Troundhouse referred to in your brief is well-known to Southern RailWAY (not RailROAD, please ;-) fans as the last remnant of Finley Yards.

Back before the construction of Norris Yard in Irondale (and before that, the massive changes in the railway yards in downtown Birmingham), Southern Railway proper had a yard along its mainline at Finley Avenue.

At that time the "Southern" ran from Atlanta and Sheffield to Terminal Station, from where a line went across North Birmingham to Finley Yard, then down through the steel mills past the Frisco and IC's Thomas Yard, Woodward Iron's complex, etc., to join the Alabama Great Southern line near Bessemer (Valley Creek Jct.), only to split again at the junction of Burstall, south of Bessemer. The line continued to Wilton, where it joined a line running from Rome, GA, to Selma, AL, and on to Mobile. (The AGS, of course, ran Chattanooga - Birmingham - Meridian, MS.)

The AGS yards and the Central of Georgia yards were smaller facilities located downtown with most of the other railroads. Each had its own engine terminals, etc., as the AGS was operated somewhat independently of the "Southern," having been a separate railroad until 1917 (the fabled "Queen & Crescent Route" of the CNO&TP, AGS, and New Orleans & Northeastern). Finley was a medium-sized shops on the railroad, and locomotives outshopped there had their own distinctive spotting features (an expert such as Dale Roberts can quickly point out the differences between a Finley engine and a Spencer engine, even noting the hybrids as engines were reassigned).

The construction of Norris yards in the 1950s (am I remembering correctly that Norris was the first hump yard built?) put paid to Finley, the AGS facility, and the Southern main between 27th Street and Valley Creek Jct., even though it survived as a local service route (part of it was eventually abandoned). Southern trains to Wilton began using the AGS alignment.

That's it in a nutshell. The Birmingham railroad map was a very complicated one, even with a map, and I've only scratched the surface.

JAC

Bob, your assumption is correct in that the styling and construction of the Finley Roundhouse is like that of Spencer, and Asheville, and Greensboro (which both survive) and probably a few more out there that were built out of reinforced concrete back in the 20s; the good old frugal SR, apparently took the plans and copied as many bays as needed.

I think the 37-stalls at Spencer ranks as the largest preserved roundhouse, while the Missabe Road Roundhouse at Proctor, Minn., I believe is in the 40s, still active and would be the largest in existence.



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