Building a Kitwood Hill Models 45ft Gallows Turntable

[elwoodblues]

July 22, 1929

Bottomless Pit Discovered at Mara

by Frederic "Flash" Williams of the Clearwater Telegraph

Residents at Mara woke up this morning to find a 48ft diameter hole at the west end of the yard at Mara that appears to be bottomless.  The hole was discovered when the locomotive crew showed up at the yard to discover that the 48ft turntable has disappeared. 

 
The hole where the turntable was located in Mara Yard

Speculation has run rampant as to what happened to the turntable from Sam Snead, who is the Mara Yard Dispatcher, saying that the turntable had to be stolen but couldn't explain how a 48ft turntable, pit and all  could be moved during the night without anyone noticing.   Matilda Roughbottom figures that the turntable is still there, It's just a big magic trick, but refused to step over the edge to prove that the turntable is still there.  Ralph Odonnell is floating the theory that the turntable was really a UFO that aliens powered up to finally go home, but it is suspected that he is still under the influence from last night activities.

This article will be updated when further information is known.

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The turntable that was at Mara is now the turntable in the West End Staging Yard (Lac La Hache).  Mara was a temporary location for this modified Walthers turntable.  A few years ago the Mrs bought me a 45ft gallows turntable kit from Kitwood Hill Models for my Birthday.

[elwoodblues]

Nothing like a deadline to get the modeling juices flowing........

As stated in my previous post I received a 45ft gallows turntable made by Kitwood Hill Models for my birthday a few years ago to replace the turntable that was used in Mara.  Seeing as it has already been reinstalled in the west end staging yard I need to replace it before the October open house there my layout will be open to the tour participants.




The instructions was e-mailed to me in a PDF that I had to print out.




What you see when you open the 12" pizza box.  I'll only open the part bags as i need them as there are a lot of small parts.




Second layer of parts which contains the pre-bent wing rail and pip bottom.




The final layer of parts, the remaining parts of the pit.

For more information on the kit: https://kitwoodhillmodels.com/2026/07/06/on30-45ft-gallows-turntable/#more-541

Note: the description on the website now states that the motor is not included but is readily available from other sources.  when I got my kit the motor was included.

Thanks for looking in.

[Jerry]

Ron looking forward t this build.

Jerry

[Mark Dalrymple]

Great story!  And looks to be a neat kit.

Watching with interest to see the mystery solved and the build of the new turntable.

Cheers, Mark.

[PRR Modeler]

Ron I'll definitely be following this build.

[Larry C]

Ron nice backstory. Yup I'll be following along asa well; never seen someone build a turntable before...should be fun.

[deemery]

I have the HO version of the gallows TT.  That is a -superbly designed kit- that assembles and operates well. The power routing approach is particularly well thought out. 


dave

[friscomike]

Howdy Ron,

I'm looking forward to your build.  It sure looks complex, but I'm sure it will be a fun build. 

I have the same kit for the BCMC, so I'm going to school on your build.

Have fun,
mike

[Philip]

 

[elwoodblues]

Thanks for the comments Jerry, Mark, Curt, Larry, Dave, mike and Philip.

I'm glad some of you enjoyed the backstory.  Back in the Railroad-Line forum I used to add a small backstory to each build just to add a little fun into the build.  I think I'll start doing that here.

Dave, that is a great looking turntable.  If mine looks half as good I'll be happy.

The plan is to do this as a step by step build a la ACLTom.

Thanks for looking in.

[TomO/Tloc]

Ron, I also enjoy a good backstory, well done!

Looks like an interesting build coming up

[KentuckySouthern]

   

[deemery]

Here's my Kitwood with the scenery, enginehouse, etc:

This is for the yard switcher.  I want to build a small coal dock in that triangle at the bottom left of the photo, and add a water column on the other side of the turntable lead.

dave