Hi Guy's, I'm in the process of finalizing my roundhouse situation with ordering my second Kibri three stall. My problem is that i need several of their roundhouse extensions for my Bachmann connies. The only place I've been able to find them is an outfit called Reynauld's EURO IMPORTS, INC. Being just one of those American country hicks I've never had occasion to order anything internationally. Have any of you had dealings with this outfit? Thanks in advance, Paul G
Reynauld's is an importer located in Illinois, so ordering from them is not ordering internationally. I haven't ordered from them in several years, but had no problems when I did.
Len
What kind of roundhouse has stalls too short for small engines like consolidations?
Thank's Len, thats all I need to know.
Trainman, I don't think of the Bachmann connie as a small engine, it will barely fit on the Bachmann turntable (10") besides which I have one lonesome Athearn Genesis Mike that I know won't fit should I ever wan't to home it. Just saying, Paul G ;D ;D ::) ::)
QuotePosted by: Trainman203 Posted on: Today at 03:51:56 PM
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What kind of roundhouse has stalls too short for small engines like consolidations?
Perhaps one designed and built by Germans, in Germany, for German prototype Steam locomotives?
I don't guess that thought crossed your mind before you posted?
::) ::) ::)
The Bachmann consolidation would probably be thought of as a midsize engine. Put it next to a Big Boy and see how big "big" is next to "REALLY BIGGG."
German factor, maybe, but I thought consolidations were the most common steam locomotive ever produced, dominating railroads in the golden age of 1890-1910, when a lot of roundhouses were built. You all have to pardon me if I think of a roundhouse that can't take a consolidation as being odd. Unless it was built in 1860.
The Atlas turntable can't take the consolidation either. That's purely a function of being 9" long just like a piece of straight Snap Track.
The Kibri roundhouse kit is based on a prototype that was on the Baden-Württemberg (BW) railway in Ottbergen Germany. Kibri also makes the extension (Item 39454) that was added to some stalls later to accomidate locomotives larger than the tank locos that were in common use in the area:
(https://zevenspoor.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/KI39454_2.jpg)
Added to the roundhouse:
(https://vasutmodell.com/pics/kibri/kibri-39454-hosszabbitas-futohazhoz-ottbergen-460101.jpg)
Len
Ok, tank engines, that explains it.
Trainman - Yes, the 2-8-0 was the most common wheel arrangement in the U.S. but my observations on overseas railroads seem to indicate that the wheel arrangement was not as popular over there. As noted in this thread, tank engines seem to have been quite common even for main line work back in early 20th century.
This is a Marklin model of the BW Class T5 2-6-2T loco, the most common tank loco on the BW. 96 were built between 1910 - 1917:
(https://cdn02.plentymarkets.com/p0f8zzkvrk28/item/images/3000537/full/3000537-Maerklin-H0-2857-Wuerttembergischer-Zug_1.jpg)
The largest tank loco operated on the BW was the Prussian Class 14.1 2-8-2T, with 39 built between 1921 - 1922:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b5/Germany_Rail_074_Aachen.jpg)
There were also tender locomotives with service facilitites at other locations.
Len
Mainline tank engines didn't catch on in North America. Water tanks adjacent to boilers warmed the water and insulated the boilers, building in some efficiencies, I wonder why that logic wasn't followed.
Distances between towns and cities, especially once you hit the midwest, are generally longer than withing European countries. Using a tender for fuel and water allowed for spacing service facilities further apart than was typical in Europe. Which is why I think in the US tank engines tended to be used more around industrial and dock areas where the spacing of service facilities wasn't as much of an issue.
Len
Great thinking Len, that makes all kinds of sense. Well I struck out on the extensions, twice. Everything seemed to be going great till I got to checkout and then my password or the amount were not right and by the time I got it squared away the items were gone. I'll just have to park the Bachmann connies on garden tracks outside. Onward and upward, P' :-[ :-\ 8)
Here's one.
https://www.rocousa.com/Kibri_39454_Add_On_Stall_for_Roundhouse (https://www.rocousa.com/Kibri_39454_Add_On_Stall_for_Roundhouse)
or Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/Scale-Shed-add-sgl-9452/dp/B004R1RE34 (https://www.amazon.com/Scale-Shed-add-sgl-9452/dp/B004R1RE34)
Thank's Terry, I think that did it. God bless You! P' :) :) :D
I hope it works out for you.
Just out of curiosity are you sure the Kibri roundhouse will work with the Bachmann turntable? The Bachmann table has an odd radial track spacing of 20 degrees. What is the stall spacing on the roundhouse?
Hi Jeff, when we were talking about turntables last month Len established that the Bachmann turntable is spaced at 20 degrees so I'm going to have to finagle a bit to make the tracks on the 15 degree Kibri roundhouse line up. Any ideas to make it work would be welcome. Changing the stall angle is way beyond my pay grade. Thank's for your input, Paul G
One option would be to use DPM blank brick walls cut to size to add spacers between the stalls to change their angles to 20deg. Roof sections would have to be fabircated to fill the gaps. Actually, on a second look, Kirbri has a pack of brick siding that could be cut up to do the same thing. It's item 33302, and would probably be a closer match to the roundhouse brick:
(https://www.eurorailhobbies.com/item_pics/Kibri/900_K33302.jpg)
Len
They, whoever they are, say that a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Having spent the best part of the afternoon on the web am about as dangerous as I'm likely to be. :-\ In any case Kibri makes a manual turntable that is 15 degrees and is approximately 10 and 3/4 inches long. This would appear to be an improvement over both the Bachmann and Atlas Options IF. If is another of those biggest little words in the English language. If, in this case, refers to does it have those split rings?, is that what what they call them?, those things that change the polarity? Secondly, is there any gearing that would stop it at 15 degrees? At less than $20 one has to wonder. Len, can you or anyone help me out with this? If not, at the price, I'm inclined to give it a try and see if it will work. Regards, Paul ps there appears to have been, at one time or other, a motorized version of it. Thanks again.
My dad had a version of this or a similar European turntable (Heljan maybe) yearx ago. As I recall it was a poorly made, stripped down model that came without motor or gearing, and he never could get it to work properly. Eventually he gave up on it, and both the yards on his railroad with engine service facilities used other means to turn the motive power.
Honestly, i'd start with an Atlas turntable, countersunk into a recess on the layout, and build a new bridge atop the existing table. You could make this bridge any length you wish. You'd get the proven reliability of the Atlas mechanism, the ability to use existing roundhouse kits without modification, and a unique and interesting kitbash project to keep your interest.
Note that I have nothing against the Bachmann turntable other than its odd track spacing and the lack of suitable roundhouses to fit it other than the Thomas one.
What Jeff suggested may be the easiest solution. I've done it on several layouts over the years. It looks sort of like this:
(https://hosting.photobucket.com/albums/l529/Pickanotherid/Atlas%20Layouts/AtlasTurntableUnder_zpsyiwrsqmi.jpg)
The vertical pieces are just nominal 2x2's in each corner to connect the Atlas platform to the main table. Power is connected to the Atlass turntable. Wires are soldered to the rails below and run up to the visible turntable rails. That way the Atlas turntable handles the indexing and power routing to the upper turntable bridge.
Len
Would that mean like buying the Walthers $50 kit for the pit and bridge and then attaching the wires to the rails on it? I'm not quite sure how you get a pit and bridge without something like that. From what I've read they upgraded the Walthers TT kit and it works much better than the old one did. I sure appreciate the ideas and suggestions. That sounds much easier than trying to modify the roundhouse. Thank's again, Paul
I was just playing around with my RR-Track software and it looks like the simplest solution is to take a 1/3 (10deg arc) 18" radius EZ-Track curve and cut it in half. This will give you two 5 deg sections. Plug a standard straight into one turntable stall position. Then plug the locking end of the cut curved sections into the stall positions on either side of the straight you just connected. You'll have to add some rail joiners to connect the cut ends of the curves to straight stall track extensions. You can glue the cut ends of the curve roadbed to the straights for a permanent connection.
Shift the 15 deg spaced stall roundhouse around until all three stalls are lined up and centered in the stall doorways. Add short straights to the stall tracks as needed to get the final length you need. If you need more than three stalls, things get complicated.
Len
(sigh) They already are complicated, Len. Why oh why couldn't Bachmann have used the same 15 degree track spacing as everybody else? To be honest their turntable looks a lot nicer than the Atlas one.
Oldtimer, As for buying a Walthers turntable for the bridge, I would have made my own from a couple of Atlas plate girder bridges spliced together to the length needed. I'd cut the girders away from the bridge deck and glue them together with the track on top. Just like you would if you were making a deck girder bridge. I've built deck girder bridges this way and they are surprisingly strong when fully assembled.
Hello everybody. Another crazy day at the office. I've ordered 2 plate girder bridges and an Atlas turntable motor, and the outfit that I ordered the roundhouse extensions from Emailed and canceled, and I've struck out for the 4th time with trying to order them from Reynauld's. You had good luck with them several years ago Len, but I can't get past their website. I guess I'll try to call them again for the 4th time tomorrow. Don't mind me fellows and girls, I'm just blowing off some steam. I guess I'd better go visit my locomotives, thats what their for, blowing steam, regards, Paul ::) ::) :-\
The Bach Man doesn't always pay attention to recognized standards. There are coupler pockets that don't accept drop in Kadee no. 5's. Their EZ track roadbed is not the same height as standard cork roadbed or multiples thereof. There are pieces of EZ track whose length doesn't correspond to long established lengths set over many years by others. Their wiring and plug arrangements vary between the older steam engines. Now we have a turntable of odd track angles and an odd length that won't accept some of Bachman's own medium sized steam engines, just 1/4" or less too short, aaagghh.
I'm sorry, Mr. B, I love most of your serious scale modeling products, have a lot of them, and will continue to purchase, but I have to say that some things could have been so much better with just the smallest amount of additional research about previous long standing standards.
Saw a Kibri 5 stall engine house on Ebay for $40 or B/O. However, the shipping is ONLY $92 !!
Ok I know what ebay is, but what is B/O, other than Body odor.
Unrelated Quiz: anyone remember the character "B.O. Plenty?" 😱😂
Quote from: RAM on September 05, 2020, 09:25:11 PM
Ok I know what ebay is, but what is B/O, other than Body odor.
B/O or BO = Best Offer
Len
RAM: In context, B/O is short for Best Offer. Sometimes written as OBO - or best offer. B.O. Plenty is/was a continuing character in the Dick Tracy comic strip.