Building an Operating Turntable and Roundhouse: My Modular Adventure – Part 1
– by Les Halmos Photos by the author
more than meets the eye, but that’s another article. See the More Information about Hostler Operation sidebar if you would like to know more.
I
am modeling a proto-freelance railroad I call the “CB Rail”, set in the later transition era (1960 – 1970). I base my CB Rail on the Canadian National prototype. My main interest centers around the position of hostler, which may seem at the outset to be a limited operational position without that much attraction. But it all depends how far you are willing to take it! In my case, I want to do a lot of passenger train running and limited freight train running out of a staging area, with the focus on the trains running through great scenery. I want to concentrate on the job of the hostler – and that entails a lot Page 49 • Issue 4 • October 2009 • Building an Operating Turntable and Roundhouse, page 1
In this 3-part series, I cover construction of a module from beginning to end, including the planning needed before you can proceed to construction. In Free-mo, the size of a module can vary greatly as long as you build the track interface at the edge to the 6”x 24” standard. This turntable and roundhouse module is to be part of my home CB Rail layout, so the dimensions are different from that of a typical 2 by 4 foot module. This module also forms one of seven modules that make up the CB Rail engine facilities. Even though many of my home layout modules are not typical, they can hook up to a Free-mo layout. As far as their construction goes, it is virtually the same as any other module. So let’s get started!
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