait a bit.

 South Eastern Finecast do a turntable kit, which uses whitemetal castings for the wheels. Found it worked a lot better if these were replaced by ball bearings. Not sure if that meets your needs, but worth checking both websites.

[Angus]

11 hours ago, NorthWallDocker said:

a source for a site plan of Ballaghadereen (or similar Midland branch line) that would give diameter and structure dimensions?

Below is a screen shot from the Government of Ireland's Historic Environment viewer 25" to the mile map.

I've found the accuracy of the outline of the buildings a bit dubious on other maps, I can't comment on this one.

This link should take you the map:

https://maps.archaeology.ie/historicenvironment/?REG_NO=30806021

It doesn't! 

For some reason it takes you to Dromahair ( my saved location).

If you click the four squares Icon on the top left you can select historic 25" to the mile as the base map, the just enter "Ballaghadereen" in the search. 

You'll need to select the correct locality from the search drop down.

Hope that helps!

 

[Mayner]

Both Loughrea and Balinrobe had 42' turntables & two road sheds to a standard MGWR design 60'X29'4" (Baronial Lines, Padraic O'Cuimin 1972). London Road Models and possibly Midland Railway Centre (Metalsmiths) produce 45' deck turntables https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/blogs/entry/17974-building-a-london-road-models-50-turntable/ similar to those used in Ireland.

Ballaghadereen is unusual the track layout is not typical of MGWR branch line terminals as it was planned as a through station  by the Sligo & Ballaghadereen Railway, at one stage there were plans to extend the line to Ballyhaunis to feed cattle traffic from County Roscommon and County Galway as an all Midland route to Sligo & Collonney in an attempt to keep the WLWR & GSWR out of Sligo and Mayo.

There was no signal cabin  the crossover from the main running line to the loop at the Kilfree end of the station was controlled by an open lever frame, the remaining points are hand operated. The most unusual feature is that the short headshunt to the cattle bank which made shunting difficult at the big fairs, the cattle bank could accommodate 24 wagons only 8 wagons could be released at a time due to the short headshunt.

It looks like there was a carriage shed on the continuation of the running line beside the Goods Shed, this is likely to have been removed to reduce property rates in GSR days.

Edited November 22, 2021 by Mayner

[GNRi1959]

On 12/10/2021 at 10:07 PM, jhb171achill said:

What's a "lazy susan"? (Excuse my ignorance!)

JB, in America, they have a lazy Susan sitting in the middle of the dinner table with various varieties of food on it. It revolves, giving you access to all the samples