When were the first brick roundhouses built? I have a Walthers “modern” one and I would like to know about when this type of construction was used.
The B&O roundhouse in Baltimore is one of the oldest in the country & it’s brick. They were building brick up untill the '50’s. Many roundhouses were added on to several times during their lives - sometimes matching, sometimes not. The Walthers would probably be OK for anything from thge late 1920’s on. My [2c]
If you are asking about “brick roundhouses” they were built from the 1830’s until the 1950’s and were in use until today (although most roundhouses bit the dust in the 1980’s and 1990’s).
If you are asking about the Walther’s modern roundhouse, that looks like a late 1920’s, 1930’s design.
Dave H.
Juniata Shops Of Altoona PA still in Service as a heavy locomotive shops.
Walthers models are nice for roundhouses.
Tjsingle
Walther’s idea of “modern” is about World War II vintage
Brick construction in North America predates railroads, so that alone wouldn’t date the building
Probably the steel sash windows would put it into at least the between-war years
If you wanted to backdate it, make the windows look like wood, the easiest way would be to paint them - maybe dark green or dark red?
Bruce:
I have scratched built some round houses and kit built some. This is my latest, it as a Walthers.
And I built a service area leading to the turn table.
My railroad will eventually have three round houses and turntables, all dating from the 1940’s-1960’s. I believe some early round houses date to the 1830’s, and there are many good Civil War pictures of rounds houses and early turntables.
My next adventure is to go to Train Town in PA., next year and visit, as well as do the Gettysburg thing.
Robert Sylvester, WTRR
I imagine the first roundhouse went up shortly after the first turntables were built. Steamers had to be turned at the end of a run, running back tender first led to derailments. Once you spent the money on the turntable, building a roundhouse with the turntable to give access to a bunch of stalls is the next logical step. Cheaper than laying the necessary turnouts to do the job.
Brick has always been a premium construction material, more expensive than wood. Plenty of roundhouses were wood, to save money, right up to the end of steam. I’m thinking of the round house at Bellows Falls VT and the one still standing at Bartlett, NH.
I dare say the brick roundhouses were built as soon as the railroad was making money, or when city firecodes demanded brick construction, which ever came first. Many North American cities suffered disasterous fires in the 1800’s, and reacted afterward by requiring brick construction.
Early round houses were “round” because they covered the turntable. It was in the center and covered by the roof of the building. The B&O Museum in Baltimore is housed in such a roundhouse. As the size of the engines grew it was no longer practical to keep the turntable in the building and the turntable was no longer covered.
Dave H.
The last time I was in San Jose, CA, couple of years ago, the handsome brick SP roundhouse and turntable were still in use. I’m not sure who owns and operates it now, UP, Amtrak, or State of California.
Rob