I wanted to do this type of shot for over a year and i finally got around to pulling it off yesterday. Was a little sick after i got my feet back on the ground. I will post and add some of the other angles i got later.
Enjoy, Tom
Nice shot!
Was that taken from an aircraft you were piloting?
Stunning shot! Looks like some U-Boats there too.
Wow ! Love the composition - the angles draw you right into the center. [tup] Lots of details to see, too.
Thanks for sharing !
- Paul North.
Any idea what the pole building in the left foreground is used for?
Wow…that is a great shot. No question about that turntable being active.
Thanks for sharing.
The shot was taken from a small Cessna aircraft that a friend was piloting.
Tom
Awesome photo! It looks to me that some of the round house has been taken down?? Does anyone know for sure if that is the case?
Again, thanks for such a nice shot!
Jared
No, but it’s been there for at least some time - it shows up on the satellite pics on Acme Mapper.
It appears to have an opening down the peak of the roof, and shows signs of exhaust at two points, so I’m guessing it’s used to get the locos out of the worst weather for minor stuff that will take too long to do out where you’re exposed to the weather, but isn’t worth moving into one of the buildings.
Of course, I am guessing, so when someone who really knows shows up, we’ll really find out… [:)]
**
Hello All! That open-ended shed in the lower-left corner of the picture was built sometime during the 1980s to house Ross Rowland’s former C&O 4-8-4 steam loco No. 614. I can’t recall if that was during the two years that Chessie’s Safety Express operated or if the big kettle was on shed at Cumberland in long-term storage. Since it does offer some weather protection, the structure has likely been retained for the reasons another writer has mentioned. As for the roundhouse, it’s been in its present configuration since at least 1970. My first visit there was in June 1970, as a lad of 12, and I remember standing just where that orange machine is between the left side of the roundhouse and the three loco tracks next to the aforementioned shed. Whilst I was there with my mum and step-dad, freshly-painted B&O Alco S-2 shunter 9078 emerged from a roundhouse stall, was turned, and sent off into the yard. A few minutes later, C&O Railway E8 came along after bringing a short passenger train west to Cumberland and got a spin to ready it for the return trip to Washington. Those three engine tracks were full of B&O GP9s and the area between them and the roundhouse had a row of shopmen’s automobiles, including two Chevy Corvairs! Imagine being able to walk about such a busy engine terminal with no fear of being chucked out - the railwaymen we met were all quite friendly - those were the days!
Cheers!
Captain John Floyd II (aka. "Na
bubbajustin, it looks to me like all the GE’s in that shot are Dash-8’s, Dash-9’s, or AC’s, with two exceptions:
- The engine on the near end (next to the fence) of the first track left of the roundhouse
- The engine on the far end (nearer the turntable) of the third track to the left of the roundhouse
I’d actually bet that both those engines are Dash-7’s, not true U-boats—I thought there weren’t any U-boats left on Class I rosters—but I can’t see the (pretty subtle) differences in this picture.
Peace,
–Peter
My guess is that those are both B36-7’s, as they’re the only older GE’s on CSX in any number.
Oh yes. I bet those are B36-7’s. I just took a peak at the CSX locomotive roster, and there are no more U-boats it looks like. A quick skim though.
Yep, it’s quite sad for the GE fans, actually. I always thought it kind of weird how fast CSX got rid of the older six-axle GE power, too.
I have no data in front of me, but it sure appears the roundhouse was at least 230 degrees of a circle at one time…Check the concrete over on the left side of the photo. Sure seems evident {by the photo}, the building extended around over on that left side.
it looks like there is a number of AC6000’s in those lines as well.
is CSX retiring them as well?
Man, I almost made a bad mistake by passing over this thread because I’m not really a CSX fan. That is a wonderful picture.[tup]
Of course being me, the first question I had was how old is that roundhouse and turntable? I always enjoy seeing still surviving old CPR stuff, but when it’s that old here it is never that large of scale. I’ll bet Calgary was mighty backwoodsy by comparison when that facility was built.
That photo is a real keeper.[tup][:D]
AgentKid