Follow the link below to my recent images from the Age of Steam Roundhouse in Ohio. A Lerro Photography public shoot was tentatively planned for mid-2020, unfortunately the Covid-19 pandemic put a stop to the original event. Instead a smaller scale test shoot was organized by Pete to determine how a socially distanced charter could work at the museum.
Two large fog machines were acquired - within 20 minutes of running the entire roundhouse was bathed with an in-service smoky atmosphere. Combined with reenactors posing around the locomotives in various scenes, one would think we were in an active locomotive roundhouse.
It is good to see you âbackâ [bow] on the Forum. Hope you will atick around,and post some more of your terrific photosâŚ[swg] [tup][tup]
You had posted a photo, some time back, of an engineman who had just finished his job of lubricating a large steam engine⌠It was a favorite for a long time; it was defiitely a picture worth a thousand words, IMHO.
Al;ways look forward to yur contributions here![:-^]
I guess the railroads wanted new and different facilities for the maintenance needs of the new diesels when they came along.
But how long did roundhouses and turntables stay around into the diesel era? When the Soo Line Mikado came to Wisconsin a few years back (I think that locomotive has since gone into boiler rehab?), someone mentioned there was an operating turntable near Janesville?
Even road switchers have an âFâ end, so are diesels and other equipment all turned on wyes these days?
No easy answer to that. IF the steam facilities were readily adaptable to diesels, they stayed around quite a while, if not, they disappeared quickly. Most roundhouses werenât adaptable, diesels needed more sophisticated well-lit shops, so roundhouses were the first to go.
The February issue of trains has an article called âOne Good Turnâ about Amtrak rebuilding a turntable in its Los Angeles 8th Street yard. Originally a Santa Fe facility, the turntable dates from 1910!
Many railroads took the opportunity of dieselization to rationalize their shop facilities and build new ones that were better suited to the new power and used existing yard space more efficiently (no ash pits, water tanks or coal docks needed now), but this was not always possible and some roundhouses and turntables survive even today.
In multiple locations the roundhouse was removed or replaced with a new shop building but the turntable remained, as you noted diesels still often need to be turned and a wye or loop is not always easily accessible from the shop area.
One thing I have always found curious about North American diesel locomotives - single operating end. Electric locomotives in NA for the most part have all been constructed for dual end operation.
There was a period duing my employment with CSX that single engine trains were âthe way to goâ. Many of the single engine trains were operated to destinations that had no turning ability for locomotivesâŚWTF?
One of the âsteam facilitiesâ that were routinely rationalized in the move to diesels was the ability to turn steam engines, either in the use of wyes or turntables.