Roundhouses and Turntables (and transfer tables)

[MossRoad]

Here's what I have for Georgia through Louisiana...

GA, Winder, TT 33.97764064 N 83.6659478 W        

IA, Clinton, Possible RH foundation 41.82794974 N 90.20277659 W               

IA, Council Bluffs, Steam Locos of some sort not relevant, but neat. 41.24772481 N 95.85226232 W                

IA, Mason City, TT and RH foundations pre 1994 43.16868719 N 93.21318547 W     

IA, Sioux City, TT and RH 42.52926167 N 96.47611396 W    

ID, Conda, RH    42°43'50.41"N    111°31'44.94"W

IL, Brooklyn, RH and TT foundations pre 1988      38.65090643 N 90.16649671 W

IL, Chicago, TT and RH foundation pre 2008          41.88925385 N 87.72978347 W      

IL, East St Louis, TT pre 2010        38.60108639       N             90.12958621       W              

I can’t tell if there’s two different foundations in Galesburg, IL. One seems just north of the other. Look at the different views from different years. Anyhow, no proof.

 

IL, Galesburg, Possible RH foundation 1998     40.93987312 N 90.36633649 W           

IL, Galesburg, Possible RH foundation 2010          40.94058212 N 90.36653394 W      

IL, Peoria, Roundhouse foundation         40.6713557 N 89.6145471 W           

IL, Quincy, Roundhouse still there in 1996             39.93878317 N 91.41423473 W              

IL, Salem, Rounhouse foundation             38.64918929 N 88.92054795 W              

IN, East Chicago, Transfer Table 2002      41°37'19.58"N    87°28'25.70"W                      

KS, Atchison, Roundhouse Foundation 2010      39.55851221 N 95.13911108 W        

KS, Fort Scott, RH foundation     37.84566733 N 94.69444756 W      

Not relevant, but there’s a couple hundred locos sitting in Topeka. Scroll through various years to see them change out.

KS, Topeka, Lots of Locos             39.05529494 N 95.6356403 W        

KS, Wellington, RH foundation 2002         37.26330895 N 97.3812951 W        

KY, Fulton, Roundhouse foundation        36.51402872 N 88.88541872 W      

KY, Taylor Mill, TT             38.99979295 N 84.46726828 W      

LA, Avondale, TT and RH foundation 2005             29.9159736 N 90.18613957 W        

This one in Baton Rouge had a geodesic dome over it before 2007. Scroll back and check it out. Pretty neat.

 

LA, Baton Rouge, Domed RH and TT 2006              30.58265561 N 91.23450428 W      

LA, Shreveport, RH foundation 2002        32.45917097 N 93.78874118 W      

 

LA, Shreveport, TT and RH foundation    32.50661316 N 93.73532811 W       

Thanks,

MR

[NorthWest]

Semper Vapero

CA, Los Angeles, TT and RH pre1994   34.0191324 N 118.225864 W 

I have this listed as in; Redondo, CA.  (Not Redondo Beach either, but I have no idea where I got Redondo; again it might be from some else's data.)

This is in the Amtrak maintenence facility adjacent to Redondo Junction, presumably because the Santa Fe's line to Redondo Beach split off there.

[MossRoad]

Regarding CA, Los Angeles, TT 1994    34.10123441 N 118.2413583 W  

If you scroll the Historical Imagery slider back to 1994 in Google Earth, the turntable and tracks are visible. At least I think that's a turntable and tracks. The next image is 2003 and the TT is gone by then.

As for Pike's Peak, no, no roundhouse or TT. Just an interesting cog railway. My wife and I rode that cog railway back around 1992. It winds all over the place up the mountain. Really neat. Anyone out that way should ride it if they have the chance. It was 70 degrees at the bottom and about 5 degrees and a blizzard at the top. Great scenery. 

As for changes, I'll let you know when I'm done with everything I have. I'd hate to be a pest and keep saying "Oops, here's another one." Thanks for maintianing this list. 

MR

[MossRoad]

CA, Los Angeles, TT 1994    34.10123441 N 118.2413583 W  

If you scroll the Historical Imagery slider back to 1994 in Google Earth, the turntable and tracks are visible. At least I think that's a turntable and tracks. The next image is 2003 and the TT is gone by then.

[MossRoad]

Thanks! 

I knew some of the ones had different names. The names I used I got from the closest address I could find. Not too concerned about that. Most of the ones I found that you already had I changed in my list, but there's hundreds, so hey! I was cross-eyed by about the 2nd month into it. hahaha

 

[Cotton Belt MP104]

I will check on the DeQueen AR "mystery" endmrw0420161805

[Semper Vaporo]

MossRoad

Here's my first attempt. Alabama through Colorado. There's some items that aren't roundhouses, or turntables (like the Pike's Peak RR and some tunnels), but they might be intersting to someone. 

 

xxxxxxxxxxx

What follows is what you listed with my research about it.  Some I have already, but I used a different name.  We can discuss which name is more appropriate (I have changed many in the past... i just picked what I found to be the closest name on Google Earth and was sometimes way off base!)

 

A couple need more research or the opinions of others  (majority rules unless someone has hard evidence!)  Discussion is invited!

 

I did add some your your interesting places to another list I have but I am keeping this public list as strictly RR Roundhouses, turntables and transfer tables.

[Shadow the Cats owner]

The one at the old Burnham shops in Denver you have listed is now being moved to the IL Railway Museum at Union IL for installation there.  They made a huge announcement that they bought it and where going to install it up there.  130 footer and the Steam shop is already to dig a hole for it.

[MossRoad]

Here's my first attempt. Alabama through Colorado. There's some items that aren't roundhouses, or turntables (like the Pike's Peak RR and some tunnels), but they might be intersting to someone. 

AL, Birmingham, RH and TT north 33°34'11.00"N 86°47'11.41"W     

AR, De Queen, RH possible location 1994 34.04253483N 94.33534635 W              

CA, Colma, TT   37.68390839 N 122.4655147 W      

CA, Hayward, TT 37.6162483 N 122.0451657 W        

CA, Los Angeles, TT and RH pre1994   34.0191324 N 118.225864 W           

CA, Los Angeles, TT 1994    34.10123441 N 118.2413583 W        

CA, San Francisco, TT for street cars 3     37°48'18.83"N 122°24'54.84 W          

CA, San Luis Obispo, TT and RH foundations  35.26997202 N 120.653242 W        

CO, Antonito, Scenic RR 37.06975424 N 106.0126006 W

CO, Denver, RR maint facility   39.80356651 N 105.0100088 W                       

CO, Moffat Tunnel East Portal    39.90395613 N 105.6447293 W      

CO, Moffat Tunnel West Portal  39.88740407 N 105.7607586 W      

CO, Morrison, TT and RH    39.60302344 N 105.2233096 W      

 

CO, Pike's Peak Cog RR  38.8405765 N 105.0423473 W

[MossRoad]

Semper Vaporo

HEY!  A kindred spirit!  I felt the same way, that I was alone in my interests until I started this thread and others joined in.

Please, post your findings here.  I will add them to my list and update the ones I have on-line. 

Although I am no longer as actively looking for them as I once was I have a couple to add to the posted lists, also!  This would be a good excuse to make a major update to the lists.

 

 

Thanks. I'll try to put them in a usable format to google earth before I post them. May take a few days.

I've used the Historical Imagery time slider in google earth quite extensively to see things that are long gone. I'll put a year next to the coordinates to help folks see the images that I'm seeing where applicable.

For example, in lots of visible images from current dates, we can only see that telltale wagon-wheel pattern from a roundhouse foundation. If we slide back the historical image control in google earth, the turntable may appear 10-15 years ago, and farther back in time, the roundhouse is still standing. 

As I was going through your list and collating it with mine, I was updating the push pins in my KMZ file for google earth to go to those dates where things were most visible. Its kind of nice to just click on a location and watch time run backwards. 

Anyhow, thanks for the links and I'll hope to be posting soon.

MR

[Semper Vaporo]

Personal recollections are not usually acceptable, but if there is any corroborative evidence then it sure helps to have someone that can remember the general location. 

One anecdote was that the turntable was right at the end of a certain street.  There was absolutely no evidence left on the ground that a railroad ever serviced the town.  But what clinched it was that there a photo of a house with the roundhouse in the background.  I was able to find the same house on Google Earth’s “Street View” and could determine where the roundhouse used to be by adjusting the Street View position to nearly the same point view of the house in the photo.  Then I could triangulate that view with the anecdotal evidence that the turntable was at the end of that certain street.

I have included others because there was evidence from other sources (other than the generally available satellite views such as Google Earth).  Sanborn maps (fire insurance mapping) have provided some evidence and some “city plat maps” have provided other evidence.

If someone knows a general location, please list what is remembered here and I (or others) will do some searches of the available documentation of the area involved and we will see if we can find it.  It certainly helps to have knowledge of the place to know where to start looking!  But, understand, it sometimes takes a long time to do the searches,so it is not something that will get added in just a few days (or months!).

Looking at Clintonville, WI, I can see where a RR used to come in from the Southeast and another from the Northeast, and possibly where one might have entered from the west.  I can see where an East/West oriented railyard might have been, and where there might have been a North/South yard.  A Roundhouse might have been in or near either of those, but I'd need to know which yard and where within the yard the Roundhouse was. Triangulation off of known streets helps, too. (Like: "If you drove south on 'X' street, you would be looking directly at the turntable").  Other evidence can help too, (Like: "The city built the present municipal water tower right in the middle of the turntable pit", etc.)  All information helps.

 

[mlspadaro]

MossRoad

Semper Vaporo,

I've enjoyed your posts and hard work gathering all of this information in one spot. Until a couple months ago, I thought I was the only one looking for old roundhouses and turntable locations. In my spare time at night, I get on Google Earth and follow the rails until I find one, then put a pin in it. During a search for some town I thought there should be a roundhouse foundation in, I came across this thread and your files. Nice! 

I think I have a few U.S. locations not in your list. Would it be O.K. to post them here?

Thanks again.

My grandfather ran a Roundhouse in Clintonville, WI and my Mom, who is 98, can probably tell me where it was - but certainly no geographic coordinates.  How should I proceed to get it a place on your database?

Mary

 

[RME]

MossRoad

I think I have a few U.S. locations not in your list. Would it be O.K. to post them here?

There is almost no better place.

(And incidentally, this is a good example of when you would re-activate a 'zombie' thread rather than start up a new one with the same general topic.  This thread may not be as Wagnerian as a K.P.Harrier two-tracking thread, but it shares the same desirable continuity in one place...)

[Semper Vaporo]

HEY!  A kindred spirit!  I felt the same way, that I was alone in my interests until I started this thread and others joined in.

Please, post your findings here.  I will add them to my list and update the ones I have on-line. 

Although I am no longer as actively looking for them as I once was I have a couple to add to the posted lists, also!  This would be a good excuse to make a major update to the lists.

[MossRoad]

Semper Vaporo,

I've enjoyed your posts and hard work gathering all of this information in one spot. Until a couple months ago, I thought I was the only one looking for old roundhouses and turntable locations. In my spare time at night, I get on Google Earth and follow the rails until I find one, then put a pin in it. During a search for some town I thought there should be a roundhouse foundation in, I came across this thread and your files. Nice! 

I think I have a few U.S. locations not in your list. Would it be O.K. to post them here?

Thanks again.

MR.

[inch53]

I believe there was a Big 4 turn table and round house on N side of Harrisburg, IL. Had to go back to Googles 1993-94 maps to find any sign of it.

37*45”05.60”N 88*31”47.72”

inch

[rcdrye]

Putting the coordinates for Downers Grove in Google Maps and looking at the satellite view puts you in the middle of a circular space with the microwave tower in the center - almost certainly the site of the pit. 

[Semper Vaporo]

Although there is no evidence in Google Earth, I will still add Downers Grove based on the above posting.

[Electroliner 1935]

Checking with the Downers Grove IL historical society, I got this response"

the round house was built in 1893 and operations here in DG ceased in 1952 when the “new” diesel operations moved to Aurora. I would think those old building would have been torn down in 1952.

Both the round house and the turntable were at the foot of Oakwood at Warren Ave. on the north side of the tracks. 41.795932, -88.018210

The signal tower was between those buildings and Forest crossing – the base of it is still standing, on the south side of the tracks across from the backyard of the Mayflower Travel Co. building on Warren. 

[rcdrye]

The Downers Grove turntable was removed in the early 1950s.  See First and Fastest Spring 2007 issue.

[Deggesty]

In 1980, I was in the roundhouse in Aurora; I do not remember  what, besides the pit, was still there. I understand that it has been gussied up since, but my nephew, who lives in Bolingbrook, did not ask if I wanted to see it in its new dress any time I have been in the area since.

[Electroliner 1935]

At one time (before the commuter trains all went to Aurora), there was a turntable at Downers Grove. There still is a small yard and last year they removed the interlocking. There is no evidence of it on Google but it would have been at about 41.795231, -88.015441 I will try to find when it was removed and let you know. My guess is in the 30's.

 

 

[MidlandMike]

In The Lake Superior Iron Ore Railroads by Dorin, page 110, there is a photo with the caption "The Milwaukee Road maintains a 4 track yard at Champion for connections with the Soo Line."  On the USGS topo map, this yard is clearly shown at the end of the MILW branch, and their turntable serving this roundhouse is on the far side of the yard from the DSS&A track.  I visited the yard in th early 80s, when the MILW was still there, but I don't recall that much was left.

[rcdrye]

From MidlandMike

Champion, MI was the end of a MILW branch.  There appears to be a 2 stall radial roundhouse that lines up to a former turntable on the USGS topo map.  No sign of turntable.  Roundhouse repurposed for boat storage.

46°30'43.85"N 87°57'42.12"W

 

I'm pretty sure that's the former DSS&A roundhouse. There's a pond nearby that looks like part of the former turntable pit.

[Semper Vaporo]

Thanks... I'll update the files after I add a few more.

[MidlandMike]

Champion, MI was the end of a MILW branch.  There appears to be a 2 stall radial roundhouse that lines up to a former turntable on the USGS topo map.  No sign of turntable.  Roundhouse repurposed for boat storage.

46°30'43.85"N 87°57'42.12"W

[Semper Vaporo]

Files have been updated and uploaded to:

Non-U.S.:

http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/sempervaporo/Trainsdotcom/Non%20US%20Roundhouses%20and%20Turntables.pdf

U.S:

http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/sempervaporo/Trainsdotcom/US%20Roundhouses%20and%20Turntables.pdf

Excel spreadsheet:

http://1stclass.mylargescale.com/sempervaporo/Trainsdotcom/Roundhouse%20and%20Turntables.xls

[rcdrye]

Keene NH's former B&M (Cheshire) roundhouse has been converted to a shopping enter.  There was also a wye connecting the Ashuelot branch, and the former B&M line from Bennington,  NH was also in the area.

42.9312398,-72.2849024

[Semper Vaporo]

I had to really look hard to see that wye!  Not very evident, but it is there! 

[MidlandMike]

I see the link does not work right.  I found it by Google-ing "Bartlett NH turntable".  It was the first result to come up.   On G.E.You can see the wye that replaced the TT by following the track east to where the leg of the wye curves off to the south, and then the other leg curves back to the mainline.