Sadly another relic is set to meet its maker at the hands of a wrecking ball. The CSX Parsons yard roundhouse and turntable is set for demolition. Thinking out loud there is several groups that could make use of this roundhouse and turntable for future reconstruction possibly. The ITM and Fort Wayne Riverfront roundhouse projects come to mind. Is this roundhouse in any capacity able to be saved or moved?
https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/loc ... 2J0CKfS3CA

One key point not made in this post or the news article is the length of the turntable. So how long is it? It could easily be lifted out of the pit while moving the building would be so difficult and expensive as to be prohibitive. So if any group is looking for a turntable get its length and if it still has a builder's plate tell us who made it and when.

The neat little ruler feature on Google Earth says it is 120 feet.

It’s been done before. Where there is a will there is a way.

I used to work there. It can turn two GP40s easily. From what a couple old-timers told me, it was designed to turn Alleghenies.

A 120 foot turntable would be one that would be very desirable.

Only if you have a buyer. Or at least someone ready to pay for relocation.

Five feet longer than the former Hagerstown table that is now in Sugar Creek. Could easily turn just about anything in this country short of a Big Boy.

At one time, AoS had 3 or 4 turntables, no? Do they still have all these surplus turntables? Do we really need to save one more and at what expense?

Rob Gardner

Do we need more 90' turntables? Maybe not. But there are not very many 120s around.

IRM has at least one, I think Strasburg has 1, TVRM has 1... so yes there are a few extra but these things aren’t going to magically reappear when you need them once they’ve been scrapped.

Are we sure the turntable is being removed? I can see taking down the roundhouse, but the turntable still has uses for turning locomotives and freight cars that have to be delivered in a certain orientation.

I have turned power on that table when I worked for CSX. Spent two hours stuck on it one day when it failed mid turn. I was working that day with the engineer who chased down the 8888 runaway. The chase crew worked out of Parsons as did I.

Can you post any details about the other AOS turntables? Source, length, builder and year built, as well as current status? Inquiring minds, etc.

Yes, Ron I believe it would be quite nice of you contact AOS with that query and please share the results when you do................mld

I checked my listing of turntables moved for use by tourist railroads or museums, now with info about 113 of these, and found that the Age of Steam obtained a 90 foot long turntable in 2004. Here is my listing for it[color=#FF0000][color=#FF0000][/color][/color]:

2004 – The 90’ 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. The sale fell through and the turntable, manufactured by American Bridge & Iron in 1910, had been removed from its pit and stored with ring rails and motors. In 2006 it was offered for sale or trade and sold to the Ohio Central. It was moved to their line but was too short for them once they obtained ex-NKP 2-8-4 #763. It was shown stored there, upside down on a flatcar, in a photo in the March 2010 issue of Trains Magazine.

The Ohio Central became the Age of Steam later. You can still see the 90 foot turntable on a flatcar in aerial photos of the site, on the center track of three near the roundhouse.
They then got the former WM 110 foot long turntable from Hagerstown and installed it in 2010.