My new job has me in the main Boeing factory building in Everett, WA.

Each day at lunch a friend and I go for a walk for exercise purposes.

Today we walked thru the rail yard adjacent to the factory area and lo and behold, what did we find but a turntable build by American Bridge Co., Lassig Div., Chicago, IL, in 1900. Looks like it still gets used occasionally too.

A quick trip to the Boeing Web site had mention of the turntable saying only that it was built by Great Northern in 1899 (which conflicts with the date on the builders plate).

Have no idea when it was installed at the Everett facility, or what they use it for (yeah I know, it turns things). Will try and find out more and get a picture (which requires getting permission to bring in a camera).

But, in the interim, anybody know anything about it?

The turntable is fairly recent, it was installed to replace a wye track which was in the way of a building expansion project that was completed in 1993. So the turntable would have been installed in either '92 or '93, as the wye track had to be removed before the building was expanded.

As you correctly guessed, it's used to turn stuff. Boeing apparently uses some sort of shiny metal tubes to make those new-fangled flying machines :) and they want them pointed in a particular direction.

I guess it's so the fuselages will then face the proper way on the assembly line. They're either too long and/or the handling facilities aren't set up to easily turn them, so they need them facing a certain direction when the railrcar is spotted for unloading.

They used to use the wye track to do it, now they don't have that option
so the turntable was purchased and installed to provide an alternative means of turning the cars.

I used to do the track maintenance up there in the 1980's, and it was an interesting place to work.

When I started the track inspection, something looked odd about the ballast. Puzzled, I kicked the rocks and nearly broke my toe. Somebody had the bright idea to pour concrete to support the track. Kind of like bonded ballast for model trains. Problem was it trapped the rain, and rotted the ties. Couldn't put in new ties either, since the ballast was one solid chunk. Time for the jackhammers....

I also recall getting a call one rainy Friday night to come up and fix a switch. I said "It will be overtime, how about I show up Monday?" The reply was "NO! I need you here as soon as possible, the railroad won't deliver our car and the assembly line is shut down!" I said "OK, I'll see what I can do, hopefully I won't need any parts... " The immediate reply was "I'll have a plane at your disposal to pick up anything you need..." Try as I might, I couldn't come up with a good reason to fly to someplace like the Tahiti to get parts...

As you probably know, the facility also has a very steep grade from the site to the mainline, reported as 5.6%. I've seen it, and that figure sounds about right. How about letting us bring the Shay down from MRSR and do a few runs up the hill?

Since it's Boeing, it's only fitting we have a nice close-up shot from an airplane, rather than a satellite view.

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... &encType=1

I'm pretty sure the curving greenery you see just behind the turntable followed the old wye track, though it's been a long time and they've changed things a lot since then.

Recycling at it's finest!

Later!
Mr. Ed

Nice article on the original construction, but no mention of the turntable.

http://www.boeing.com/events/everett40/ ... icle3.html