European Railroad Discussion > Need Your Input

... on double turntables...

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,3587279,3587312#msg-3587312

This is a very interesting topic, as it highlights some of the similarities and differences between North America and Europe. Roundhouses with an external turntable such as that shown on the pictures were very common in continental Europe (as in the US), but quite rare in the UK. Double turntable arrangements as at Hamburg Altona were certainly unknown in the UK, but clearly existed in Germany and elsewhere, although I have never seen one!

Here in Britain the pattern was much more commonly to have a straight shed with a turntable at one end of an external yard, or occasionally a covered round house (as at York or Barrow Hill, both still standing) where the turntable was indoors as well. Most spectacular of all was the shed at Old Oak Common in west London, which was the London HQ for Great Western Railway locos. This had four turntables each with radiating loco tracks, which linked up to form a square, all under one roof! Even better, the turntables were all boarded to make rotating discs, like in a theatre. This lasted until the early 1960s, when the main shed was demolished, and one turntable was kept on in the open, for diesel locos, which has now recently been also been removed.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/14 14:26 by spflow.

We had turntables inside roundhouses too but very early. The only one that I'm aware in existence today is the set-up at the B&O Railroad Museum. I think the Wabash Railroad, until the early part of the twentieth century, had three.

Victor A. Baird
http://www.erstwhilepublications.com

Unfortunately it looks like this structure from Hamburg Altona was removed years ago. Only remains of the structures seem to exist now.

There are two turntables in the "round" house next to the Riihimaki, Finland, passenger station, visible on Google Earth. They are rather short and do not overlap. Gerry

In the original post on "Steam & Excursion" there was a question what the building extending from the stalls towards the turntables could be. his is the loc administration office (Lokleitungs). Pictures from the building can be found at this site by using the search term BW Altona in the field called "Surche". The second and third pictures are from the building. There is also a lot of other photos of the German railroads at this site
http://www.eisenbahnstiftung.de/bildergalerie