Folks:

A number of years ago, I seem to recall seeing a photo of what I think was an interurban railroad in Iowa that used a predecessor steam railroad roundhouse and turntable as their main shops. Does anyone know if I am right on this?

If I am, did the railroad in question have trolley wire strung on the turntable itself for the movement of cars into/out of, the roundhouse? Thanks, and if my memory is playing tricks on me, I apologize for this thread.

Les

Hi Les:

You are referring to the car storage "roundhouse" turntable of the Waterloo, Cedar Falls & Northern RR in Waterloo, Iowa.

Go to Dave Mewhinney's "Dave's Railpix" website. There's a photo of the turntable and the overhead trolley arrangement there. I hope this link takes you there: http://davesrailpix.com/wcfn/htm/wcfn016.htm

Thanks!

Jim:

Thanks! I WAS able to get the photo through the link you gave me and it IS the turntable/roundhouse I was thinking of! The photo also (kind of) answered my question about how the electric cars operated on and off of the table although the exact way the powered linewires were kept up mystifies me a bit.

Thanks again.

Les

Page 118 of The Electric Railways of Minnesota has a photo of a similar arrangement for the Twin Cities Lines barn at 31st/Nicollet. This barn is also a converted steam roundhouse. Since the arrangement requires pulling the pole and small radius wyes were available to turn cars, it would appear that turntables only saw use as leftovers from steam operations. This barn was demolished in 1907 after replacement by a new facility, Snelling Station.

Hi Steve:

You are correct. How could I forget about the turntable at the TCRT's 31st Street shops in South Minneapolis.

The shop buildings and turntable were originally built in the early 1880s for the Minneapolis, Lyndale and Minnetonka, a 3-foot steam-powered line that ran from downtown Minneapolis south to Lake Harriet, and for a few years, out to Excelsior on Lake Minnetonka. In the late 1880s, the "motor line" as it was then called was purchased by TCRT and the track abandoned from Lake Harriet to Excelsior. The track from Minneapolis to lake harriet was then standard guaged and electrified.

TCRT continued to use the "motor Line" shop facility at the corner of Nicollet Avenue and 31st Street, even when they electrified the line. Starting in 1898 TCRT built their first streetcars at their 31st Street shops but the facility quick proved entirely inadequate for mass producing the TCRT "standard" streetcar. So in 1907, the company started building the Snelling shops in St. Paul. From 1898 to the mid-1920s, TCRT built over 1200 streetcars at their 31st Street and Snelling shops.

When carbuilding ceased at the 31st Street Shops, parts of the shop were converted to car storage while the "roundhouse" was used for storing work equipment. The old buildings were eventually demolished around 1912 and TCRT's Nicollet Station was built on the old site and opened in 1914.

Today, Metro Transit has a bus garage located on the site of the TCRT 31st Street shops/Nicollet Station.

Thanks!

It would be fun to peform an archeological dig on the turntable site.