Why does it seem to be out there all by itself? You would think a more downtown location would have been better. Or, perhaps, that the town would have grown around it. I found it one day just cruising north out of Sioux City on the old highway along the river.
Here is a picture of the Williamson,WVa roundhouse I mentioned in my post [:)] .
Does anyone know the status of the on again-off again rehabililitation of the old B&O facilities and roundhouse in Martinsburg? It’s been awhile since Ive been that way.
Actually, the GN 1355 was a Baldwin 4-6-0, which was converted to a class H-5 Pacific by the Great Northern Railway in 1921, along with most of the rest of the E-14 ten-wheelers they owned. 1355 was slated for restoration to operation, but that effort has been cancelled in favor of a cosmetic restoration only. Unfortunately, finances (ans other reasons) dictated this.
Murphy, I don’t know why the Milwaukee located their Sioux City facility there, rather than in the Floyd River valley as the other railroads serving Sioux City did. Both locations were subject to flooding when the Missouri River flooded, which it tended to do in the spring before the mainsteam dams were built. That location is immediately adjacent to the Milwaukee line that ran into the Dakotas (now BNSF).
The roundhouse and the other buildings on the property went to the County in the Milwaukee bankruptcy, who subsequently gave the property to a historical society. The engine was on display from the 1950’s to the 1980’s, at which point it was also donated and moved.
And yes, GN Rick is right in that GN 1355 did begin life as a 4-6-0, and the GN shops installed a bigger firebox and converted it to a 4-6-2 in the 1920’s. The historical society claims it in 70% restored, and as recently as last year were reinstalling boiler tubes.
There are 3 roundhouses located here in Kansas City that I know of,one is the former Kansas City Terminal Railroad roundhouse that was used to service loco’s from Union Station.It has been restored and turned into office space for DST.They even have a restored passenger car done in Kansas City Southern colors on the turntable.The second is in the KCS yard,it is in the intermodal facility and fenced off.The third is Norfolk Southern,and I believe is still in use.
G’day, Y’all,
I saw a roundhouse in Atlanta when visiting the tallest hotel downtown. But I wouldn’t go to that area of Atlanta on foot on a dare. A Pentrex movie about railfanning in Atlanta is the only train video I ever saw that warned train fans about leaving cars in a city while watching trains.
I know there were originally two roundhouses at Russell, and I could swear that one was still standing about 17 years ago when I was last there. This house was brick however, and not wood. I saw it from a distance though (no trespassing, but I did get some shots in the yard), so I could be wrong.
Also standing last I knew was the concrete coaling dock at Handley WV. Anyone know whether it’s still there? The turntable pit, 115 feet I think, was still around too, though the tracks were taken up long ago, along with the majority of the once-busy yard.
Another cool thing about Russell were the color murals of C&O locomotives painted on the sides of a couple of buildings in town. One was a K-4 2-8-4 and another was of an Allegheny.
The brick structure your talking about isn’t a roundhouse but what the locals do refer to as the “house”.It isn’t round but the turntable has a track that goes into the building.
It’s got 3 or 4 tracks running into it and it holds around 10-12 engines.On one track it has a wheel grinding machine,real interesting to watch,because the wheels are still mounted on the engine.
I can remember going down there as a kid,and until my Dad retired 5 years ago and it seemed real cool to see all those locos. in the same building up off the ground.It has pits that you can walk under to do the bottom work.Up till a few years ago all the engines would be running and it made for a real cool sound inside.
Russell also has a ready track that a quik turn around service facility.
And Russell is a GE warranty shop with in house GE reps. .