Manchester roundhouse update

She is still there..barely.
new photos on the second half of the page:

http://www.frontiernet.net/~scottychaos ... ester.html

Scot

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing! I will defenetly have to get down there and check that out. Also, the freight cars which were just left there, simply amazing!! Are there plans to bring the roundhouse down?

The Lehigh Valley Railroad Historical Society has been working with the Village of Manchester to clean up the roundhouse property this year. In February, the Manchester Village Board approved our request to remove the trees and brush from the site. We are now recruiting volunteers with chain saws to assist the Village DPW with the job. Anyone who can help us this spring or fall is asked to contact me through the LVRRHS web site at www.lvrrhs.org.

The roundhouse property is currently owned by the County of Ontario. Environmental testing is being conducted to determine the extent of ground water pollution caused by diesel fuel and oil spills into the ground during the past. The pollution must be cleaned up before anything can be done with the property. There are no definite plans for the roundhouse at this time.

Thanks to Scot Lawrence for posting the current photographs of the LVRR Manchester roundhouse. I hope that we can generate some interest in the railfan community to preserve this historic structure. Please contact me if you would like to help us out.

Ken May, President
Lehigh Valley Railroad Historical Society

At one time, the roundhouse was converted to a warehouse, and the ONCT switched them as a customer- I think at that time the turntable pit was filled. The warehouse customer is long gone, but you can see evidence of the operation since the warehouse raised the floor a good six inches above the railhead at least.

-otto-

Just make sure if you want to take your chances and trespass - that you wear a hardhat. The terracotta tiles on the ceiling are falling down all the time.

Hey,
There is a really cool "floor job" urinal in the building that apears to have been a crew building! Ya know one of them old fashioned jobbers that goes all the way to the floor ! I have always wanted to install one of those in a layout restroom. Alas there is no way to remove it intact....

A what? Anybody got pictures of what he's talking about?

ANDY117 wrote:A what? Anybody got pictures of what he's talking about?

Sounds like one of these:

Im not even going to ask where you got that, Nessman !

The question is does he know how to flush....

Seriously I'd love to have one of those things in my home bathroom, theres an even more impressive example in the American Hotel in Lima, about 5 to 5.5 feet tall as I remember.

Oh and I've seen the roundhouse in Manchester, two years ago when I went on the Santa Train I also drove up to see the roundhouse since I was in the neighborhood.

If you haven't visited the LVRR roundhouse in Manchester recently, take a ride and see the progress that the LVRRHS has made in cleaning up the site. We were able to remove the trees and brush from 2/3 of the roundhouse property along Merrick Circle on Friday, April 15, with the help of Brad Smith of Smith's Mill Sawmilling in Victor. We hope to get more work done in the near future. Maybe we can even get the jungle cleaned out around the turntable area. Any volunteers with chain saws out there?

Are there any plans for the round house?

The short term plan for the roundhouse is to clean up all the trees, brush, and trash on the site as a community service project. The long term plan for the roundhouse is to preserve the building, save the turntable, and, if feasible, restore it with private and/or public funds and grants. We hope that the clean-up will help us generate the community interest and support needed to save this historic structure.

Ken May, LVRRHS

I've read discussions and articles about developing a regular excursion service in that area. Any plans to use the roundhouse as part of a museum in connection with the excursions?

Is this roundhouse cleanup being done as part of a group project?
If not, why not start a preservation group on behalf of the roundhouse?