This just in from Roxie Devers, of the group restoring the 8-stall Union Pacific roundhouse at Hugo, Colorado:

"Roundhouse Preservation, Inc. got a State Historical Fund grant for $47,250 to get the engineering done for the roof. We also received a grant of $5,500 from Cooper-Clark Foundation that we can use to help with the match. In fact, it takes care of most of it."

This flat-roofed roundhouse, like many of its era, was meant to be kept warm inside all winter, thus the roof was not designed to handle heavy snow loads, which would melt off when it was heated inside. After it was abandoned, repetitive heavy snowfalls eventually collapsed the roof, thus the need for re-engineering the new roof for heavier loads.

See their fledgling website here:

http://rearviewproductions.tripod.com/i ... dhouse.htm