> Thanks to all who replied to my turntable
> query, and I'm sorry I made a mistake in my
> e-mail address. This one is right, in case
> anyone else has info to add that came back
> to them. Some questions that have come up
> are: can anyone confirm if IRM at Union

Ron, IRM does have a turntable on site which for the last few years has been a 'lawn ornament'. We have had it for some time and I believe it is 'only' a 90 footer. Acquistions such as the MSI Santa Fe locomotive point to the need for a longer bridge. We narrowly missed out on one in Ohio which was officially given to us but cut up, perhaps illegally, by some locals for scrap. We have some more leads on longer tables and will see what develops. Mums the word for now.

Bob Kutella


Rejuvenation, Portland, OR
68trolley@comcast.net

Sorry for the leftover link at the end of the previous message. Who woulda thunk that the computer would suddenly start to remember things? Live and learn - -

Bob KLUTZ-tella


68trolley@comcast.net

The East Chattanooga Turntable is 80 feet in length and was originally installed in Macon, GA. The Southern later moved it to Cedartown, GA and that is where it was when we acquired and installed it in 1982.

The Summmerville turntable to the best of my knowledge was originally installed in Boyles Yard. It is 100 feet in length.

Both of these tables were originally configured as balanced tables. However, the L&N reconfigured the Boyles Yard table to a 3 point table and that is how it was installed in Summerville. The East Chattanooga table remains a balanced table.

G. Mark - TVRM

TVRM Shop Updates by Steve Freer
aw90@comcast.net

Located in Phillipsburg, NJ there is a 100' Turntable Bridge, American Bridge Co. The girders serve currently as a foot bridge over the former DL&W Washington Branch. The only 100' DL&W turntable I could locate was at once in Hampton Yard in PA. Possibly this is the same.

Another turntable saved but currently stored is the turntable from the Pemberton & Hightstown/Union Transportation Co. in New Egypt, NJ. The table is stored at the Pine Creek RR.

cagney9@att.net

My listings for 1946 show 135' tables at East Yard Los Angeles, Green River and Ogden. There were 126' tables (which would hold a Big Boy with some overhang) at Cheyenne and Caliente. We know the Cheyenne table is still functional, but not sure about the others. Green River's was still there a few years ago.

Big Boys had an overall length of 132' 9 7/8" and a wheelbase of 117' 7". The newer Challengers had overall length of 121' 10 7/8" and a wheelbase of 106' 8".

Pullman (Denver) and North Platte, which saw the occasional Big Boy in service, had 100' tables, so presumably wyes were used there. An article in Trains many years ago showed a Challenger being turned on the table at North Platte, using wedges stuck under the wheels of the centipede tender to lift the excess length of the tender free of the radial tracks. I don't know if the North Platte table was subsequently replaced or not.

Remember the first plan for Steamtown Scranton, where they envisioned a Big Boy on a constantly rotating turnbable, covered by a big striped circus tent?

> I did some web searches and it appears that
> the Union Pacific installed some 135 foot
> long turntables at various locations such as
> Green River and North Platte in order to
> handle the Big Boys.

> Were there any tables longer than 135 feet
> out there?

> Any 135 footers that have survived?

> JimE


http://www.uprr.com/aboutup/photos/building/chian4.shtml
ryarger@rypn.org

> Does Mid-Continent in N.
> Freedom, WI have one stored? And is there
> one stored in Prairie Du Chien, WI, and if
> so from where?
Mid-Continent has the former Madison, WI (CMStP&P I think) turntable stored for future installation.
In Prairie Du Chein the former CMStP&P Marquette, IA turntable is stored. I believe it's an 85 footer.

Boyd

bowens@rypn.org

Ron,
the Connecticut Eastern RR Museum in Willimantic, CT is planning to install their 85' former Boston & Albany turntable, which originally came from Dudley, MA.

http://www.cteastrrmuseum.org/Turntable.htm

SJHussar@aol.com

> My listings for 1946 show 135' tables at
> East Yard Los Angeles, Green River and
> Ogden. There were 126' tables (which would
> hold a Big Boy with some overhang) at
> Cheyenne and Caliente. We know the Cheyenne
> table is still functional, but not sure
> about the others. Green River's was still
> there a few years ago.

Thanks for the info, Bob.

> Remember the first plan for Steamtown
> Scranton, where they envisioned a Big Boy on
> a constantly rotating turntable, covered by
> a big striped circus tent?

I never heard that story! Oh my. The Big Boy in a Big Top. That would have been, uhm, interesting....

JimE

Jim's train pages
jrevans@accuREMOVEsort.com

I checked, and to the best of my ability, didn't find mention that the 100' turntable from The Reading's Saucon Yard in Bethlehem, PA was moved by the Reading Company Technical & Historical Society onto a flat car, and it now resides on the Reading and Northern for future installation at their museum site sometime off in the future. From the responses, it looks like quite a number of turntables have been rescued!

RCT&HS Website
schwartzsj@juno.com

Hi Guys;
Does anyone know if the PRR Atlantic City turntable still exist? Rumor was it had been stored on the NH&I in Ivyland someplace in the weeds next to the NH&I/RDG interchange. The turntable was to be installed at some future time on the NH&I. It had not been seen since 1974. Thanks - David Notarius, London UK, ex New Hope Pa

Both the Caliornia State Railroad Museum and the Colorado Railroad Museum have turntables from elsewhere.

Unfortunately this turntable was scrapped several years ago. This is what I have on it:
1964 – An 80’ Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Line turntable from Atlantic City, NJ was obtained by the New Hope & Ivyland RR tourist line in eastern Pennsylvania. It was stored off the property in Hobensack's lumber yard at Ivyland, PA. The plan was to reinstall it in the original Reading turntable pit at New Hope, but for one reason or another it never came to pass. In 1994 Bill Hobensack sold his business and informed the railroad management that it needed to be removed. They never acted upon his request, and unfortunately the table was scrapped.

looked on line with no luck... this turntable at KRM... anyone know where it was originally located ?


thanks


Dean Levin

I've been wondering about the turntable currently in Scranton. What is the origin of it? I'm assuming the original DLW table and pit were long gone before Steamtown got there, because it would seem to me that the existing table would've been too small to service DLW's larger engines, particularly the 4-8-4 Poconos.

The table at Kentucky Railway Museum is from the NYC/Big Four Louisville roundhouse. For more turntable info, see Ron Goldfeder's article in the Fall 2010 RMQ/Trainline.
Aaron Isaacs, editor
RMQ/Trainline