Working rail roads and their tracks.

[MossRoad]

As I've mentioned in the past, I'm kind of an insomniac. So at night, I'd sit on the computer on google earth and follow live and abandoned RR tracks and grades, looking for old roundhouses, turntables, transfer tables, and their foundations if they are not longer there. I had hundreds of them. Then one night I googled some roundhouse somewhere, and found a link to a trains magazine group that were doing the same thing. I had hundreds that they didn't have, and likewise, they had hundreds that I didn't have. They concentrate on world-wide. I only do U.S., and near borders with Canada and Mexico. Haven't been active at it since 2017, so this brings back some fond memories for me.

 

[MossRoad]

Roundhouses leave a unique foundation. This is a picture from 2018 of one of three in Peru, IN.

 

[MossRoad]

For example, Champaign, IL.
There's a rail yard there. It's just make up tracks from south to north.
See that track that heads off to an angle from 74 north? Follow it up.


It hooks back to the left around the maintenance area and
then joins the north make up tracks.


See those piles of materials in the upper right of the photo?
That's where a roundhouse would most likely be, if there was one.
2009


And then you can see not only the roundhouse foundation, but a roundhouse
and a turntable, as well. 1993

 

[ultrarunner]

Is it true steam locomotives have no reverse?

It seems last time at roaring camp Felton the locomotive went backwards because the wood trestle suffered fired damage and rules no longer allow wooden trestles and no money to engineer new non-wood.

 

[bcp]

They can revere just fine. Put they don't generally operate in reverse at high speed, unless designed for it.

Sometimes a line had no turning facility and a pilot and headlight was put on the tender for the return trip.

Bruce

 

[Hay Dude]

Well, I don't have one along the Delaware river between those two towns. The only ones in that area are in Wilmington, DE and Philly.
First picture is the turntable in Philly along the Schuykill River.
Second picture is a wide view of everything I've found in PA. Kinda messy, but there's about 55+ of them so far.

Do you have a more specific location?

View attachment 730674 . View attachment 730675

Maybe it was just a turntable?

 

[Hay Dude]

Roundhouses leave a unique foundation. This is a picture from 2018 of one of three in Peru, IN.
View attachment 730685

Amazing how big and, for the time they existed in, such massive pieces of technology just engulfed in trees and weeds so rapidly.

 

[MossRoad]

Maybe it was just a turntable?

Hard to say. If you can locate a more exact position, you can go back as far as the historical photos of the area are in google earth and take a look. Most places go back into the 80's. For some reason, Huston, TX has aerial photos back into the 1930's on google earth.

 

[MossRoad]

Amazing how big and, for the time they existed in, such massive pieces of technology just engulfed in trees and weeds so rapidly.

Yep. Interestingly, there was a double roundhouse over in Elkhart, IN. It is considered a contaminated area. 'They' are trying an experiment where they planted trees all around and over the site. The trees are sucking up the contaminants. Very interesting.

 

[Hay Dude]

Hard to say. If you can locate a more exact position, you can go back as far as the historical photos of the area are in google earth and take a look. Most places go back into the 80's. For some reason, Huston, TX has aerial photos back into the 1930's on google earth.

I was in Philly yesterday, pretty close to where I remember the turntable to be. I wanted to stop by and grab a few pictures, but my wife wanted to get home. It was somewhere along here. Probably removed in last 20 years, although I thought I drove by it maybe 10 years ago and it was still there. Time flies….

At the right edge of the red box where you see the black rooftops stood Westinghouse. They made hydroelectric turbines there for submarines and dams all over the world.
Closed in the 1979-80 recession forever. My grandfather was a machinist there. Worked on the nuclear powered nautilus submarine turbines project and turbines for dams

 

[5030]

Reversing gear on a steam loco is a long word I'm not going to bugger up but you can reverse any engine that has it. Loco engines and stationary engines too..

'Waterschield' I think???

 

[MossRoad]

I was in Philly yesterday, pretty close to where I remember the turntable to be. I wanted to stop by and grab a few pictures, but my wife wanted to get home. It was somewhere along here. Probably removed in last 20 years, although I thought I drove by it maybe 10 years ago and it was still there. Time flies….

At the right edge of the red box where you see the black rooftops stood Westinghouse. They made hydroelectric turbines there for submarines and dams all over the world.
Closed in the 1979-80 recession forever. My grandfather was a machinist there. Worked on the nuclear powered nautilus submarine turbines project and turbines for dams

View attachment 730712

I went back to 1997 and can't find any signs of it. I'll keep poking around.
Pretty cool story about your grandfather.

 

[MossRoad]

Best guess would be it would have been about here.

 

[bcp]

Best guess would be it would have been about here.

View attachment 730825

No yards there in 1898.

Bruce

 

[ArlyA]

Clearing snow at Donner's pass in California released just a few weeks ago. Seems like this video was made by the UP. Nonetheless, its neat to see how tracks are cleared there.

 

[RoyJackson]

Clearing snow at Donner's pass in California released just a few weeks ago. Seems like this video was made by the UP. Nonetheless, its neat to see how tracks are cleared there.

Very cool!!
I really enjoyed that video!!

 

[jjeff]

Couple questions, has anyone ever seen or operated a railroad rotary blower (besides YouTube) for snow removal? Are they still used?

 

[caver]

Here's about 1940 in the Philadelphia area. I tried to get the most RR stuff in one screen grab. The red dot was just a random waypoint to get me started.

 

[ArlyA]

Couple questions, has anyone ever seen or operated a railroad rotary blower (besides YouTube) for snow removal? Are they still used?

Yes they are but I'd guess are very hard to see them in action. Operate? Might be 2 dozen people in North America who operate the RR owned ones.

 

[MossRoad]

Here's about 1940 in the Philadelphia area. I tried to get the most RR stuff in one screen grab. The red dot was just a random waypoint to get me started.

i circled in red where the most likely place a turntable would be.