Turntables in the early 20th Century.

[NW Mailing List]

Mark,
 
I can only tell you about the turntable in Durham, NC during the early  
1900s.  According to the N&W Annual Reports, a turntable was moved from  
Williamston, WV to Durham, NC in the Durham District about 1905 (or '06).   It was a 60 
ft. turntable and was located at the Durham Shop which did not, nor  ever did 
have a roundhouse.  It positioned locomotives over a couple of  inspection 
pits, a RIP track or two, and a storage track.  I have seen this  from drawings 
in the Archives.  It was removed sometime in the 1920s  when longer locomotives 
(than the Class Ts, Vs, Js (1st version) and other  shorter locomotives) were 
used and after the wye on the Durham Belt  Line was completed.  The Durham 
Shops closed in the mid 1950s.  
 
So I guess the answer to your inquiry is that turntables were not always  
associated with roundhouses and the length of the turntable determined which  
locomotives got turned.   But I'll make a guess that the larger  turntables were 
needed at those shops which serviced the larger  locomotives, which in turn 
were needed to handle the traffic demand  and had more servicing requirements 
that a  roundhouse afforded that a smaller shop like Durham could  not provide. 
 
It's your railroad.  Determine your need is based on what  the and build and 
plan accordingly.  Put a turntable in the size that  will turn the locomotives 
of the 1930s at your location and then give them  a reason to be turned, be 
it a roundhouse or outside service shop.
 
Take care,
 
chuck stewart
Bahama, NC 
The old Lynchburg and Durham line.
 
In a message dated 1/13/2008 4:50:59 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,  
nw-mailing-list at nwhs.org writes:

I am  trying to justify a turntable for the model RR.

I'm modeling the 1930's  (1934-1937 ish) and in the southwest part of VA.

If their were  Turntables what were the Diameters?
Were they all associated with  Roundhouses, or were any stand alones?




Mark  Lindsey
Stuck in the 1930's







**************Start the year off right.  Easy ways to stay in shape.     
http://body.aol.com/fitness/winter-exercise?NCID=aolcmp00300000002489
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://six.pairlist.net/pipermail/nw-mailing-list/attachments/20080113/16d80994/attachment.htm>