After posting a reply to the question about new turntable installations and answering some e-mail the post generated, IÂ’d like to throw a query out to the RyPN Forum members.

The Railroad Museum of Long Island is currently restoring a 1913, Grand Trunk Railway turntable and plans to install it at our Riverhead, New York museum. The through truss design turntable is 86Â’ long and 15Â’ wide and was used at Fort Erie, Canada.

Does anyone out there know anything about this particular turntable, itÂ’s history, or the yard it came out of?

Thanks for your thoughts,

Don Fisher


n2qhv@arrl.net

There were 2 yards in Fort Erie, the Grand Trunk (CNR) and the Michigan Central (NYC). Both lines used the international bridge into Buffalo, and were opposite one another.. The NYC yard was small, and wasn't really set up for major traffic.
The GTR yard however, was a very large yard, with facilities for car and locomotive repair. The turntable was in use (somewhat) until the yard closed down in 1989. After that, the remaining 6 stalls of the roundhouse were used for MOW equipment storage, and the turtable once again saw limited use. A fire in the early 90's (caused by kids with gasoline) reduced the roundhouse to rubble, along with everything inside it. The turntable was sold to a scrapper, who in turn sold it to the Arcade & Attica ourside Buffalo, who planned to put in a new engine house etc. These plans never came to, and the turntable sat in the weeds behind a lumber mill for many years, until of course being sold to your group. I have other information on the turntable, but it'll take some time to dig it up.
If you want a track plan of the yard in the 80's when it was still there, i can get you that as well. Hope this helps.

Ken Jones
Niagara Falls Railway Museum

> currently restoring a 1913, Grand Trunk
> Railway turntable and plans to install it at
> our Riverhead, New York museum. The through
> truss design turntable is 86Â’ long and 15Â’
> wide and was used at Fort Erie, Canada.

> Does anyone out there know anything about
> this particular turntable, itÂ’s history, or
> the yard it came out of?

> Thanks for your thoughts,

> Don Fisher


Niagara Falls Railway Museum
digitekfx@kwic.com

According to what I've been able to determine from existing records, your turntable may have had its motors made by Draper Manufacturing of Port Huron, Michigan. Are the motors still with the bridge, and if so, do they have any sort of indentification plate on them? While we do not have detailed production records of Draper's motors, we do have several pictures and a list from roughly 1920 of where Draper motors are shown being used. Fort Erie is on the list in 1920, hence my inquiry.

TJ

> There were 2 yards in Fort Erie, the Grand
> Trunk (CNR) and the Michigan Central (NYC).
> Both lines used the international bridge
> into Buffalo, and were opposite one
> another.. The NYC yard was small, and wasn't
> really set up for major traffic.
> The GTR yard however, was a very large yard,
> with facilities for car and locomotive
> repair. The turntable was in use (somewhat)
> until the yard closed down in 1989. After
> that, the remaining 6 stalls of the
> roundhouse were used for MOW equipment
> storage, and the turtable once again saw
> limited use. A fire in the early 90's
> (caused by kids with gasoline) reduced the
> roundhouse to rubble, along with everything
> inside it. The turntable was sold to a
> scrapper, who in turn sold it to the Arcade
> & Attica ourside Buffalo, who planned to
> put in a new engine house etc. These plans
> never came to, and the turntable sat in the
> weeds behind a lumber mill for many years,
> until of course being sold to your group. I
> have other information on the turntable, but
> it'll take some time to dig it up.
> If you want a track plan of the yard in the
> 80's when it was still there, i can get you
> that as well. Hope this helps.

> Ken Jones
> Niagara Falls Railway Museum


Port Huron Museum
tjgaffney@phmuseum.org

I am working with Don Fisher on the restoration of the turntable. The turntable in question was in operation at the CN Warren Street yard in Fort Erie. There is only one electric motor which appears to been installed later in the turntable's life - possibly in the 1938 - 1939 time frame. (I believe that the turntable was built in the 1917 - 1918 time frame.) I have not been able to read the nameplate data but it is a 600 volt unit and from the wiring used I estimate that is 20 or 25 horsepower. We have no information whatsoever on the electric drive system. I am basing my estimate of the motor installation date on the date of a drawing showing new end wheels.

Thank you for any info you can provide,

Bruce Abel
Project Manager, Turntable Restoration, RMLI

babel@optonline.net