Steam & Excursion > You Rarely Got To See Inside This Dark Cavern Of The Iron Horse!

Certain landmarks of the steam era are famous for both their design and their physical location. One such landmark was the great stone roundhouse of the Southern Pacific at Truckee, California.

This imposing fully round structure was quite visible in the center of the SP Truckee yards on the long climb from Sparks, Nevada to Donner Pass. She had a full roof over all 22 of the stalls in the roundhouse to prevent the heavy winter snows from fouling the the operation of the 62-foot turntable during winter months.

While photos of the outside of this massive structure are fairly common, not so with photos inside the bowls of this dark cavernous building. Here is one of the rare photographs taken inside this roundhouse back in 1922. Here we see SP 4-6-0 #2178 outfitted as the SP fire engine ready to protect the miles of snowsheds on the line from the threat of fires.

Given the difficulty involved in recovery inside this roofed building should a locomotive wander into the turntable pit, we see that the pit has been entirely covered. Just one of the many unique aspects of this famous structure.

While this roundhouse was certainly impressive from the outside, just imagine the sights, sounds an smells involved in working inside this building when nshe was full of hot steam motive power.

Martin



Edited 7 time(s). Last edit at 02/13/18 03:39 by LoggerHogger.

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Excellent image of SP locomotive inside the Truckee, CA, roundhouse - 1922 no less! Thanks for sharing this gem. When did SP's Truckee roundhouse get demolished?

cozephyr Wrote:
When did SP's Truckee
> roundhouse get demolished?

The roof was removed from the building in the summer of 1939.

Martin

Did the Chinese help construct this building or the Irish with there masonry skills.?

Very cool picture. It's interesting that they did a cobblestone floor but did nothing to fill in the cracks. The covered turntable is also interesting. It looks like you could use an Atlas one for a HO model.

Wonder if they filled it with sand when built and it along with part of each brick left over the years. Don't think I could with my skills walking would fit too well working there. Had enough trouble with cracks in the floors where I worked.

czuleget Wrote:

> Did the Chinese help construct this building or the Irish with there(sic) masonry skills.?


Truckee's stone roundhouse was not built at the time the rail line over the Sierras was constructed. It was erected in 1882 and replaced an earlier roundhouse that almost certainly was of wood construction. Pertinent articles:

Sept. 7, 1882 Reno Evening Gazette - reported that tearing down of the old Truckee roundhouse has commenced and that the new one is about complete.

Sept. 25, 1882 Reno Evening Gazette - reported that the stonecutters for the Truckee roundhouse have been discharged, to go to Wadsworth.

Oct. 19, 1882 Reno Evening Gazette - reported corrugated iron roof being put on the new Truckee roundhouse.

Nov. 20, 1882 Reno Evening Gazette - reported finishing touches and painting are being done, that all the engines are now in the new roundhouse and that the old roundhouse has been torn down.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 02/16/18 12:41 by johnsweetser.