Western Railroad Discussion > SCRM's Western Pacific 50" Sellers Wheel Lathe

=15.6pxShortly after UP took over the WP, a large wheel lathe in WP's Sacremento shop became available. The Orange Empire RR Museum acquired it in 1985. It was transported to the museum and mounted in a pit that had been specially built for it. Then a "temporary" wooeden shed was built over the unit and it sat untouched for 30 years. When our SW1 project needed wheel set turning, we looked at the stored wheel lathe and decided it was time that the lathe be put into operation. Then began a process of finding all the parts, refurbishing many of them, getting electrical power to the site, and then building a new moveable shed over the whole thing. The lathe is now functional from an electrical point of view but needs a lot of cleanup before being able to be used. The new shed frame has been built and the roofing attached. The side panels on the shed, will be attached shortly. One problem that we have not solved is the availabity of spare parts. If anyone knows of a stash of old wheel lathe tooling, we would sure like to hear about it. This picture was taken in 1985 when the lathe was first lowered into its pit. Those young guys are no longer yourg and don't have all that hair! Fortunately, the lathe's main power is 480 volts three phase. We have that power available in the machine shop and the conduit to the pit was installed about 5 years ago. To say the least, this is an intimidating machine when it is running!

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I was interested in the ''Sellers''.Is this the manufacturer of the lathe,and if so ,is it the same outfit that used to make railroad Turntables.There were /are a good number of those still in existance down here in Australia.
Regards,DK

Not sure if they buil turn tables or not This is the link to the Sellers Company. http://vintagemachinery.org/mfgindex/detail.aspx?id=2230