Amtrak Turntable

This looks like it might be it from Bing Maps.  Sorry, I don't know how to remove their dashed lines.

 

 

And here's a Google maps image of it. The Street View only shows the turntable from the nearby main road, and foliage blocks almost all of the view.

 

 

Yard & TT

 

The auto train runs (usually) a pair of P40s back to back, so turning is not necessary. There is no loco service in Lorton, the engines run light to Ivy City in Washington for service. There is also a TT in Ivy City. I would guess the TT in lorton is seldom used, or possibly used for turning a car around every now and then. Last time I went by (last monday on a very late Silver Star in the snow), the Dash 8 they had been using for an auto rack switcher was gone and they had one of those new MP21B switchers from MPI. Perhaps they used the TT to turn the switcher around between arrival and departure for better visibility when disassembling/assembling?

IF YOU GOOGLE LORTON VA. YOU SEE NO SHADOW FROM THE "PIT" WALL AND LOOK AT THE CLOSE-UPS OF THE TURNTABLE, YOU WILL SEE THERE IS NO "PIT". THE TRACKS RAMP UP TO THE HEIGHT OF THE BRIDGE DECK! THIS WOULD BE GREAT TO MODEL, NO PIT NEEDED, UNIQUE, AND PROTOTYPICAL. THANKS FOR THIS POST. (SORRY ABOUT THE CAPITAL LETTERS)

I dont have an exact date but the turntable bridge was fabricated and installed in the 1980s in the middle of the old Lorton & Occoquan wye... The L&O started out on the bank of the Occoquan River at a brick plant and ran up a 7 percent grade to reach the DC owned Lorton Reformatory and Workhouse. The line was eventually extended past the prison to wye with the RF&P at Lorton, allowing prisoners from DC as well as supplies to be brought in by rail rather than barge. The line remained in use up until it was decommissioned in 1977.
The original Auto-train Corporation set up its northern terminus adjacent to the L&O interchange and used the wye when it was necessary to turn equipment. Following the bankruptcy in 1981, Amtrak took over operations in 1983 and shortly after decided to utilize a turntable rather than the wye.
The turntable does still see occasional use for turning locomotives, usually for engines arriving or being sent to Ivy City. Daily locomotive servicing and fueling is performed in Lorton, repairs and inspections take place in Ivy City. Rolling stock is maintained at Sanford, FL. 575 was the switcher last week while 514 was receiving its inspection,  it is back on the job now. A fun fact-the tail track for the ramps is only long enough for five auto carriers when using the big P32-8BWHs, six cars can be squeezed in when using the smaller SW1000Rs...

Awesome photos!  Thank you for sharing!

Great photos. Thank you.

 

Peter

Did the AT, either the private or Amtrak, have cars which needed to be turned during the "heritage era", that is, cars used bedfore the Superliners?  Biz or private cars?

Yes. The Auto Train Corporation did have a small fleet of business cars that it would use on its trains for VIPs, and on occasion would sell space as luxury accommodations for the public. When the trains started running the auto carriers were at the front of the train, and the passenger cars were at the rear. During these times the rear most business car would be oriented so the observation platform would face the rear. A flagman would ride the last car to protect the rear of the train as well.

As you can imagine having passenger cars buried 20 cars back behind auto carriers would generate an uncomfortable ride. This, coupled with a pair of serious wrecks in 1976, resulted in swapping the consist so that the passenger cars would be directly behind the locomotives, and auto carriers would bring up the rear. ATC acquired several cabooses to use on the rear of these trains for the flagman, and even converted a handful of bi-level auto carriers into cabooses, with one end sporting a short cupola and rear gangway. While these unique auto carrier cabooses saw service mainly on the Louisville-Sanford Auto Train, they did occasionally see use on the Lorton trains and were always turned to make sure the gangway was facing rear.

 

In the modern day Amtrak era, very rarely when the crew dormitory is swapped out of the trainset, the incoming car will be turned. Both trainsets are oriented so the sleepers are the northern most passenger cars in the consist, and the crew dorm is placed as the northern most car to keep the passengers from having to walk through it. As this is usually a transition sleeper (single level vestibule at one end, superliner vestibule at the other), its necessary that the superliner height door must be facing south so that the crew can walk between train and dormitory while it is in motion.

Sanford FL does not have a turntable. Although there is a wye not far from the autotrain station.