And yours is such a great list! Quite a project! Thank you again for sharing it.
The “M”'s:
| MA | Chester | 42°17’10.75"N | 72°58’55.20"W |
|---|---|---|---|
| MA | Greenfield | 42° 34’ 19" N | 72° 34’ 01" W |
Millinocket Maine , roundhouse, turntable,coal tower, ashpit…
You might be able to find something in North Yard, Muskegon, Michigan (not sure they had a turntable, but it would be logical).
You can definitely find evidence of the roundhouse and turntable at Durand, Michigan. Go northwest from the diamond to the yard, then stay along the south side of the yard.
Grand Haven definitely had a turntable at one point (I understand the engine house was rectangular, though): I couldn’t find any evidence of it, though, as things have been pretty well paved over in that area. The old GTW station was at 1 North Harbor Drive; go northeast on Harbor Drive another block and a half to where it was…it’s now under the street and/or a parking lot.
I think inch53 mistyped, I found the round house at
39 **51’**32N 88 09’43.19W
Consolidation of the above help…
| IL | Villa Grove | 39°51’32.24"N | 88° 9’43.75"W |
|---|
I was just wandering around on Google Earth again. I zoomed way out with all the pushpins showing all the turntables/roundhouses I have found (makes for a mighty yellow screen!). I do this every once in a while, looking at the gaps and blank areas. I then go looking for towns in one of those areas that I figure were associated with a RR or maybe cattle or grains or maybe transloading to ships. Way too many show no signs there were ever RRs in the vicinity, even though I am sure they could not have existed without them.
Most often I find a place where there is an area where I am sure one should be, but find an Interstate highway interchange instead.
Often I have to switch to different years in the Historical Imagery feature, and it is not always the oldest image that proves the most useful in finding the telltales of where a turntable or roundhouse were.
Every once in a while I stumble upon something.
I was looking at central Michigan and figured Lansing should have something, but I could not find a thing. So i followed a rail line to the southwest right to Battle Creek… Bingo! Another one! And follow some East and yet another one in Jackson. I decided that Muskegon should have had some RR operations, but found nothing, so I worked my way north and found something in Ludington. Following lines north to Manistee finds another.
This could go on all afternoon, but I have other things to do now.
The “N”'s:
| NB, Canada | Fredericton | 45° 57’ 22" N | 66° 38’ 49" W |
|---|
In Louisiana, the New Orleans Public Belt RR (NOPB.com) has a turntable still in use. I’m using a borrowed computer and don’t have access to Google Earth, so don’t have coordinates handy, but sattelite view on Mapquest shows a good view of it. Go to 4822 Tchoupitoulas St, New Orleans, La.
I spent some time AGAIN studying the images of Galesburg, Illinois and FINALLY found where I was sure a roundhouse existed.
| IL | Galesburg | 40°56’22.89"N | 90°21’59.81"W |
|---|
And entering the whole address from Paul’s post (just did a copy and paste of everything in the last line after the words “Go to”) took me right to the roundhouse and turntable. That makes it EASY! Thanks.
The next batch:
|
OH |
Akron |
41° 03’ 47" N |
81° 27’ 26" W |
|
OH |
Ashtabula |
41°52’15.99"N |
A few to add to your list;
Vitznau, Switzerland - Rigibahn turntable only, rack for cogwheel equipped, 2 tracks - cross pattern
47° 00’ 33.69" North 8° 28’ 57.75" East
Bellinzona, Switzerland - Swiss Federal Railway (SBB) San Paolo Yard turntable only
46° 12’ 11.84" North 9° 2’ 12.17" East
Landquart, Switzerland - Rhätische Bahn (RhB) Roundhouse with turntable
46° 57’ 50.60" North 9° 33’ 20.39" East
Geneva, Switzerland - Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) Cornavin station turntable only
46° 12’ 53.84" North 6° 08’ 31.93" East
Erstfeld, Switzerland - Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) Traverser
46° 49’ 06.91" North 8° 39’ 01.99" East
Olten, Switzerland - Swiss Federal Railways (SBB) Main Car Shops
Traverser 47° 21’ 39.14" North 7° 54’ 56.16" East
Turntable 47° 21’ 42.80" North 7° 55’ 03.04" East
Realp, Switzerland - Dampf Furka Bahn (historic Steam railway) Turntable former roundhouse.
46° 35’ 36.62" North 8° 30’ 01.04" East
Spiez, Switzerland - Bern -Lötschberg - Simplon Railway (BLS) main shops traverser only
46° 40’ 51.98" North 7° 41’ 10.92" East
There are probably many more in Switzerland if you are interested.
Thanks…
But I have some questions to get the city names right… I name my findings by the nearest city name that Google Earth puts screen and I have found that I am wrong often because the place is really associated with some other city that may not be the closest. I realize that city boundaries are often intertwined and confused and that Google Earth may label some suburbs that may not be truely associated with the site I am looking at. (And sometimes Google Earth is just plain wrong!)
The 1st one you have listed as being Vitznau and I can find that name on Google Earth, but it is associated with the station adjacent to the turntable and a metropolitan area to the north. The city names that appear nearest the station are: Seemli and Hinterbach.
The 2nd one is closer to Pedemonte and Bollette.
I would have associated the 3rd one with Igis.
Can you shed any light on how you came up with the names.
BTW: if anyone wants to use the coordinates as they appear in the posting, you may have to shorten the compass direction names to just the first letter (“N” for North, etc.). Google Earth works for me that way, but did not like the full compass direction name.
Depends on how you want to list them, based on how they are really named in Switzerland or upon a system generated by Google Earth, which appears to be based on Hamlets which are not officially recognized as a political subdivision in Switzerland. In Switzerland it goes down like this Canton (State), Bezirk or depending on language (District), Commune, Gemeinde, Kreis, Stadt (Municipality or City).
Vitznau is the Gemeinde (Municipality) governing all of the Canton of Luzern east of Weggis. Seemli and Hinterbach are hamlets that would be known to locals, but do not have any legal existence.
Similar problem here. Bellinzona exists and is the capital of the Canton of Ticino. I don’t find any official reference to the other two.
[quote]
I would have associated the 3rd one with Igis.
[/quote
Thanks again! I hunted all over Switzerland and only found 2 (neither of which you listed!)
I think I have found another one, adjacent to another one (only a few car lengths away). It appears to have been built to turn longer cars and to not have to shut down the roundhouse to rebuild that one. Do you know if this is true?
The Roundhouse is at:
| Switzerland | Delemont | 47°21’47.47"N | 7°21’33.33"E |
|---|
The 2nd (larger) one is just a couple of carlengths West Southwest of it.
EDIT:
Cleanliness is SOP for Switzerland. There are still many separate railway companies in Switzerland each of which has its own maintenance facility all of which need to be checked.
Here is another one
Meiringen, Switzerland - Zentralbahn
Turntable 46° 43’ 36.85" N 8° 11’ 10.36" E
Transfer Table 46° 43’ 37.98 N 8° 10’ 54.46" E
Too few left to break it into two lists… So here are the rest of them:
| SA, Australia | Mount Gambeir | 37°49’42.33"S | 140°45’58.73"E |
|---|
Here, courtesy of the C&O Historical Society, is a list of turntables that existed on the C&O. I hope it helps (and that people will assist you with similar listings from other railroads).
Indiana:
Peru, Muncie
Kentucky:
Ashland, Allen, Pikeville, Wayland, Mt. Sterling, Netherland, Louisville, Russell (2), Maysville, Stevens, Covington.
Ohio:
Cincinnati, Cheviot, Columbus (Parsons, SE of town), Marion, Walbridge (SE of Toledo), Toledo, Logan, Nelsonville, Pomeroy.
Virginia:
Phoebus, Richmond (both at Fulton and 17th Street), Dillwyn, Charlottesville, Waynesboro, Clifton Forge (2), Lynchburg, New Castle, Hot Springs, Covington, Alleghany.
West Virginia:
Ronceverte, Marlinton, Hinton, Stone Cliff, Meadow Creek, Nallen, Gauley Bridge, Handley, Pratt, Charleston, Huntington, Kingston, Danville, Madison, Sproul, Whitesville, Peach Creek (Logan), Taplin.
In NY -
At 41 16 07.47 N 73 46 51.04 W in Yorktown Heights. There was a turntable on the Putnam Division of the New York Central. There was also a small rail yard. This is where most of the commuter trains for the division turned. It’s now a historical display, but if you go back in time you can see the old turntable pit.
At approximately 41 11 35.64 N 3 53 18.02 W in Croton-on-Hudson, NY. There were two turntables for the New York Central’s Harmon yard where steam was removed and replaced with electric for the ride into Manhattan. The land where the turntables and roundhouses were was sold to a developer a while back and townhouses built over the area. There is no trace of the turntables.
There was also a turntable in Poughkeepsie, NY - but I don’t know the location.
Nice project you have going.