Steam & Excursion > Turntable Locks

I am looking for photos/diagrams etc. of devices used to keep turntables in alignment while lined up with a radius track.  I'm working on a project that may involve fabricating such a device so I am interested in knowing how others solved the same problem.  Years ago when I worked for CSX at Parsons Yard I remember that we had a lever outside the cab that I would pull to extend a piece of metal into a pocket along the ring wall.  But that was almost 20 years ago! 

Thanks!

That’s typical of TT locks.

A more common arrangement is a lever operated “sliding plate” — that extends between the running rails of the TT, 
The sliding plate is manually-slid between the radius rails at the TT rim.

There were many various, improvised schemes, so you’d have to pick a specific, individual sample...
since there were endless variants  of “TT Locks”. 

Also,  there were many propulsion ( turntable driving) mechanisms used —- from the Armstrong drive, to multiple electric and gas-engine devices.
 
​W.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/19 06:23 by wcamp1472.

At this point I am looking for photos of various locks to give me ideas.  Its just one of those details that I never paid attention to whenever I would see a turntable.

The turntable in Cheyenne had the flat plates as described that fit between the rails on the turntable rim. They were activated by cantilevered arms outside of the operators shack that housed the turntable motor controls. These were tall levers about waist high or taller that when pushed or pulled would move the rods connected to the slide the plates and lock the plates into postion. There were two levers, one for end..

Bob Krieger
Cheyenne, WY

Bob,
Thanks.  I found a video of the turntable in operation including the levers and locks.  Very helpful! 

I remember the sliding plates on SP turntables, maybe this was a Common Standard design?
My C.S. books are all too recent to have Turntable plans.
The new (2015) TT at Vancouver, WA in the former SP&S now BNSF yard does not appear to have a sliding plate but from photos from the 39th St. overpass I cannot tell how it is locked.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/02/19 08:27 by railstiesballast.

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railstiesballast Wrote:
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> I remember the sliding plates on SP turntables,
> maybe this was a Common Standard design?
> My C.S. books are all too recent to have Turntable
> plans.
> The new (2015) TT at Vancouver, WA in the former
> SP&S now BNSF yard does not appear to have a
> sliding plate but from photos from the 39th St.
> overpass I cannot tell how it is locked.


Modern turntables tend to use brakes on the wheels on the ring rail.

-LD

Don't know what the modern requirements are but I found this old turntable in Cartier Ontario a few years ago and it shows how it was done years ago. Obviously not in use, lots of stored equipment in the area:

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Here's my 2003 post on the SP turntable at San Jose, CA. Perhaps this photo will help.

www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?11,655470,655470#655470

Here are more of the SP San Jose turntable.
Took these on July 9, 1992 just 8 days after the facility was abandoned. 

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