Roundhouse (The building..)

[steamhead]

Hi,
I'm contemplating scratch building an ol' time wooden roundhouse for my RR, and had first thought to just freelance the design, but then I thought it might be good to make it a LITTLE like a some-time existing prototype. To that end, I would really appreciate whatever info you guys might come up with as regards info, plans, drawings, pictures, (or sources where this info might be found) etc., of this type of building. Any info would be greatly appreciated and would be a great help in developing this project.

Thanks a lot! (Gotta run to get some mountains built...!)

Gus.

 

[MasonJar]

Hi Gus,

There are lots of pictures here on The Gauge. I know that Robin has built a single stall engine house click here to see it.

I put together a laser cut kit of a similar structure - click for Gauge pics here or here to download a pdf of my club's newsletter with an article I wrote.

You say that you want to make a wooden roundhouse. Most "true" (i.e. around a turntable) roundhouses I have seen are either stone, concrete or brick. However, I think that the British Columbia archives (google them...) has a few pictures of a wooden roundhouse - and there is no turntable! Just a series of turnouts to get into each stall. More common though was a single stall house made of wood, as in the pictures above.

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out - pictures are always welcome!

Andrew

 

[Greg Elems]

The Western Pacific had a wooden round house in Oroville California. It housed diesels until burned down in the early 70's IIRC. Also an old time round house still exists in Jamestown California on the Sierra Railroad. That might be more in line with what you are looking for.

Greg Elems

 

[steamhead]

Hi,
I've looked at all your tips, and googled the Western Pacific lead....Boy...!!!!don't ever google...unless you're prepared to spend several hours following one link after another. There's just a tremendous amount of train-related info out there!!
Oh yes, I've also found some info on wooden roundhouses...
Gus.