New York State Roundhouses

[scottychaos]

Well I would say its a "round house" if the front and back curve along with the edge of a turntable pit..
if it has straight walls and four 90 degree corners, its an engine house.

I doubt there would ever have been a roundhouse built new without a turntable..
there are many without turntables today, but they had them originally..

Its also possible to have a "square" engine house next to a turntable, that wouldnt be a "roundhouse"..

Technically a roundhouse is an engine house, but not all engine houses are roundhouses!

Scot

[nydepot]

Guess we can't include the Buffalo Creek one then. It was a roundhouse in shape but never had a turntable. Just tracks that fanned out into it. I guess with the shear number of places to wye an engine on BCK trackage with all the industrial trackage, the cost of a TT wasn't needed. Anyone seen a photo of a BCK TT? I know the Erie and LV shopped their engines.

Charles

Well I would say its a "round house" if the front and back curve along with the edge of a turntable pit..
if it has straight walls and four 90 degree corners, its an engine house.

I doubt there would ever have been a roundhouse built new without a turntable..
there are many without turntables today, but they had them originally..

Its also possible to have a "square" engine house next to a turntable, that wouldnt be a "roundhouse"..

Technically a roundhouse is an engine house, but not all engine houses are roundhouses!

Scot

[nydepot]

A few more:

NYC Buffalo (Jersey St) TT only
42.895418,-78.899984

NYC Buffalo RH TT
42.885842,-78.886878

NYC (LSMS) TT only
42.872302,-78.854381

Buffalo Creek RH, no TT
42.855324,-78.862621

Charles

[scottychaos]

Guess we can't include the Buffalo Creek one then. It was a roundhouse in shape but never had a turntable. Just tracks that fanned out into it. I guess with the shear number of places to wye an engine on BCK trackage with all the industrial trackage, the cost of a TT wasn't needed. Anyone seen a photo of a BCK TT? I know the Erie and LV shopped their engines.

Charles

Very interesting!
but can you really be sure there was never a turntable there?
its possible there wasnt! in tight quarters, they might have just fanned out some tracks into a roundhouse..
perhaps that made the best use of the space..
but how can we know for sure?

Scot

[nydepot]

That's why I'm hoping someone comes forward. There was no TT in the 1908 and again in the 1938 Plats. No building at all on the 1901 topo and some buildings on the 1948 topo.

Charles

Very interesting!
but can you really be sure there was never a turntable there?
its possible there wasnt! in tight quarters, they might have just fanned out some tracks into a roundhouse..
perhaps that made the best use of the space..
but how can we know for sure?

Scot

[scottychaos]

"Into the Pit"!

http://www.trainweb.org/wnyrhs/intothepit.htm

PRR (WNY&P) - East Aurora

not on the list yet!

Scot

[nydepot]

NYC - Charlotte TT only (1872)
43.252183,-77.610088

[nydepot]

This one will be tough. Nothing on the 1880 and 1909 Plats for East Aurora.

"Into the Pit"!

http://www.trainweb.org/wnyrhs/intothepit.htm

PRR (WNY&P) - East Aurora

not on the list yet!

Scot

[SimTrains]

Certainly no turntable in this photo.

[nydepot]

Thanks! You can see some of the tracks have been removed already.

Certainly no turntable in this photo.

[sd80mac]

Certainly no turntable in this photo.

Where is this place? what RR?

[scottychaos]

Certainly no turntable in this photo.

Where is this place? what RR?

Buffalo Creek Railroad, Buffalo NY, right here:
42.855324, -78.862621

I found some more photos here:
http://www.rr-fallenflags.org/misc-b/misc-b.html
the roundhouse existed up to 1976.

This is a tricky one!
hard to tell if there was ever a turntable there..
just based on the site, I think its possible there never was one!
they perhaps just fanned out the tracks and used a "roundhouse shape"
because that fit the site well..a "square" enginehouse might have required more space for the lead tracks..

If there was ever a turntable, it must have been in the very early days..soon after it was built,
and perhaps removed very early..
Charle's maps seem to indicate there was no turntable as early as 1908...further evidence there might have never been a TT at all..

an interesting mystery!

Scot

[nydepot]

And the building didn't exist in 1901.

Charle's maps seem to indicate there was no turntable as early as 1908...further evidence there might have never been a TT at all..

an interesting mystery!

Scot

[scottychaos]

And the building didn't exist in 1901.

well..maybe..
Considering the BC was operating by 1870:
http://www.buffalonian.com/history/indu ... oads1.html

it seems highly likely they had an engine house before 1901..
(although it could have been in a different location)
I would be inclined to not believe the 1901 map in this case..perhaps they simply missed some buildings..
how accurate do you think the 1901 map is?
what kind of map is it?

Scot

[nydepot]

Another thing to remember when researching this: The PRR through East Aurora was elevated in a grade crossing elimination project. That's when the station was moved, etc. So, the TT pit could be under the embankment of the current track structure.

Charles

"Into the Pit"!

http://www.trainweb.org/wnyrhs/intothepit.htm

PRR (WNY&P) - East Aurora

not on the list yet!

Scot