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Rhaetian Railway (RhB) – Prototype and H0m Model Railroading

Turntables

      Every railway enthusiast or model railroader knows that turntables are necessary for the operation of locomotives with separated tender in order to have these engines run with the locomotive first – “tender first” means a remarkable reduction of the possible top speed, and operation is more difficult for the engineer when he is running his locomotive “backwards.”

      Furthermore, turntables allow to connect numerous tracks with a minimum use of space. For electrical locomotives, they can be useful during winter operation to turn an engine that has a snow-plough mounted on only one side.

      The RhB had turntables for all these purposes; some have been lost over the years in renovations, most recently in Disentis in 2000/2001 where the MGB (former FO) and RhB locomotive sheds are now reached by turnouts instead of the old turntable.

      Today, turntables are still found in (alphabetical order)

      In the long history of the RhB, turntables had at some time been installed in

      The turntables from Chur and Preda have been preserved for the narrow-gauge enthusiasts as they were given to the → Dampfbahn Furka-Bergstrecke where they are now used in Gletsch and Oberwald ^(1,2).

      The RhB has even built a new turntable near the station Sumvitg-Cumpadials! A → picture gallery (German text) on the website of the Verein Dampffreunde der RhB shows the inauguration festivities.

      It is a pity that model railroaders still have to wait for a prototypical large-series model of an RhB turntable:

      In the early nineties, → Bemo decided not to produce the fully developed model of an RhB turntable – for reasons of cost, as they said ⁽³⁾. I think, however, that the Bemo management should reconsider this decision, especially when you look at the sales of the Mallet and the Xrot – both not exactly cheap, either.

      The turntable model made by → Peco is not really convincing; the surface structure reminds me of a waffle iron. (You find pictures of this model, e.g., on the websites of → Weinert and → Suter).

      The model railroader who wants to enjoy the fun of operating a prototypical turntable on his layout therefore has to look for models from small-series manufacturers, i.e.,

• the Ferro-Suisse model which, however, is long out of production. As usual, this model will satisfy even the most critical model railroader's demands. Unfortunately, it is not easy to find.
• the turntable from Hapo. The German model railroad magazine → MIBA has a → picture of this model on its website, there, you also find contact information for Hapo.

      I was lucky to find the Ferro-Suisse turntable “Filisur” at a Toy Market in November 2001.

	If you see this box somewhere: Don't think twice – buy it!
If you happen to find this model make sure that it is complete: The “Building Instructions” are needed for the finished model, too, as they contain information about the wiring. In the rear corner of the box you can see the motor drive.
The finely detailed chequered plates can be seen here.
Perfect detail: The stop signal, the handbrake, the lever that is used to turn the turntable – and even the bolts that lock the turntable in position were not forgotten.

      You see: This model is worth searching for!

Copyright © 2001–2008 and responsible for contents: Christoph Ozdoba.
First version November 18, 2001, last edited February 17, 2008.

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