Roundhouse facilities in N scale

I'm asking this with the idea of modeling (N Scale) a Roundhouse operation of, maybe, 50-70 years ago. Q: What sort of auxillary buildings would a Roundhose have had and what would their function have been? What would the proximity to the Roundhouse have been? Or ... what would the the layout have looked like?

Mike
G&O N Trak

Hope ya don't mind, but I'm going to send this off the the "Scale Modeling" forum........many members there should be able to help.

Charlie

Check March issue of Trains.

Most any aux buildings could be prototype somewhere. I would at least have a power plant next to the roundhouse, to supply steam for heat and to keep locomotive boilers hot and pressurized while not in use. On the other side of the turntable should be fueling, water, and sand facilities. Maybe a heavy repair shop, separate from, but right next to the roundhouse. Specialty shops like a paint shed could be there too. Crew quarters and office buildings could be right there as well. A small loco, like an 0-4-0 saddle tanker, could be assigned there to move cold locos around. Lots of ideas out there, most of them could be found on some railroad somewhere. Don't forget piles of parts and junk, railroads didn't throw anything out they could find a use for someday.

GSC wrote:Most any aux buildings could be prototype somewhere. I would at least have a power plant next to the roundhouse, to supply steam for heat and to keep locomotive boilers hot and pressurized while not in use. On the other side of the turntable should be fueling, water, and sand facilities. Maybe a heavy repair shop, separate from, but right next to the roundhouse. Specialty shops like a paint shed could be there too. Crew quarters and office buildings could be right there as well. A small loco, like an 0-4-0 saddle tanker, could be assigned there to move cold locos around. Lots of ideas out there, most of them could be found on some railroad somewhere. Don't forget piles of parts and junk, railroads didn't throw anything out they could find a use for someday.

The question indicates 50 to 70 years ago which for most of the range would be a mix of steam and diesel, with all diesel by the end of the range, so diesel relevant structures, etc. would also be appropriate.

Good point, Ken.

As roundhouses were becoming less useful as diesels took over, maybe you could model a portion of the roundhouse being torn down. Steamers being scrapped nearby would also look appropriate for the era.

I rememberthe LV roundhouse at Easton had a carshop nearby [signs saying steam engines were not allowed inside] and a re-built section using cement block in contrast to the older brick of the original roundhouse that would make an great modeling feature.

It was all converted to diesel by the 60's and there were several fuel tanks and a sand tower on the opposite side of the turntable. There were a lot of rements of the steam age, concrete sidewalks along some of the tracks w/ damaged iron railings w/ several tracks no longer in service, piles of junk, lots of weeds growing up and a line of speeders and towed tool cars lined up in a row.

There were remains of coal handling facilities to the north of the carshop in the hillside, partially dismantled, You really got the impression that stuff was removed after the stteam power was gone.

Walther's has a good resource here:

http://www.walthers.com/instructions/ex ... 03261a.pdf

See also: http://www.walthers.com/exec/productinfo/933-3260

-otto-

Thanks all. Appreciate the information.

Mike