CVRA7 wrote: ↑Wed Jan 07, 2009 1:56 pm
Existing Roundhouses or preserved remnants in Southern New England:
CT
Old Saybrook (foundation, turntable pit)
Putnam (small roundhouse-maybe 4 or so stalls, now part of commercial building)
Willimantic (excellent replica on original foundation, with turntable - Conn. Eastern RR Museum at Columbia Jct.)
(Cedar Hill houses gone - 1 c late 1960s, larger one c. 1980s; also ex-NH house in E Hartford burned down several years ago)
I am glad someone mentioned the one in Old Saybrook that was on the Fenwick Extension as a part of the original Connecticut Valley Railroad. You can visit it today, as it is on the National Register of Historic Places. Before the turntable, it was Fort Saybrook, used to protect colonists from Native American tribes; rebuilt again for the American Revolutionary War (but never used), and rebuilt again for The War of 1812.
There was also a turntable used to turn 4-4-0's somewhere between today's milepost 11 and 12 on the Valley Railroad. It is just south of the Route 82 crossing, in the woods. I believe the only indication left is a small indent in the ground, where the turntable would pivot on, but I can't recall 100%. Someone else from FVRR or a VRR staff member can probably offer more information on it, I don't know if it had a roundhouse or not. Unsure of the exact coordinates, I circled the approximate location on Google Maps for anyone interested:
I believe there was also a turntable & roundhouse in Middletown along the Connecticut Valley Railroad, as indicated here from the CT 1934 Fairchild Aerial Survey Co. collection (via UConn MAGIC database):
It looks like it was where the current East Berlin Running Track is; today it resembles a small yard used by the Providence & Worcester Railroad to store and shuffle cars.
There was also a turntable (once again, unsure if there was a roundhouse or not) in the small village of Rockville, CT (now Vernon) on the Vernon Rail Trail, which is a part of the Hop River Rail Trail that runs from Manchester to Willimantic. It is a great ~20 mile trail to walk/bike on that I would recommend. The remains are a pit with an informational plaque, parking located at 51 Church St, Vernon, CT.