My prototype, the Central Vermont Railway of the late 1940s-early 1950s is hardly a railroad that you can buy “off the shelf” – although there are a surprising number of commercial products available. I know that since I buy at least one of every specific CV product. I figure if a manufacture is willing to take a risk to support my railroad the least I can do is pony up the money to show my support.

Dedicated prototype modelers will tell you one of the best things about prototype modeling is the way it limits your hobby spending.  I can appreciate the latest GE Dash 88-D101 or whatever from XYZ Models but can keep my $329.99 in my wallet since the Central Vermont didn’t have any of those. The flip side is many times individual models can get pricey – I’ve paid $75 on occasion for a single passenger car kit.   

That all sounds wonderful, but those who have seen my basement know I’m not as disciplined as I’d like to be. I write books and magazine articles, not all of which deal with the CV. So, for example, at this point I have two (or three, I don’t know) DCC systems and a lot of N scale items (including an N scale layout) I really don’t need Frankly, I don’t really know how many I have of certain items. I think I have too much of this stuff. How do I know that? Christine, my better half, tells me I do. I can’t argue with her after the events of last month. 

It all started when I drew a circle labeled “turntable” on my track plan. I shouldn’t really like turntables - they are finicky, usually delay or completely shut down the railroad’s operating scheme, and in general eat up lots of space.  But they’re truly neat. So, as I designed New London yard on my HO railroad I drew in a turntable and associated roundhouse. My good friend and fellow CV modeler John Paganoni had even measured the prototype and drawn HO scale plans for the turntable and roundhouse. New London’s engine terminal looked like a model railroader designed it – that small table, a roundhouse that had several stalls dating back to the 1850s (with the "modern" wood stalls built in the 1920s), and a wood coaling tower that would fit perfectly on even a small model railroad.

The problem was that turntable. The New London table was 72-feet in diameter, and only Diamond Scale makes a table that size (Actually, the Diamond Scale table is 75 feet, but adding the timber lining - see photo - inside the pit would reduce the diameter to the proper length.)

 I should add the timber lining changed over the years - and the railroad eventually lined the pit with ties. 

Years ago I purchased a Diamond Scale turntable and a New York Railway Supply indexed motorizing kit for same. But, Diamond Scale turntable kits are, to put it kindly, “challenging.” After experiencing the trials and tribulations of building one of those kits for my Kalmbach book on locomotive servicing terminals I didn’t want to subject myself to such a time-intensive project. I figured I could lay most of the yard track, get it ballasted and wired in the time it would take to build that turntable. Model railroading is not a race, but I’ve found my interest in any project wanes if I don’t make substantial headway in the early going. Besides, I was certain I had sold or given away the Diamond Scale 75-foot turntable kit at some point in the past. 

There was also the problem of turntable length. I’ve always envisioned my prototype-freelanced SNE to be a little more profitable than the real CV’s Southern Division – which means larger engines. So, a 75- footer may not be suitable considering the planned operating scheme. 

Fast forward to last fall. Walthers had introduced a built-up, indexed, and completely operable, 90-foot turntable. The pit is even weathered (although frankly, the weathering could stand some improvement). “All you have to do is cut a hole in the subroadbed and drop her in” was the reviews I’d heard from Frank Hodina, Tony Koester and others. So, I ordered one. Sure enough it looked great and worked like a charm (the key is the operating mechanism is in the Walthers’ turntable bridge, and the pit rail is set up as a gear. This slight compromise in appearance pays big dividends in operating reliability.) So, I was all set to compromise on the length of the New London turntable in exchange for ease of installation and operation. One afternoon, I figured, and I could scratch “install turntable” off my embarrassingly lengthy To-Do list. But something was bugging me. Rather than diving right the turntable set off to the side while I worked on the Montville scene.

So, figuring I didn’t have a Diamond Scale turntable I ordered a kit just before the holidays. A week or so later it arrived. I studied it closely and tried to decide if it was worth the time and effort to build at this point.

Which brings us back to the question “How do you know you have too much train “stuff?”

As I was digging the Christmas tree and ornaments out of storage I found an unmarked box that contained the first Diamond Scale turntable kit and NYRS controller I bought years ago. Now I have not one, not two, but three turntables. Some model railroaders use barcodes for car routing – maybe I need to use it for inventory control?

In the meantime, I decided to use the Walthers 90-foot turntable – and to base the SNE’s North Providence engine terminal on the one at White River Junction, Vermont on the CV. The allure of the larger engines, and perhaps the ability to get something – anything – done in short order has outweighed the specific prototype, at least for now. 

Between the Walthers table, the Alkem coal dock (based on this prototype) and the Walthers roundhouse I have a fighting chance of getting this one finished in this lifetime and creating a neat scene to boot.