Can you I D the location of this Roundhouse and Turntable?

Well, all the steam locomotives are PRR, so that might give you some clue.

As HW said, those are all PRR locomotives.  It’s Mingo junction, Ohio.

Thanks fellows.  It was in Mingo Juction, OH Dan was right on.   I found the picture from the past shown above and a recent picture below at http://towns-and-nature.blogsp...prrs-roundhouse.html.

Please tell me how you can tell from the original picture that the locomotives were PRR ones.

Charlie

Charlie,

 The classic Belpaire firebox is very distinctive and stands out even in an aerial photo.

Tom 

One can also make out the lettering when zoomed

WOW! I don't believe I have ever seen a photo with that many steamers in one place.

Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Thanks fellows.  It was in Mingo Juction, OH Dan was right on.   I found the picture from the past shown above and a recent picture below at http://towns-and-nature.blogsp...prrs-roundhouse.html.

Please tell me how you can tell from the original picture that the locomotives were PRR ones.

Charlie

If you look you can see not only Pennsy locomotives with Belpaire fireboxes and PRR style tenders but PRR J's without the square Belpaire firebox and what looks to be a large number of PRR steamers with long tenders.  

I would have guessed someplace lines west but I recall that the picture was posted before on occasion and identified as Mingo Junction so my guess doesn't count. 

Ok, late entry:   I think it's Crestline, OH.   But perhaps the picture was captioned originally, so I yield.  Was there/Crestline about 1987, the complete/huge building was still standing, but being used by a junk dealer. Snuck in through a chain link fence, was ambling around the stalls, when a "junk yard dog" of at least 600 lbs (German Shepard) bounded toward me at full throttle. I fled. Escaped - just barely !

its not unusual to think of Crestline. The right side quadrant (in the photo) of the roundhouse is constructed in a manner that's nearly identical to the Crestline roundhouse.

For an in depth look at Crestline check out this site...... www.crestlineprr.com

Interesting post Charlie, 

I found something in Google Books that may be of interest. It's an article from Jan. 1920 describing a new roundhouse the Pennsylvania Railroad built in Canton Ohio. I'm assuming the one in Mingo Junction is of a similar design because of standardization practices of the Pennsylvania Railroad. It would be cool to build this or something similar on the layout. I am looking for archived blueprints for a Pennsy Type A roundhouse but haven't had much luck.  It has some unique features such as a radial travel overhead crane and smoke jacks mounted to the floor which removed locomotive smoke through ducts in the ground that lead to the powerhouse smokestack. Notice in the pictures that Charlie and GP40 posted there are few roof penetrations and some stalls do not have any. I'm assuming these roundhouses had a similar smoke takeaway system. 

Google:  "Railway Review Volume 66" and the article starts on page 1.

Eric

What a shame that locations like these have be reduced to rubble and the engines turned into hubcaps or sheet metal for the cars of that era.  Such a waste, that 70 years hence we are not able to duplicate what the men of this era were able to accomplish.

Actually if you look closely it looks like there are two steamers underpower.  One located on the far left near of the photo just exiting one of the stalls and another small steamer adjacent to the building also on the far left.   

Both these photos appear to be in the late steam era. However, I find it odd that I don't see any early diesels at either location.

GP 40 posted:

For an in depth look at Crestline check out this site...... www.crestlineprr.com

Very interesting website - thanks.

Of note, in the Crestline photo, visible in the left lower quadrant, is Pennsy's "Big Engine", the experimental 6-4-4-6 passenger locomotive. Think Crestline might be the farthest east this engine ran. Perhaps a more knowledgeable PRR enthusiast might comment.

That color picture above, of now vacant land, even if not a Pennsy fan, is very depressing.  People have done books on old grain elevators; there should be one on old railyards and engine facilities.

Here is great article on Roundhouses and how they operated in their heydays. The American Roundhouse by John P. Hankey. Lots of pictures and description of roundhouses and how they operated.

Copy below and paste to address bar.

trn.trains.com/~/media/files/pdf/circulation/trn2015roundhouse.pdf

A quote from the article, "A big roundhouse on a major railroad might have between one and 300 men and women on the property for each eight-hour “trick.” Depending on how many trains originated, terminated, or changed crews, there might be another hundred or two train and engine employees passing through every 24 hours. In railroading’s glory days, a middle-sized Class I carrier might have had 7,000 employees pause at its round-houses every day, with twice or three times that number on big railroads. The roundhouse was also where almost every aspect of everyday railroading rubbed together with varying degrees of friction. I cannot think of any other place that brought together so many different crafts, functions, agendas, territories, and departments as the traditional, big-time, roundhouse/locomotive terminal. It was the main interface between the operating department, which needed locomotives for its crews to run, and the mechanical department, which was expected to have those machines ready."

Charlie

Allegheny posted:

What a shame that locations like these have be reduced to rubble and the engines turned into hubcaps or sheet metal for the cars of that era.  Such a waste, that 70 years hence we are not able to duplicate what the men of this era were able to accomplish.

 

Well, at least a number of PRR K4s and others have survived. All the NYC Hudsons were scrapped.

Choo Choo Charlie posted:

Here is great article on Roundhouses and how they operated in their heydays. The American Roundhouse by John P. Hankey. Lots of pictures and description of roundhouses and how they operated.

A quote from the article, "A big roundhouse on a major railroad might have between one and 300 men and women on the property for each eight-hour “trick.” Depending on how many trains originated, terminated, or changed crews, there might be another hundred or two train and engine employees passing through every 24 hours. In railroading’s glory days, a middle-sized Class I carrier might have had 7,000 employees pause at its round-houses every day, with twice or three times that number on big railroads. The roundhouse was also where almost every aspect of everyday railroading rubbed together with varying degrees of friction. I cannot think of any other place that brought together so many different crafts, functions, agendas, territories, and departments as the traditional, big-time, roundhouse/locomotive terminal. It was the main interface between the operating department, which needed locomotives for its crews to run, and the mechanical department, which was expected to have those machines ready."

Charlie

Hello Charlie,

I tried the link, but it comes back stating that there is something blocking the pdf.

Do you have a link to the site itself?

Thanks!

Here's what the inside of the Crestline roundhouse looked like in November 2006 - a few months before they tore it down.

Robert S. Butler posted:

Here's what the inside of the Crestline roundhouse looked like in November 2006 - a few months before they tore it down.

sad 

If anyone is digging around looking for photo's of the site let me know if you find pictures of PRR 9339. that is where my 44 tonner was originally assigned to work in the mills. 9339 was returned to Altoona to be MU'd with 9338. Since it was considered under powered. It stayed in Altoona never to return to Mingo Junction. 

Sad isn't the only word to describe what has happened there. I went through there on the WL&E highline. just about everything is now gone. 

Allegheny

Try this link for The American Roundhouse article

Charlie