Jos Koopmans published a very technical book about design and engineering of drafting and front ends. I will buy it when it gets to my neighborhood Books A Million. Sooner, if I need to build a new front end for somebody smart enough to be willing to pay what it costs to do it right (not holding breath).

A coffee table book with lots of steamy, atmospheric pictures of roundhouses and turntables could have broader general appeal.

dave

Here are some questions about the status of some turntables. Any help would be appreciated. Corrections, additions, or data.

The 90' former Rutland RR turntable from Rutland, VT, was used at the Riverside, VT site of Steamtown USA from 1965 to 1985. A few years later the turntable was moved to Burlington, VT and sat there at least until 1999. It was to be installed as a truck bridge over a barge canal, but its present status is unknown. It remained the property of the State of Vermont, having been acquired with the state purchase of the Rutland in the 1960s. Can anyone report on its present status, used as a bridge, or scrapped, or whatever? What year did it leave Riverside?

The Marquette & Huron Mountain RR began operating as a steam powered tourist line by 1964 and at some point in the late 1960s installed a turntable (about 80’?) of unknown origin at the Marquette end of the line. This operation finally ended in 1983. Its fate was sealed by the principal owner's death. The turntable was still there, but its status is unknown after a December 1984 estate auction, which dispersed the locomotives and other equipment. How long was it, where did it come from (railroad and location) and what happened to it?

In 1972 a 60’ manually operated Hoosac Tunnel & Wilmington RR turntable from Readsboro, VT was donated to Steamtown USA after the 1971 abandonment of the line. This turntable is believed to have come to the HT&W from the West River RR in VT, abandoned in 1938. It may have been meant for use as a bridge on a narrow gauge line around the grounds but it was never used. In 1985 it was sold to the late Jim Robinson and stored in his firm’s yard near Newport, NH. Its current status is unknown.

In 1989 a 110’ Western Pacific turntable from Oroville, CA, built by the American Bridge Company in 1928/29, was moved to Virginia City, NV for future use by the recreated Virginia & Truckee RR as a tourist line. Around 2001, the Feather River Rail Society, which operates the Portola Railroad Museum in Portola, CA, located in a former WP locomotive facility, became aware that the turntable remained in Virginia City unused. It is one of only two WP turntables known to still exist (the other being still in place and occasionally used in Stockton, CA). They negotiated a trade with the V&T that for the turntable. Has it been moved yet?

1992 – The Alleghany (or Allegany) Central Railroad bought a 105’ turntable from the Richmond, Fredericksburg & Potomac RR’s Potomac Yard at Alexandria, VA, in May 1992 and moved it to Covington (or Gordonsville?), VA. In 2004 the Railroaders Heritage Corp./Altoona Railroaders Memorial Museum bought the 105’ RF&P turntable owned by Jack Showalter’s Virginia Central RR and moved it from Staunton, VA to Altoona, PA. Where was this table moved from Alexandria? To Covington, Gordonsville, or Staunton? And was it moved later to Staunton? Just how many moves has it made? And what year, if moved again?

In 1992 the Tarantula Railroad (now called the Grapevine Heritage or Vintage RR) in Fort Worth, TX installed an MKT turntable from Dennison, TX at the Fort Worth Stockyards end of the line. It also obtained a 100’ Santa Fe turntable that was used in Slaton, TX from 1927- 74 and then in Saginaw, TX until 1992. It was installed at its Grapevine, TX engine house in 1996. This line also had three more turntables in storage; an MKT one from Wichita Falls, TX, built in 1917 by Virginia Bridge & Iron, Roanoke, VA, moved in the late 1980s; a Southern Pacific one from Ennis, TX; and a Kansas City, Mexico & Orient (later Santa Fe) one from Hamlin, TX. Do the three unused ones still exist or have they been scrapped? Any further info would be appreciated on this batch of tables, when they were moved and the lengths of the unused ones.

By 1996 the Boone & Scenic Valley RR in Boone, IA had a Rock Island turntable from Iowa Falls on a flatcar in its storage area at Boone. Does anyone know its length and when it was moved?

In 1997 a100’ Frisco turntable from Oklahoma City built by Bethlehem Steel in 1920 was donated to the Oklahoma Railway Museum in the same city by BNSF. It was originally installed in Sapulpa, OK and was moved to Oklahoma City in 1929 to replace an 82’ turntable. Has the museum moved it yet?

By 2000 the Lake Whatcom Ry at Wickersham, WA, near Bellingham and north of Seattle, has a turntable of unknown length in storage. It reportedly came from the Milwaukee Road roundhouse in Bellingham, about 26 miles away. The table was in use when the line to Bellingham was abandoned in 1980. Does anyone know its length and when it was moved?

In 2003 a 50’ Maine Central (later North Stratford Railroad) turntable from Beecher Falls, VT was reportedly acquired by Dr. Marvin Kendall and moved to East Barnet, VT for eventual use on his private Passumpsic Railroad. Can anyone confirm this happened?
Has it been stored or is it installed for use?

In 2004 the 65’ Amador Central turntable, stored by the Nevada State RR Museum in Carson City, NV, as it was not usable at their site and a gallows turntable replica had been installed instead, has been sold to the group reconstructing the Virginia & Truckee Railroad, in Virginia City, NV. Has it been moved yet?

In 2004 the 75’(?) Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha (Chicago & Northwestern) turntable from the Altoona, WI roundhouse was reportedly sold to a group or individual in South Dakota, despite the town's efforts to keep it local. The roundhouse was torn down in May 2004, after failed efforts to convert it into a museum. Does anyone know the length of the turntable and have an update on its status? Has it been moved?

In 2005 the old Wabash RR 85’ turntable at Forrest, IL was uncovered from the 40 years of underbrush that surrounded it. It is located north of the TP&W and the abandoned N&W crossing. Photos show a through girder-type table which has been abandoned and derelict for years, although the basic structure should be sound. The city intended to clean up the area, which would involve the removal of the turntable if it doesn’t find a new home. Does anyone have an update on its status?

In 2006 the US Navy had an 85’ turntable at Bremerton, WA that had been declared surplus and available through the government surplus program. It was constructed in 1944 by Sound Keiwit, and manufactured by Columbia Steel Co and the American Bridge Co. Did anyone get this table?

Date unknown – An MKT turntable of unknown length in Kansas City was donated to the Midland Railway tourist line in Baldwin, KS, operated by the Midland Railway Historical Association. Does anyone know its length and when it was moved? Is it in use or stored?

Does anyone know the length of the turntable at the Siouxland Historical Railroad Association, Sioux City, IA (1917, American Bridge Co., ex-MILW). This one has not been moved, the roundhouse just became part of a museum.

Ron,

I believe while much of the equipment for our table was sitting in the yard in Staunton, the table itself was trucked to us from Orange, VA.

Scott

When the K4 returns, be sure to keep plenty of chains on hand to avoid this situation:

http://cgi.ebay.com/RPPC-Old-Roundhouse ... dZViewItem

As of Sept 1, 2006, when I finished my trackage audit, the turntable in Bremeton was still in place though the power to the motors to turn it has been removed.

I was told that several museums from the Northwest tried to get it, but that it has been promised to a group in Northern California. None of my contacts knew who they were though.

Greg