Round houses for Diesel's

[pmspirito]

Are round houses still in use?  Would a new diesel facility under construction have a round house and turn table, or would a regular rectangular shaped building or something else be build ?   Hey, I'm a model railroader, what do I know.

[tree68]

I believe there are a few roundhouses and turntables still in use, but only because they are still there.

Diesels don't necessarily need to be turned, as did steam. I've seen pictures of small roundhouses (3-4 stalls) with the turntable pit filled in and simple switches leading to the stalls.  Turning them is done on a wye - just more switches, no major moving parts.

 

 

[ericsp]

The turntable at Roseville even survived the complete rebuilding of the yard a few years ago.

http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&z=18&ll=38.746306,-121.291037&spn=0.002301,0.005885&t=h&om=1

It seems like the ATSF turntable and roundhouse at Bakersfield survived up until around the early 1990s. I do not know the exact year.

[DRGWfan]

In Seattle we have the interbay roundhouse which is used for the heavy repairs of BNSF diesels, the roundhouse has 15 stalls, 16 if you include the machine shop, it has been rebiult since the 50s at least once
its hard to get pictures as it hard to get to

[ericsp]

In Seattle we have the interbay roundhouse which is used for the heavy repairs of BNSF diesels, the roundhouse has 15 stalls, 16 if you include the machine shop, it has been rebiult since the 50s at least once
its hard to get pictures as it hard to get to

Here is a satellite photograph of it.

[canazar]

Thats a great photo Eric.   Pretty impressive.   Here in Phoenix, BNSF donest have a round house, but they do have a turn table that still gets used often.

[mudchicken]

Brewster, OH (NKP, now WLE) was about the end for roundhouses in 1964(?) except for odd efforts like what went in at CRRM-Golden in 2002. The needs and requirements for the facilities no longer lend themselves to roundhouses. Anything goes wrong with the turntable at a roundhouse and you're frogged. ATSF's experiment at Barstow became the way to go in the late 1940's for diesel running facilities, built out of scrap car materials and enginuity. Loop tracks and run-thru facilities are the way to go now. Turning an entire engine consist, one at a time is nuts and is further complicated by MU connections that get finnicky (ask Randy S)....

[nbrodar]

We still have and use a turntable in Philadelphia.   We also have a wye.  If the power doesn't need serviceed it goes around the wye.  If it needs service, it goes to the service center, and gets spun on the table.

Most diesel service areas now, are table-less and use simple rectangular buildings.   And if the consist is set up right to begin with - back to back, with proper train control. You won't need to turn it at all. 

Nick

[miniwyo]

Don't forget Cheyenne! Although they only use it to store things. Like thier Rotary, the parts locomotive for the 844, and some other things.

[rrandb]

UP still has a turntable at there service facility in K.C., MO. that is just off Front street. I have seen equipment on it but not moving and will assume it functions. The building is now a large steel shed. It is in a heavy industrialised area and there may not be room for a wye.There are two mains that head out on either side of the shop and the one turns right around the turntable and passes under the other.
 

[Bunn19]

I know there is a large roundhouse at US Steel in Chicago, I've never been there but I noticed it when browsing around on google earth.

[zapp]

We have a turn table at UP's Centinnial Yard in Ft Worth, but we rarely use it. Usually there are so many locomotives running through there that there is always one facing the right way.

[CANADIANPACIFIC2816]

The Dakota, Minnesota & Eastern has a roundhouse and turntable up in Huron, South Dakota. The roundhouse was originally built in 1903 and was property of the Chicago & Northwestern. About half of the original stalls in the roundhouse itself were torn down several years ago as a measure to cut down the costs of heating the roundhouse during the winter months. And I think the turntable is still in use. I and a few others from our local HO scale club had toured the DM&E's roundhouse in Huron in December of 2001.

CANADIANPACIFIC2816

[egmurphy]

.....   And if the consist is set up right to begin with - back to back, with proper train control. You won't need to turn it at all. 

I think that's the key to the idea that you don't need to turn diesels.  Certainly from the point of view of the diesel / generator / traction motors, it's the same no matter which direction you are going in.  But the controls, and the visibility, are significantly different going long hood forward as opposed to short hood forward.  When you have diesels coupled back to back (or several units coupled with the locomotives on the extreme ends pointing in opposite directions), it's simple for the crew to simply change cabs and operate from the other locomotive.  Single units, other than being used for switching in the yard, generally ought to be turned.

Regards

Ed

[CSSHEGEWISCH]

Rock Island had a turntable and small roundhouse at Blue Island at least into the mid-1970's, I have a picture of an EMD-repowered RS2 on the turntable.  I'm not sure what sure if it survived the final collapse of the Rock Island in 1980.

IC's 27th Street Shop in Chicago also had a turntable, quite useful for turning E's in an area that was cramped for space.  That shop was closed prior to Amtrak and eventually removed.

[MP173]

Alright, I will try to explain this.

I stumbled on an incredible site (file?) on Google Earth in which a railfan has (is) listing all known roundhouses and turntables.  The absolute cool thing is that you can then zoom in on each of these that he is compiling.

There is a menu to the left of all the roundhouses and when you click it the Google Earth goes there.  I cant explain to you how to get there from here, but it is out there somewhere on the Google Earth site.

Hopefully someone can help a bit more.

ed

[CANADIANPACIFIC2816]

Rock Island had a turntable and small roundhouse at Blue Island at least into the mid-1970's, I have a picture of an EMD-repowered RS2 on the turntable.  I'm not sure what sure if it survived the final collapse of the Rock Island in 1980.

IC's 27th Street Shop in Chicago also had a turntable, quite useful for turning E's in an area that was cramped for space.  That shop was closed prior to Amtrak and eventually removed.

The Rock Island had a roundhouse and turntable in the neighborhood where I am now living, and I was once told by a gentleman who grew up in this same neighborhood that it was all torn down in the early 1970's to make room for a large apartment complex. It saddens me that there isn't even a historical marker to denote the location of these structures. Furthermore, the old Rock Island passenger depot in downtown Sioux Falls still exists, and I think someone is using it as office space. It once was the location for three different resteraunts, all of which failed and went out of business. It would be a perfect location for a railroad museum.

CANADIANPACIFIC2816

[CANADIANPACIFIC2816]

Alright, I will try to explain this.

I stumbled on an incredible site (file?) on Google Earth in which a railfan has (is) listing all known roundhouses and turntables.  The absolute cool thing is that you can then zoom in on each of these that he is compiling.

There is a menu to the left of all the roundhouses and when you click it the Google Earth goes there.  I cant explain to you how to get there from here, but it is out there somewhere on the Google Earth site.

Hopefully someone can help a bit more.

ed

Yes, Google Earth is neat. I downloaded it this past spring. I've been able to look at satelite images of the the Colorado Railroad Museum, the railroad yards in Denver, and a lot of other neat locations.

CANADIANPACIFIC2816

[Randy Stahl]

The problem is when a consist of engines show up and the dispathcher tell you hos requirements only to find out that you have to seperate ALL of the engines , turn most of them , sort out the bad orders, and reassemble the original cosist into 2-4 different consists . I LOVE THE ROUND HOUSE !!!!!

The secret is , do not let the table go down . Think about the newest facilitys you have seen . In many places the house tracks will hold 3 or more locomotives , essentially trapping them until the locomotives on either end are completed . Whereas in a round house you cannot trap engines behind other engines . A round house with a working turntable is FAST !!

If I were king there would be a rennaisaince if new round house construction !!

Besides , I hate being out in the cold in the winter , riding engines around a wye sucks, like I said , the faster the better . As for those peskey MU connections , job security ! LOL !!!

My opinion is shared my a few others , the person that stands out the most was the former shop manger at NJT , a former rounder at Oak Island and Hoboken

Naterally to turn an entire consist we would still wye it . but those times were few and far between , it never failed that we would have to rearrange the whole damn thing.

[nbrodar]

Randy,

My trainmaster tells me "If they ever figured out how to do it right, we'd all be out of a job." when I complain about getting fudged up locomotive consists and improperly blocked trains and having to unfudge them.

Nick "The Miracle Worker"

[pmspirito]

thanks for everyones info.  the round house seems so practical when it comes to servicing equipment.  i really hadn't thought about turning diesels because they usually are arragned back to back.  I have Google Earth and will have to try out looking for those round housed.  thanks guys

[Anonymous]

I can think of these operational Roundhouses w/ Turntables: 

Conway, Pa (NS),

Cumberland, Md. (CSX)

Monroeville, Pa. (Union RR)

At Greenville, Pa. The Bessemer and Lake Erie Roundhouse and Turntable still exist though I don't think the are used.

[MStLfan]

Recently I saw pictures from before WWI of the 2 roundhouses with covered turntables at Nancy in France on the former Est railway. Anything like that in North America?

greetings,

Marc Immeker