I’m getting ready to assemble an HO scale Walthers 3-stall roundhouse on a narrow section of my layout, so there’s no room for extensions. But I’ve never seen or heard of a prototype roundhouse that had been built with only three stalls, and that type of building somehow doesn’t look right to me. Since my modeling era is early 1990’s, I thought maybe I’d make it look like it used to be full-sized but was partially demolished - except for the last 3 stalls - around 1980, to save on maintenance and energy costs (oil prices were rising fast during that period). This would mean that on one of the side walls, it would either be made of corrugated metal or much newer-looking bricks/mortar than the rest of the structure. I might also put little ‘telltale’ indicators of a previously larger building on the outside.
What I’m wondering is: Does this sound like something a prototype railroad might do, or would they simply demolish the entire thing and put up a plain rectangular 2-stall loco shed (like Pikestuff sells)?
I’ve seen pictures of conrail roundhouses converted to helper bases that are small, maybe five or six stalls, but your idea is possible, the railroad had to cut down on upkeep on the building but still need a place for the locomotives to go. It would look better than a pikestuff rectangle. http://www.freefoto.com/images/25/14/25_14_2---4-stall-roundhouse--Conway-Scenic-Railroad_web.jpg
Ken’ it sounds plausible to me . If portions are still usable, it seems to save a dollar YOUR road didn’t want to refurbish a whole new structure. It sounds like an interesting modelling scene . Just my humble opinion . randy…
Perfectly exceptable given certain circumstances. Small branch lines often had turntable at teh EOL to turn the locomotive and caboose. However there wasn’t a need for a monster roundhouse with only a few home road locos to service or keep warm.
There are plenty of prototyps that have reduced roundhouse now days. The UP in Cheyenne only has 6 stalls left and they are used by the steam/historic preservation group.
Also take into account selective compression. A shelf layout doesn’t have room for massive roundhouses. I myself plan to model the WSOR in Janesville and will probably only model three of the 7 stalls.
It all has to do with what the condition of the house was in but I see no problem in what you are doing. Sounds exactly like what a small time railroad would do, or even a big railroad given the downsizing seen in the 80’s.
It has been awhile since I have been there but the CSX roundhouse in Evansville , IN . is one that was made much smaller than when the L&N had it and there ia alot of corrigated siding on it .
Hey, like they say, there’s a prototype for everything. I’m sure with enough searching, you can find a prototype. and if not, your story sounds believable. also, I knew the prices were rising in 70s, but i didn’t know about the 80s (I was born in 1994, so uh, I’m not to knowledgeable about that, but watching the History channel does wonders [:D] )
The old IC roundhouse in Centralia, IL used to be a full circle, 48 stalls and two tracks going into it. Most of it is gone now, but the turntable and maybe 6 or 8 stalls remain. The footprint of the original roundhouse is plainly visible on some aerial photographs I have.
You could easily model the area around the three stalls you have room for to look like there once was a large roundhouse there.
Actually I’ve done a lot of research on this and never seen a prototype 3 stall round house. Most of them are 6 or larger. The only small things I’ve seen are wooden logging sheds that hold 1 or 2 engines.
As previously mentioned, the UP Cheyenne rh has been cut to 6 stalls, and the Atlas rh, which a bunch of us have, is 3 stalls, and it’s supposed to be a model of a prototype (can’t remember which) [:)]
Thank you everybody for your responses! 9 ‘yays’ to 1 ‘nay’, I’m gonna go for it - with newer-looking brick on one of the sides.
Sawyer: The reason I chose 1980 is because, in the previous year, after the Islamic revolution in Iran, oil markets were rattled and the price went to at least double of what we’d been paying before. Iran had been one of our major suppliers under the Shah’s regime, we lost that source when Khomenei’s people took over.
Yes, I’ve seen many pics from say 1960-on of roundhouses that were partially demolished because they weren’t needed anymore, usually because of a diesel-only ‘squarehouse’ being built nearby. In some cases the tracks were kept in place and used but were now “garden tracks” out in the open.
An alternative would be to do a roundhouse with several dummy stalls with their doors closed, I’ve seen pics of many layouts that featured that - in fact Kalmbach/MR’s book on engine facilities shows some.
BTW I have seen two-stall roundhouses, so three wouldn’t be impossible, but small ones like that normally were in remote areas and were wood rather than brick.
Actually a round house is fast becoming a thing of the past as more railroads downsize costly roundhouses and replace them with modern 2 stall engine houses–if any replacement building is built.
Here’s a shot of a local CP roundhouse I took in 1981 that has been reduced to about four stalls, you can see the floor of the rest of it. The turntable has even been removed.
The downsizing does’t necessarily entail the building being razed—we had, for quite a few years a restaurant that was in the former Michigan Central(?) roundhouse here in London. Adaptive usage was also used for a lot of them-----
