Hi all,

I hooked up my electric turntable and it would not even come on.  While I was on phone with tech support at Bachmann, they suggested I double check my connection underneath the control house.  They also suggested that I skip the switch that comes with it go directly to the controller and use the directional button on the controller itself and set the controller to around 40 - 50% power.

So I checked and re-wired it and sure enough - even though I thought the flat plug under the table/control house was fully connected, it was not - really have to line it up and push hard.

The turntable worked perfectly with the controller directly - although I did add the switch back in so I can extend the wiring to reach my controller to where I wanted to place it.

I did make a mistake in my last post... as I learned from Bachmann that the spare wire with the large flat plug and the horseshoe style connector is not for connecting the turntable to the A/C accessory port.   DO NOT connect it to that port.  Use the audio plug style connector to connect the switch to the controller to the 1 amp D/C port.  The turntable is D/C (direct current) and not A/C compatible.  The other cable with the horseshoe ends is for legacy style controllers that have a different screw in style port for D/C output.

So, I am now using two separate controllers to run the turntable - one dedicated to the turning of the table and the other to provide power to the tracks (connected to 4th track on the right - if you are looking at the control house from the middle of the turntable itself).

Hope you have had luck with your turntable.  And as per Bachmann support, the connector under the turntable/control house can easily get loose.  This happened to me again - no power - and sure enough after pushing on the plug under the turntable some more, back to power!  So always check that connection first.

Best of luck!

Is your turn table the manual turntable that came with Tidmouth Sheds?  I had power problems with the manual turntable because even if the tracks "Click" together, they really did not line up exactly unless you keep turning the crank past the click.  If the tracks lined up then the engine will run through, other wise even a slight movement of the turntable - no power.

What are you using to clean your turntable?

Thx!

I am new to this my self and have just added the electric turntable to Tidmouth sheds - replacing the turntable that came with it.  I have not plugged it in yet as I am hooking up final pieces of track and do not have plastic joiners (have ordered and should arrive by next week) to isolate the track section leading up to the turntable (3 tracks). 

I am also interested in knowing if there will be issues but here is what I think you can try to isolate the issue - assuming you are using EZ Track with the Bachman powered turntable and are powering through DC (analog) and NOT DCC:

1.  Make sure that only one track is leading out/into your turntable (this can however be in addition to the fourth track with a dead end powered re-railiar attached - for power to the turntable).  This entry/exit track can be multiple pieces of track for some testing length.

2. Now make sure your entry/exit track is not connected to the rest of your layout.  This should effectively isolate the turntable.

3. Power up the turntable with the separate powered re-railiar.  The turn motor can be powered by a separate power pack or from an 16V a/c accessory port on your power pack.  If you can use separate power packs for test purposes, as the turntable comes with both type of cables (accessory and power pack) that would be better for testing purposes.

4. Now run a small engine that you know works on other tracks. 

Hopefully this will work.  If it does, then you know it is an isolation issue - get plastic joiners to connect any tracks leading into out of the turntable - connect close to where the lead tracks enter the main layout.  This way the trans will stop just past the plastic joiners giving you some lead track to the turntable.  And if you have the turntable power-pack powering the entry track and the turntable lined up to accept the incoming train, then the train should simply jerk a little and continue on towards the turntable (make sure you set the appropriate speed on the turntable power-pack). Now you can control speed past the plastic joiners with the second speed controller (power-pack).

Plan your isolation points carefully and you should not have any power/polarity issues.

Hopefully problem solved!  Best of luck!

Hi oneancientone,

I am fairly new to model railroading myself - past 6 months.  But I have put together a fairly large collection of engines, vans, trucks, mail cars, coaches, destinations, etc. - Thomas and non Thomas.

I have all the engines except for Duck.  I have all the coaches too and all of the Thomas rolling stock.  I run long trains on 18" radius EZ-Track with many turnouts (switches) and overall I do not have problems with derailment as long as the track is laid out smoothly.  The EZ-Track switches do give problems once in a while though and will tend to stick or not properly line-up (checkout other forums/YouTube for others have similar problems and how to solve).

Having said the above, let me try to answer the question from what I have learned:

1.  EZ track - comes with Thomas sets, is code 100 and can be hooked on to Atlas HO Code 100 track as well.  If you plan to ballast your track, then code 83 might be too low and you might get derailments or even worse, debris in your engines' gears from any loose ballast.  This of course also depends on your ballasting skill.  I have not put ballast on my EZ-Track layout but may decide to do so in the near future.

2. 18" radius is the minimum you should run with "Tender" engines as well as longer engines such as Gordon.  22" radius is even better.  One of the consideration for curve radius is also the length of the coaches - in particular Gordon's or Spencer's coaches - especially if you are going to string along three coaches and a brake van.  Having a 22" radius allows better placement of buildings and built-ups (destinations) without having to move back the buildings so the coaches don't scrape along them on curves.  However you do need to have longer lead time prior to setting up a turnout coming just after a turn/loop.  Of course space is also a consideration as 22" radius will take more space/width on the turns.  BTW, you can also use longer turnouts (Bachman's EZ Track's #5 or #6) rather than the traditional #4 turnout.  This will give you smoother results on shorter wheelbase as well as long wheelbase rolling stock.

3.  Emily is the most finicky engine where the tender will derail when hitting a turnout to a branch line or to a destination, but will re-align if hitting another turnout to rejoin the main - as in pulling into and out of Knapford Station.

4.  Gordon and other tender engines have to slow down on a layout when hitting the turnout, though I can run Henry, James, and Edward at full throttle without derailments once the track has settled into its natural place.  This is true in real life as well - trains do slow down on complex turnouts.  Also, backing up the trains with multiple stock/coaches will most likely result in derailment - even on properly set turnouts/switches - see #5 below.

5.  Most of the derailments happen with multiple coaches (long coaches on 18" radius track) with long engines.  This is not really a radius issue alone but a combination of radius and hook and loop coupler issue.  on multiple tight curves, especially when going off the main line to a branch line and hitting multiple turnouts. The couples will tend to lock, thereby causing pull on the coaches and the tender, resulting in a coach not easily following through. And bam - derailment.  This is similar to what happens when you string too many trucks on Thomas and Friends blue track (Tomy) or the newer Track Master and you go up a hill or multiple curves.

6.  Some of the lighter rolling stock and even tenders (James and Edward) that are light in weight, will have derailment issues at high speed if you have turnouts.  This is because they tend to bounce due to low weight when they hit a turnout.  You can add fishing weights to make them heavier - may have to open up the covers so be careful.


I hope the above detail is not too verbose or boring and is helpful in getting some detailed answers for you as you build your layout.  Have fun and good luck!