Here's what I have to say about both.
Roundhouses are a little more compact whereas a modern engine house, like the one at Galesburg, can hold more than one engine on one track, fuel diesel engines with ease, and open up on both sides of the tracks that lead up to it.
You have to remember that when the diesels came along the old traditional roundhouse was, for the most part, unsuitable for diesel servicing. I guess that was a hidden expense the railroads didn't expect.
Roundhouses are far better !! Having worked in both for many years , I'll take a roundhouse any day !
Roundhouses have one problem unique to their plan, namely a turntable. Occasionally they refuse to turn, either because of snow or some other obscure mechanical issue, and until fixed nothing can get in or out of the shop. A locomotive in the turntable pit is also guaranteed to disrupt operations for a while. There are very few pits that haven't had that unexpected visitor sometime in their history.
Yes, locomotives also derail on switches and shop leads, but that is much easier and faster to rectify. Many shops are double ended so the other locomotives are not trapped.
John
steam had numerous repairs around the front end and roundhouses gave the most room there. Diesels are a different breed and are more suited to production ine techniques plus you can still move stuff as opposed to when an engine winds up in the pit and locks up all movements.
Running engines and consists around the wye in the dead of winter is no treat either. when you spot a cut on engines in a house respotting the shop is a pain , usually you get one spot each shift otherwise everyone working the track has to stop working as soon as the blue signals are removed for the track very inefficient , you trap engines that otherwise should leave the shop but cannot because they are blocked . With a roundhouse each bay has one spot and when the engine is completed out the door it goes , onto the turntable and out to the ready track facing the proper direction. I will pit my skills with a turntable against anyone using a wye and runaround tracks tearing apart consists and building new ones . I will win beyond a doubt.
it just sickens me to see CN take out the roundhouses at Joliet and Kirk Yard.
To Mr.Railman, it's sad to see old historic building go, but remember CN's in the rail business, not the museum business. If they tried to see if any preservation groups or even the communities where the structures were located were interested in aquiring them and had no luck, well then that's that. If the structures were so deteriorated that they were unsafe then I can't blame them for demolishing them. If none of the above applies then shame, shame, shame!
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