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Chicago Switching => General Discussion => Topic started by: Brianbobcat on February 13, 2014, 07:27:42 PM

Title: Roundhouses, past and present?
Post by: Brianbobcat on February 13, 2014, 07:27:42 PM
Hi everyone,

I thought I'd start a discussion on roundhouses, past and present.  Past roundhouses that I know of include the Illinois Central ones down on the site of McCormick Place West, the Chicago Northwestern one on the site of the Tribune Freedom printing plant, and the old Briar Bottle 1/4 roundhouse that sat immediately adjacent to the tracks leading into Ogilvie Station where Left Bank at K Station now sits.  Current roundhouses are more limited, but there's a small locomotive facility left from the Hawthorne Works plant immediately south of the Menards.  There's also the Aurora roundhouse that was beautifully restored into a restaurant.  Random, I know, but I found another restored roundhouse in Kansas City.  A printing company called DST Output has restored almost a full roundhouse located at 2600 Southwest Boulevard, Kansas City, MO 64108.  There's articles discussing how it was a superfund site from the Kansas City Terminal railway, and how it was extensively restored.

What other notable roundhouses do you know of in or out of Chicago?
Title: Re: Roundhouses, past and present?
Post by: cnwnorthline on February 14, 2014, 05:25:15 PM
Not really notable but my town of Rhinelander a little one still stands: http://www.flickr.com/photos/63167988@N00/8251525774/

-Matt
Title: Re: Roundhouses, past and present?
Post by: TBurke on February 14, 2014, 08:50:25 PM
Brianbobcat-

Good topic to introduce.

Are you sure that Braun Bottlers (Briar Bottles in your post) was a roundhouse at one time?  Looking at historicaerials.com from 1938 it does not appear to have been a roundhouse despite its curved shaped.

A still standing roundhouse includes the former NJI&I facility in South Bend though it was reduced from three stalls to two.  Scroll down at this website.

http://www.monon.monon.org/rr/njii.html

The Milwaukee Road had a massive roundhouse in Milwaukee near the current Miller Park. 
Title: Re: Roundhouses, past and present?
Post by: Jeff Wingstrom on February 20, 2014, 11:04:36 PM
Love this topic - here's one of my favorite roundhouse images. While spending 6 (haha) years at the University of Wisconsin Madison, I never had any idea that this site had a massive MILW roundhouse on it:

http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullimage.asp?id=4901 (http://www.wisconsinhistory.org/whi/fullimage.asp?id=4901)
Title: Re: Roundhouses, past and present?
Post by: Jeff Wingstrom on February 20, 2014, 11:48:38 PM
From my bookmarks.. 

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&msid=212092467540019129579.0004b0df8738775e0630c&dg=feature

There's a tag for the small CNW roundhouse at Highland Park; somewhere I have a pic of the remaining turntable..

"Roundhouse was destroyed by tornado in 1913. Turntable was still active late 1940's, early 1950's. The area is a parking lot now."

More roundhouse pictures:

http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=118458
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=280313
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=310741
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=317907
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=336717
  ^love this one, check out the diesels lurking
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=337646
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=402440
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=405729
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=419300
http://www.railpictures.net/viewphoto.php?id=211303
Title: Re: Roundhouses, past and present?
Post by: Brianbobcat on February 21, 2014, 05:46:02 PM
Great photos, and nice to see that a number of roundhouses across the country have been turned into museums.  My favorite was the last photo since it was of a C&NW 'house.