Railway roundhouse
[2] Most modern diesel and electric locomotives can run equally well in either direction, and many are push-pull trains with control cabs at each end.
Because of the advent of these practices, modern roundhouses are frequently not round and are simply large buildings used for servicing locomotives.
The alternative term engine-house encompasses both semi-circular and rectangular structures and broadly describes all buildings intended for storage and servicing of locomotives.
[3] Shops or workshops are buildings containing hoists and heavy machinery capable of major repairs beyond routine servicing.
In North America, regular daily serving began with a hostler moving an engine to an ash pit to remove the detritus of burned wood or coal.
[1] At larger 24-hour North American roundhouses, steam locomotives would often be turned around and made ready for service within a few hours of arrival.
Larger roundhouses were adequately staffed with boilermakers, blacksmiths, and pipefitters so that this work could be accomplished on-site; only the most extensive work, such as major unexpected repairs or scheduled major maintenance, required the transport of locomotives to specialized backshops.
Its demolition in 1962 to make way for the Turcot Interchange illustrated a profound change in transportation habits across North America.
Many smaller roundhouses are still in use today as fully operational buildings on a few private and third-sector railways.
One of these structures is the museum roundhouse, the oldest reinforced concrete car shed extant in Japan.
[15] The museum roundhouse in Wolsztyn, in western Poland, continued to supply steam locomotives for regular national rail services as of 2011.
Probably the first railway roundhouse, designed by Robert Stephenson, was built in 1837 in Birmingham, at Curzon Street station.
[16] Its central turntable, inspection pits, and an exterior wall were uncovered in March 2020 during work to build the HS2 line.
[18]This roundhouse narrowly escaped demolition when the works closed down, and was classified as a listed building.
It was restored in 2010, being converted into a brand new site for Derby College, with a new addition called the 'Stephenson Building' including the other survival of demolition – the original Midland Counties Railway workshop.
[19] The Fenton, Murray and Jackson building in Leeds (1831–1843), a private workshop, may previously have been laid out in a radial pattern like a roundhouse.
The Roundhouse, Chalk Farm, London was built in 1847, but was too small for its function within 20 years; it is now an arts center and concert venue.
Early roundhouses, especially those built in cold climates, were fully enclosed, with the turntable as well as the stalls under cover.
The vast majority of roundhouses were torn down beginning in the 1950s as railroads converted from steam to diesel-electric power, which needed far less maintenance.
[23] The only roundhouse still in use as a locomotive servicing facility by the same railroad that constructed it is the Long Island engine house in Queens, New York.
[25] The roundhouse in Aurora, Illinois, constructed in 1856, was purchased and restored by NFL football player Walter Payton in 1995.
