Sector plates

[Bigmac]

in the real world....

what has puzzled me is, with a turntable the loco is positioned so its balanced on the bridge--meaning its possible for people to turn the loco manually.

Whereas with a sector plate the weight of the loco is supported at the swinging end--so how was it moved ?

now let me guess who will reply.

[ntpntpntp]

Well it's not all on the swinging end, half is on the pivot.

I would imagine a geared crank mechanism is use just as with a turntable.

[Platy767]

We probably don't see the full picture seeing that baseboard without the rest of the layout; but on its own in isolation that board looks a random incomprehensible mess..
If that board as a whole is the fiddleyard, I can't see what it offers over a conventional sliding multitrack traverser, which would be simpler, cheaper and more efficient use of space.

As for the sector plate itself, having it stuck out of the end leaves it rather vulnerable to damage and having the pivot close to the input end, means the input tracks need to be much more sharply curved - moving the pivot further back, lengthens the radius and eases the angles of the approach tracks.

All in all, not an example I'd recommend you follow...

I see a complete micro layout, with lots of operational interest and movements that can entertain an operator for quite a while.
Mark

[PLD]

I see a complete micro layout, with lots of operational interest and movements that can entertain an operator for quite a while.

OK, in which case if that's the entire layout, I'd want to see it scenically complete to visualise what is on stage and what is off-stage fiddle yard to understand the concept as a whole before we could properly and fairly judge as a whole...

But regardless, comment about the positioning of the sector plate pivot still stand...