The two-story building was designed for a narrow site between the railroad tracks and the Merced River at Bagby.

A gabled standing seam metal roof runs over both tanks, whose wood sides are held with iron bands.

It is reputed to be the last manually operated gallows-frame standard-gauge turntable left in the United States.

The central gallows is a 16-foot (4.9 m) timber frame, with a king post truss composed of one-inch iron rods from the frame to the ends of the turntable.The turntable pivoted on wheels running on a single circular rail, 8 feet (2.4 m) in diameter.

[1] Media related to Bagby Stationhouse, Water Tanks and Turntable at Wikimedia Commons