HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

In
rail terminology Rail or rails may refer to: Rail transport *Rail transport and related matters *Rail (rail transport) or railway lines, the running surface of a railway Arts and media Film * ''Rails'' (film), a 1929 Italian film by Mario Camerini * ''Rail'' ( ...
, a railway turntable or wheelhouse is a device for turning railway
rolling stock The term rolling stock in the rail transport industry refers to railway vehicles, including both powered and unpowered vehicles: for example, locomotives, freight and passenger cars (or coaches), and non-revenue cars. Passenger vehicles can ...
, usually locomotives, so that they can be moved back in the direction from which they came. Naturally, it is especially used in areas where economic considerations or a lack of sufficient space have served to weigh against the construction of a turnaround wye. In the case of
steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomo ...
, railways needed a way to turn the locomotives around for return trips as their controls were often not configured for extended periods of running in reverse and in many locomotives the top speed was lower in reverse motion. In the case of diesel locomotives, though most can be operated in either direction, they are treated as having "front ends" and "rear ends" (often determined by reference to the location of the crew cab). When operated as a single unit, the railway company often prefers, or requires, that a diesel locomotive is run "front end" first. When operated as part of a multiple unit locomotive consist, the locomotives can be arranged so that the consist can be operated "front end first" no matter which direction the consist is pointed. Turntables were also used to turn
observation car An observation car/carriage/coach (in US English, often abbreviated to simply observation or obs) is a type of railroad passenger car, generally operated in a passenger train as the rearmost carriage, with windows or a platform on the rear of t ...
s so that their windowed lounge ends faced toward the rear of the train.


History

Early wagonways were
industrial railway An industrial railway is a type of railway (usually private) that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, logistics, or military site. In regions of the world influenced by British ra ...
s for transporting goods—initially bulky and heavy items, particularly mined stone, ores and coal—from one point to another, most often to a dockside to be loaded onto ships. These early wagonways used a single point-to-point track, and when operators had to move a truck to another wagonway, they did so by hand. The lack of switching technology seriously limited the weight of any loaded wagon combination. The first
railway switch A railroad switch (), turnout, or ''set ofpoints () is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another, such as at a railway junction or where a spur or siding branches off. The most common type ...
es were in fact wagon turnplates or sliding rails. Turnplates were initially made of two or four pieces of wood, circular in form, that replicated the track running through them. Their diameter matched that of the wagons used on any given wagonway, and they swung around a central pivot. Loaded wagons could be moved onto the turnplate, and rotating the turnplate 90 degrees allowed the loaded wagon to be moved to another piece of wagonway. Thus, wagon weight was limited only by the strength of the wood used in the turnplates or sliding rails. When iron and later steel replaced stone and wood, weight capacity rose again. However, the problems with turnplates and sliding rails were twofold. First, they were relatively small (often no more than in length), which limited the wagon length that could be turned. Second, their switching capacity could only be accessed when the wagon was on top of them and still, which limited the total capacity of any wagonway. The
railway switch A railroad switch (), turnout, or ''set ofpoints () is a mechanical installation enabling railway trains to be guided from one track to another, such as at a railway junction or where a spur or siding branches off. The most common type ...
, which overcame both of these problems, was patented by Charles Fox in 1832. As steam locomotives replaced horses as the preferred means of power, they became optimised to run in only one direction for operational ease and to provide some weather protection. The resulting need to turn heavy locomotives required an engineering upgrade to the existing turnplate technology. Like earlier turnplates, most new turntables consisted of a circular pit in which a steel bridge rotated. The bridge was typically supported and balanced by the central pivot, to reduce the total load on the pivot and to allow easy turning. This was most often achieved by a steel rail running around the floor of the pit that supported the ends of the bridge when a locomotive entered or exited. The turntables had a positive locking mechanism to prevent undesired rotation and to align the bridge rails with the exit track. Rotation of the bridge could be accomplished manually (either by brute force or with a windlass system), popularly called an "Armstrong" turntable, by an external power source, or by the braking system of the locomotive itself, though this required a locomotive to be on the table for it to be rotated. The turntable bridge (the part of the turntable that included the tracks and that swivelled to turn the equipment) could span from , depending on the railway's needs. Larger turntables were installed in maintenance facilities for longer locomotives, while short line and
narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller struc ...
railways typically used smaller turntables. Turntables as small as in diameter have been installed in some industrial facilities where pieces of equipment are small enough to be pushed one at a time by humans or horsepower.


Roundhouse

In engine maintenance facilities, a turntable was usually surrounded, in part or in whole, by a roundhouse. It was more common for the roundhouse to only cover a portion of the land around a turntable but fully circular roundhouses exist, such as these preserved roundhouses: * The roundhouse that serves as the basis for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, MD * The Roundhouse in
London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
,
England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...
, now an arts centre. * Junee Roundhouse Railway Museum


By country


Great Britain

In
Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, where steam hauled trains generally have vacuum operated brakes, it was quite common for turntables to be operated by vacuum motors worked from the locomotive's vacuum ejector or pump via a flexible hose or pipe, although a few manually and electrically operated examples exist. The major manufacturers were Ransomes and Rapier, Ipswich and Cowans Sheldon, Carlisle. The GWR was the railway company that built several tables for its own use; there is little evidence any other companies did so.


Hungary

Miskolc Tiszai railway station retains an active turntable as of December 2021.


India

There was a turntable at the
Talaguppa Talaguppa is a village located in Sagara Taluk in Karnataka State, India. The National Highway No.206 (Bengaluru - Honnavara) passes through Talaguppa village. The village is 14.37 km from the taluk's center Sagara, 77.68 km from ...
end of the
Shimoga-Talaguppa railway Mysore State Railway (MSR) was a railway which operated in Mysore state, India. MSR became a part of Southern Railway on 14 April 1951. History In 1879, the Madras Railway Company Constructed a railway line from Madras Royapuram to Bangalor ...
, and one at Howbagh Railway Station near
Jabalpur Jabalpur is a city situated on the banks of Narmada River in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. According to the 2011 census, it is the third-largest urban agglomeration in Madhya Pradesh and the country's 38th-largest urban agglomeration. J ...
on the Balaghat-Jabalpur Narrow Gauge Line. Both were used to turn the
railbus A railbus is a lightweight passenger railcar that shares many aspects of its construction with a bus, typically having a bus (original or modified) body and four wheels on a fixed base, instead of on bogies. Originally designed and developed ...
es serving on these lines. After railbuses were replaced by
MEMU On Indian Railways, the MEMUs are electric multiple unit (EMU) trains that serve short and medium-distance routes in India, as compared to normal EMU trains that connect urban and suburban areas. The acronym stands for Mainline Electric Multipl ...
s, turntables were dismantled. In 2012, Mumbai Metro One, the
BOT Bot may refer to: Sciences Computing and technology * Chatbot, a computer program that converses in natural language * Internet bot, a software application that runs automated tasks (scripts) over the Internet **a Spambot, an internet bot des ...
operator of the Mumbai Metro Line 1, announced that it had procured turntables to be used on the Rapid Transit system.


Israel

The Israel Railway Museum, Haifa, has a turntable which was made by Metropolitan Carriage, Wagon & Finance Company, Old Park Works, Wednesbury. It was found buried in the grounds of the Israel Defense Forces History Museum, which is on the site of the old Jaffa railway station yard.


Romania

Like most ex-socialist countries of Eastern Europe, Romania still has several turntables in operational use. One can even see twin turntables, each with their own 180 degree roundhouse, like for one example at Timisoara.


Sri Lanka

In
Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...
, most turntables which were used in the steam area have been abandoned. Most were situated at the major railway yards like
Kandy Kandy ( si, මහනුවර ''Mahanuwara'', ; ta, கண்டி Kandy, ) is a major city in Sri Lanka located in the Central Province. It was the last capital of the ancient kings' era of Sri Lanka. The city lies in the midst of hills ...
, Galle, Nanu Oya,
Anuradhapura Anuradhapura ( si, අනුරාධපුරය, translit=Anurādhapuraya; ta, அனுராதபுரம், translit=Aṉurātapuram) is a major city located in north central plain of Sri Lanka. It is the capital city of North Central P ...
, Maho, Galoya,
Trincomalee Trincomalee (; ta, திருகோணமலை, translit=Tirukōṇamalai; si, ත්‍රිකුණාමළය, translit= Trikuṇāmaḷaya), also known as Gokanna and Gokarna, is the administrative headquarters of the Trincomalee Dis ...
,
Batticaloa Batticaloa ( ta, மட்டக்களப்பு, ''Maṭṭakkaḷappu''; si, මඩකලපුව, ''Maḍakalapuwa'') is a major city in the Eastern Province, Sri Lanka, and its former capital. It is the administrative capital of the ...
, Polgahawela Jnc, Badulla, Puttulam, and Bandarawela and depots in
Dematagoda 2no. Dematagoda is in Colombo, Sri Lanka represented by divisional code 9 (Colombo 09). It is surrounded by Borella, Maradana and Kolonnawa. The Baseline Road passes through Dematagoda. The famous Sri Lankan Tamil broadcaster of Radio Ceylon fame, B. ...
and
Maradana Maradana is a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka. Maradana is the site of Maradana Railway Station, one of the primary railway hubs in the country, serving intercity rail and commuter rail. Maradana also has many railway yards and running sheds. A t ...
. All turntables in
Sri Lanka Railways The Sri Lanka Railway Department (more commonly known as Sri Lanka Railways (SLR)) ( Sinhala: ශ්‍රී ලංකා දුම්රිය සේවය ''Śrī Laṃkā Dumriya Sēvaya''; Tamil: இலங்கை புகையிர� ...
were operated manually. They were used to turn some rolling stock and non-dual cab locomotives. Most turntables were later scrapped, though some have been preserved in museums.


USA

Due to the asymmetric design of many locomotives, turntables still in use are more common in North America than in
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
, where locomotive design favors configurations with a controller cabin on both ends or in the middle. In San Francisco, USA, the Powell
cable car Cable car most commonly refers to the following cable transportation systems: * Aerial lift, such as aerial tramways and gondola lifts, in which the vehicle is suspended in the air from a cable ** Aerial tramway ** Chairlift ** Gondola lift ** ...
line uses turntables at the end of the routes, since the cable cars have operating controls at only one end of the car. The Long Island Rail Road still has a turntable and roundhouse at the Richmond Hills yard.


Surviving turntables

Several working examples remain, many on heritage railways in Great Britain, and also in the United States. Some examples include: * Aberdeen, Ferryhill - 1906 70' Ransomes and Rapier (Restored by Ferryhill Railway Heritage Trust and in regular use for steam charters to Aberdeen since 2019 http://www.frht.org.uk) * Aviemore - ex Kyle of Lochalsh * Barrow Hill Cowans Sheldon 5231/1931 *
Bryson City, North Carolina Bryson City is a town in Swain County, North Carolina in the United States. The population was 1558 as of the 2020 Census. It is the county seat of Swain County. Located in what was historically the land of the Cherokee, Bryson City was founded as ...
- Great Smoky Mountains Railroad (Bethlehem Steel, 1937 ex-Bangor & Aroostook) * Carnforth *
Chattanooga, Tennessee Chattanooga ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Hamilton County, Tennessee, United States. Located along the Tennessee River bordering Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia, it also extends into Marion County, Tennessee, Marion County on its west ...
-
Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum is a railroad museum and heritage railroad in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum was founded as a chapter of the National Railway Historical Society in 1960 by Paul H. Merriman ...
Soule Shops (American Bridge Company, 1916; ex-Central of Georgia Railway) * Chunghua, Taiwan - Still working with roundhouse and open to the public
synapticism.com
* Conklin, New York - Working 78-foot turntable at East Binghamton railroad yard (built in the 1990s), operated by
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...
. Old roundhouse still survives near the yard on private property, currently in poor condition. Filled-in turntable base for the roundhouse can still be seen as well. * Currie, Minnesota's End O' Line Railroad Park & Museum *
Churston Churston Ferrers is an area and former civil parish, in the borough of Torbay, Devon, England, situated between the south coast towns of Paignton and Brixham. Today it is administered by local government as the Churston-with-Galmpton ward of th ...
ex Goodrington * Cultra; Ulster Folk and Transport Museum (Northern Ireland); 60’ Ransomes and Rapier table ex Athenry, Co. Galway. Covered over with flooring; can be operated when required. * Derby Works - within Bombardiers site, ca. 72' dia.. ( 52.905126,-1.457706 ) * Derby Roundhouse - table is in situ; but under the floor - see (http://www.railblue.com/pages/Related%20Rail%20Blue%20Info/DLWorks.revist.htm) * Dublin, Connolly Locomotive Depot; (Republic of Ireland) 55' (Manuf. and date not known) sees regular use. * Dublin,
Connolly Station Connolly station ( ga, Stáisiún Uí Chonghaile) or Dublin Connolly is one of the busiest railway stations in Dublin and Ireland, and is a focal point in the Irish route network. On the North side of the River Liffey, it provides InterCi ...
;(Republic of Ireland) Cowans Sheldon 4369/1924 ; 45' dia; still sees occasional use. * Dallas (McKinney Avenue) * Darlington North Road - out of use south of the station, west side of line. *
Didcot Didcot ( ) is a railway town and civil parish in the ceremonial county of Oxfordshire and the historic county of Berkshire. Didcot is south of Oxford, east of Wantage and north west of Reading. The town is noted for its railway heritage ...
Ex Southampton Docks c.1976 - 70’ Ransomes and Rapier E2334/1935 * Fort William ex Marylebone, Cowans Sheldon CS 6355/1937, refurbished by RRMH 1999-2000 * Heaton, NoT * Hither Green; at rear of depot (ex Cannon Street table) *
Hornsey Hornsey is a district of north London, England in the London Borough of Haringey. It is an inner-suburban, for the most part residential, area centred north of Charing Cross. It adjoins green spaces Queen's Wood and Alexandra Park to the ...
Ferme Park; now removed to York and in use there 2012. * Guadalajara,
Ferromex Ferromex (syllabic abbreviation of Ferrocarril Mexicano or "Mexican Railway") is a private rail consortium that operates the largest (by mileage) railway in Mexico with combined mileage (Ferromex + Ferrosur) of and is part of the North Ameri ...

() *
Kidderminster Kidderminster is a large market and historic minster town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester. Located north of the River Stour and east of the River Severn, in the 2011 census, it h ...
ex Fort William; 70’ Cowans Sheldon 8710/1945 *
Keighley Keighley ( ) is a market town and a civil parish in the City of Bradford Borough of West Yorkshire, England. It is the second largest settlement in the borough, after Bradford. Keighley is north-west of Bradford city centre, north-west o ...
ex Garsdale, Cowans Sheldon of 1884 *
Rhaetian Railway The Rhaetian Railway (german: Rhätische Bahn; it, Ferrovia retica; rm, Viafier retica), abbreviated RhB, is a Swiss transport company that owns the largest network of all private railway operators in Switzerland. Headquartered in Chur, the R ...
, Landquart, (1889) and
Samedan Samedan (, ) is a town and municipality in the Maloja Region in the Swiss canton of Grisons. It is served by Samedan railway station on the Rhaetian Railway network and by the Samedan Airport. History Samedan is first mentioned in 1139 as ...
, Switzerland. Both are in use * Neville Hill * NRM York *
Old Oak Common Old Oak Common is an area of Hammersmith, in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, West London. Together with neighbouring Park Royal, the area is intended to become the UK's largest regeneration scheme, the scale of which has led to ...
the final one of the four: now removed to Swanage *
Oyster Bay Railroad Museum Oyster Bay is the terminus on the Oyster Bay Branch of the Long Island Rail Road. The station is located off Shore Avenue between Maxwell and Larabee Avenues. It is a sheltered concrete elevated platform that stands in the shadows of the origina ...
*
Port Jervis Port Jervis is a city located at the confluence of the Neversink and Delaware rivers in western Orange County, New York, United States, north of the Delaware Water Gap. Its population was 8,775 at the 2020 census. The communities of Deerpark, ...
Erie Turntable (ca. 1940s Port Jervis, New York) *
Railtown 1897 State Historic Park Railtown 1897 State Historic Park, and its operating entity, the Sierra Railway, is known as "The Movie Railroad." Both entities are a heritage railway and are a unit of the California State Park System. Railtown 1897 is located in Jamestown, C ...
in
Jamestown, California Jamestown is a census-designated place (CDP) in Tuolumne County, California, United States. The population was 3,433 at the 2010 census, up from 3,017 at the 2000 census. Formerly a California Gold Rush town, Jamestown is now a California His ...
*
Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the South ...
- Working 100-foot turntable (1917) in downtown district near the old Seaboard Station, operated by
CSX Transportation CSX Transportation , known colloquially as simply CSX, is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. The railroad operates approximately 21,000 route miles () of track. ...
. * Peak Rail, Rowsley South ex Mold Junction 60’, CS 6181/1937 * , part of
West Somerset Railway The West Somerset Railway (WSR) is a heritage railway line in Somerset, England. The freehold of the line and stations is owned by Somerset County Council; the railway is leased to and operated by West Somerset Railway plc (WSR plc); which ...
*
Pickering Pickering may refer to: Places Antarctica * Pickering Nunataks, Alexander Island Australia * Pickering, South Australia, the original name (1872–1940) of the town of Wool Bay * Pickering Brook, Western Australia, Australia Canada * Pic ...
- ex York * San Francisco cable car system – three in revenue service, one at car barn * Statfold Barn – new build ca.2007, ca.15’, triple gauge. * Scarborough - ex Gateshead * St Blazey, Cornwall. Roundhouse and associated working turntable * Summerville, Georgia-Chattooga and Chickamauga Railway *
Sudbury, Ontario Sudbury, officially the City of Greater Sudbury is the largest city in Northern Ontario by population, with a population of 166,004 at the 2021 Canadian Census. By land area, it is the largest in Ontario and the fifth largest in Canada. It is ...
- the 100-foot working electrically-powered turntable at Sudbury Yard, operated by
Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...
sees almost daily use in turning diesels for local and mainline service. *
Spencer, North Carolina Spencer is a town in Rowan County, North Carolina, United States, incorporated in 1905. As of the 2010 census, the town population was 3,267. History The town was named for Samuel Spencer, first president of the Southern Railway, who is credi ...
- Robert Julian Roundhouse and 100-foot working turntable (1924) at the historic
North Carolina Transportation Museum The North Carolina Transportation Museum is a museum in Spencer, North Carolina. It is a collection of automobiles, aircraft, and railway vehicles. The museum is located at the former Southern Railway's 1896-era Spencer Shops and devotes much o ...
. *
Swanage Swanage () is a coastal town and civil parish in the south east of Dorset, England. It is at the eastern end of the Isle of Purbeck and one of its two towns, approximately south of Poole and east of Dorchester. In the 2011 census the civi ...
55' ex Neasden LT * Swindon - old Works area; GWR 1902 65'; listed structure. * Tournon-sur-Rhone - Train De L'Ardeche, steam train with manually operated turntable in France. * Tyseley * Tanfield Rly. – Marley Hill - ca.15’ * Toronto Railway Museum Original 120-foot CPR John St Roundhouse turntable restored in situ and operational * Wansford *
West Seneca, New York West Seneca is a town in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 44,711 at the 2010 census. West Seneca is a centrally located interior town of the county, and a suburb of Buffalo. West Seneca, Orchard Park and Hamburg form the ...
- Pennsylvania Railroad Shops and Roundhouse with 108-foot turntable (1918) *
Yeovil Junction Yeovil Junction railway station is the busier, but less central, of two railway stations serving the town of Yeovil in England. The station is outside the town, in the village of Stoford. Although Yeovil is in Somerset, the station was in Dor ...
Cowans Sheldon works no. 9031 of ca.1946 * Whitehead (Northern Ireland) - installed 2016; ex Belfast Central Services Depot (Manufacturer, diameter and date not known) The following are in storage, awaiting installation at UK sites: * Barry Rly. – 65’ outer race. Dismantled (ex Bricklayers Arms 1970s; moved from Mid Hants Rly.) * North Norfolk Rly., Dismantled; to be installed at Holt 2017. Ex South Devon Rly. - (ex Hull Botanic Gardens in 2005; built 1955, 60 ft) * Midland Railway Centre – Swanwick Jnc. – Dismantled - Hand powered, Balanced 60’, (ex Chinley). * Severn Valley Rly. - Dismantled (ex Bristol Bath Road) Stored at Eardington. Intention is to install at Bridgnorth. 65’ 3’’ Ransom Rapier built 1957 * East Lancs Rly. – Dismantled (ex Germany) – stored at Buckley Wells * Dean Forest Rly. - Dismantled (ex Calais Shed, SNCF, ex MLST Loughborough.) * Mid Norfolk Rly. – 60’ Dismantled R&R 1933 (ex Hitchin LNER ; ex Quainton, never installed there) to be installed at Dereham. * WCRC; stored Dismantled at Carnforth ; was proposed for Weymouth; ex Tyseley Locomotive Works Ltd.(onetime proposal to install at Stratford upon Avon) - ex Thornaby * Swanage Rly. Furzebrook ex Old Oak Common Depot 2011 - BR (WR) 70’ /125T ?E CS 9709/53 in use at Old Oak Common until 2008, used for HST power car turning etc. * Mallaig, Network Rail – Dismantled, scheme to install the ex Whitchurch table which is stored at Corpach or Fort William. * Stainmore Rly.Co., Kirkby Stephen East; 50’ or? 65’, outer race, hand powered. Ex Darlington station. Moved 1/2017. New build turntable. Hitachi Rail Europe's rolling stock plant at Newton Aycliffe in County Durham has an 80 tonne locomotive turntable and a bogie test turntable; supplied by Lloyds British Somers Group in 2016. The former Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific (Milwaukee Road) in Janesville, Wisconsin. Used now by the regional Wisconsin & Southern


Accidents

In the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...
, when deciding liability for turntable accidents, most state courts followed the precedent set by the
United States Supreme Court The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point ...
in '' Sioux City & Pacific R.R. v. Stout'' (1873). In that case, a six-year-old child was playing on the unguarded, unfenced turntable when his friends began turning it. While attempting to get off, his foot became stuck and was crushed. The Court held that although the railroad was not bound by the same duty of care to strangers as it was to its passengers, it would be liable for negligence "if from the evidence given it might justly be inferred by the jury that the defendant, in the construction, location, management, or condition of its machine has omitted that care and attention to prevent the occurrence of accidents which prudent and careful men ordinarily bestow." In the case of '' Chicago B. & Q.R. Co. v. Krayenbuhl'' (1902), a four-year-old child was playing on an unlocked, unguarded railroad turntable. Other children set the turntable in motion, and it severed the ankle of the young child. The child's family sued the railroad company on a theory of negligence and won at trial. The Nebraska Supreme Court held that the railroad company may have been liable for negligence after considering the "character and location of the premises, the purpose for which they are used, the probability of injury therefrom, the precautions necessary to prevent such injury, and the relations such precautions bear to the beneficial use of the premises." However, the Supreme Court reversed the trial court's decision based on an improper jury instruction as to the evidence. Accidents to locomotives sometimes occurred. For example, if the turntable was incorrectly set and a locomotive was accidentally started or failed to stop, it might fall into the turntable pit. On rare occasions, a turntable would spin too fast during high winds, as happened at Garsdale ( Settle–Carlisle line) in the UK c.1900. At this very exposed location, this was resolved by surrounding the turntable with a wooden stockade made from old sleepers.


Unusual turntables

* The roundhouse in
Montluçon Montluçon (; oc, Montleçon ) is a commune in central France on the river Cher. It is the largest commune in the Allier department, although the department's prefecture is located in the smaller town of Moulins. Its inhabitants are known ...
, France, was equipped with a separate turntable and sector plate, which is a table pivoted at one end, in this case at the edge of the turntable. The sector plate served the side of the roundhouse that housed autorails with less requirement for turning. Both the turntable and sector plate were served by separate connections to the roundhouse. If turning was required the two could be connected together. The resulting roundhouse was not completely circular. Part of the roundhouse with the turntable is still extant. A similar, operational sector plate is located in Bavaria at the German Steam Locomotive Museum. * Due to a lack of space at Ventnor railway station, a small turntable was provided to allow steam engines to run around their trains. Other stations with this arrangement included ,
Withernsea Withernsea is a seaside resort and civil parish in Holderness, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. Its white inland lighthouse, rising around above Hull Road, now houses a museum to 1950s actress Kay Kendall, who was born in the town. Th ...
and . * There is a turntable for
trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...
es on the Solingen, Germany, trolleybus system, at the former southern end of route 683. The Unterburg trolleybus turntable was in regular use until November 2009, at which time the route was extended beyond it, but it remains operational and is used for special occasions. * The last remaining operational triple-gauge turntable in the world, used to station trains into the 23 bay roundhouse, exists at the
Steamtown Heritage Centre The Steamtown Heritage Rail Centre ("Centre") is a static railway museum based in the former railway workshops located in Peterborough, South Australia. Peterborough was the administrative and service centre for the Peterborough Division of ...
in
Peterborough, South Australia Peterborough is a town in the mid north of South Australia, in wheat country, just off the Barrier Highway. At the , Peterborough had a population of 1,419. It was originally named Petersburg after the landowner, Peter Doecke, who sold land t ...
. * A turntable exists on the
Midland Line, New Zealand The Midland line is a 212 km section of railway between Rolleston and Greymouth in the South Island of New Zealand. The line features five major bridges, five viaducts and 17 tunnels, the longest of which is the Otira tunnel. It is t ...
at Arthurs Pass in New Zealand. Steam engines on excursions cannot enter the Otira tunnel so must be turned around for the return


Multiple turntables

Stations housing large numbers of engines may have more than one turntable: * Old Oak Common TMD – formerly 4 * Enfield – formerly 3 (none survives today) * Broadmeadow – 2 *
Falun Falun () is a city and the seat of Falun Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 37,291 inhabitants in 2010. It is also the capital of Dalarna County. Falun forms, together with Borlänge, a metropolitan area with just over 100,000 inhabi ...
– 2 * Hallsberg – 2 *
Göteborg Gothenburg (; abbreviated Gbg; sv, Göteborg ) is the second-largest city in Sweden, fifth-largest in the Nordic countries, and capital of the Västra Götaland County. It is situated by the Kattegat, on the west coast of Sweden, and has ...
Sävenäs yard – 2 (Second removed ~2005) * Linwood – formerly 2 (second removed during 1980/1990s) *
Valladolid Valladolid () is a municipality in Spain and the primary seat of government and de facto capital of the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. It has a population around 300,000 peo ...
() – 2


See also

* List of railway roundhouses, most or all of which include a turntable *
Wye Wye may refer to: Place names *Wye, Kent, a village in Kent, England ** Wye College, agricultural college, part of University of London before closure in 2009 **Wye School, serving the above village ** Wye railway station, serving the above villa ...
– a way of turning whole trains. * Transfer table (UK: 'traverser') – provides access to two or more parallel tracks in a space saving manner like a turntable, but without the ability to turn. * A
Sector plate Sector may refer to: Places * Sector, West Virginia, U.S. Geometry * Circular sector, the portion of a disc enclosed by two radii and a circular arc * Hyperbolic sector, a region enclosed by two radii and a hyperbolic arc * Spherical sector, a ...
or
sector table Sector may refer to: Places * Sector, West Virginia, U.S. Geometry * Circular sector, the portion of a disc enclosed by two radii and a circular arc * Hyperbolic sector, a region enclosed by two radii and a hyperbolic arc * Spherical sector, a po ...
is a traverser that rotates around a pivot that is not at the centre and therefore cannot rotate through 360˚. * Nowadays control cars, or coaches with controls at one end, have largely eliminated the need for turntables. * Singapore and Hong Kong have a combined traverser-turntable that takes 4-car sets.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Railway turntable
Turntable A phonograph, in its later forms also called a gramophone (as a trademark since 1887, as a generic name in the UK since 1910) or since the 1940s called a record player, or more recently a turntable, is a device for the mechanical and analogu ...
Articles containing video clips Rail junction types