Check this out, I was on Google Earth following the tracks through Utah when I came to the town of Lynndyl and found the remains of what looked like a very large Roundhouse and table.
Does anyone have any information on this?
Man, I love Google Earth! I see all kinds a sweet railroad wonders.
Lynndyl is on the UP main line from Salt Lake City to Los Angeles (Los Angeles and Salt Lake). There is / was a branch to the west to an Intermountain powerplant. To the east is a UP (former Oregon Short line) line to Provo.
According to my SPV railroad atlas of North America Colorado and Utah.
Lynndyl was the first railroad junction south of Salt Lake City. One line went east to Provo, the other line went north and on to Salt Lake City.
All of the trains stopped in Lynndyl. Train crews changed and the locomotives were repaired in the round house. There were three hotels or places where the train crews could rent rooms to stay in. The Beanery was the name of the eating place. Lynndyl was a booming town in the early 1940’s with about 1,200 people living there.
The very first people who came to Lynndyl were not the home building kind, but lived in tent houses and came and went to other places. By about 1907 some of the railroad workers brought their families and a community was started.
In 1914 the Highline Canal was finished and the first farming was started in the area.
In 1919 a school east of town was built. It had four large classrooms, a library, and indoor restrooms.
and from utahrails.net–
Heavy maintenance (wheel and boiler work) on Shays was done at Lynndyl, then at Provo after Lynndyl was closed as a locomotive repair shop (when?).
Locals that worked out of Lynndyl included the St. John Local, the Tintic Local, the Delta Local, and the Provo Mixed.
The Lynndyl switcher was 2-8-0 number 6010.
and from www.zoominfo.com–
During a conversation in June 1977 with the author, Frank Acord, UP’s Superintendent of Motive Power & Machinery, remembered many parts of his initial service on UP as a mechanic at both Lynndyl and Provo, Utah. According to Mr. Acord, UP’s Shay locomotives at Tintic were always maintained at the engine house at Tintic.
Now THIS is truly interesting stuff and I would like very much to see more threads like this one and not the typcal BS we have so very much of (sorry folks, that’s just the way I feel this morning).
I am very much inclinded to agree with you on this point, Jim. With my interest in old ghost towns as well as railroads, this kind of information is always welcome here and I’d like to see a lot more of it. We should also count ourselves fortunate that there is so much information being shared with others via the internet, and programs such as Google Earth that are out there. When I first downloaded Google Earth I was able to get a bird’s eye view of the U.P. and BNSF yard trackage in the Denver area and an overview of the Colorado Railroad Museum at Golden.
That’s pretty neat, I like things like that. The funny thing is that just the other day I looked up the yard where I work on Google Maps. We have a ghost roundhouse too. I knew there used to be much more to the yard than there is now but it’s cool to actually see the traces of what used to be there. Here is a picture:
You see, that is why I log in everyday to learn from others about railroad history and modeling tips. I am big on railroad history right now. I think that my long hours of viewing Google Earth and seeing old routes has made me interested. I see some facinating workmanship or railroading as I try to understand what was their motive. One of my favorite spots to visit on Goole Earth is the Corrizo Gorge in Southern California. That line is amazing. Here are a few other things that have great interest to me:
Guys, how do you transport an image from Google Earth to this forum, I tried saving the image or copy/cut/paste and it would not work. My reason for asking is I have one to offer as a local example.
What you need to do is once you get the picture that you like, go up to file and scroll down to save image (Ctrl+S) and save it to your desktop. Then go to a place like Photobucket.com and upload the picture. Next you highlight the 3rd box under the photo that says Img, right click and copy, then past on this page and you’re done
Google Earth will not run on my XP. Once I get it installed, it gets to the login screen, tells me it’s trying and then locks up. I have gotten a lot of use out of the Terraserver, but that is old B&W pix. Google looks much nicer in color.
could be a graphics card issue. They are pretty specific about tyhe capabilities you need…if yoiu havent recently downloaded it, you might try downloading the newest version, i Upgraded today…
Great stuff eh? I wondered what ever happened to the roundhouse in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, this was a huge divisional point on the C.P.R. mainline, it is now a large heavy haul service depot. They removed a lot of the old steam facility buildings and replaced them with typical steel sheds, I checked on goole earth and sure enough the turntable is still there, it seems to be operable too. I’m also checking around and finding old abandoned railway lines in the area, great fun ! !
You might try to switch between DirectX mode and OpenGL mode. My XP runs fine in one mode, but the system crashes in the other mode[:(!] - and I don’t remember which is which. I just know that it works in the mode that I have it set in now.[tup]
Just got a note re: turntable in Moose Jaw, can it be possible when the old roundhouse was torn down they also ripped up the old turntable which was built in 1913??? Big Question?? supposedly a NEW turntable was built in the 1970 or 1980’s to accommodate the diesels. Does anyone out there have any information as to the actual situation, there is now an operating turntable on the facililty ,question is , is this the old one or the new one . mysteries----mysteries. I shall dig around for more info.
I finally got Google Earth to work, don’t know how, but anyway. First thing I found the old roundhouse in town and its turntable plain as day. This sort of stuff makes it worth getting up each day and coming to this forum. Thanks guys
supposedly ina town 9mi from where i live there is an old turntable, but i dont know if it is there. the branch line, The LEHIGH VALLEY’s NAPLES branch is what ran on the edge of my property. i dont know if it is there anymore, the last pics i have seen of it were taken in 1996? i believe. there is also an old turntable and round house, STILL UP!! in manchesterNY. but they are in major states of disrepair and vegetation grows like crazy on the old turntable in the spring and summer. the house has no rails in it anymore. the old yard is gone, all but gone. only one track meanders it’s way thru. the main of the Ontario Midland, or Ontario western, something similar to that…
This is awesome! I checked out my hometown & found two ghost roundhouses - one ex-B&O (their extensive shops were still standing until the mid 90s) and one ex-Erie on the west end of town. Both were division points at one time. The Erie coaling towers survive but in near-rubble condition