Untitled Document
The Oneonta Roundhouse
By Jim Loudon.
Softcover, 8.5x11", photos, maps, diagrams, schematics, 100 pages. 1993.
"The Oneonta Roundhouse provides the definitive account of the birth, life, and death of the world's largest railroad roundhouse, built in the early 1900s in Oneonta, New York.
"Jim Loudon, a founding member of the Leatherstocking Railway Historical Society, describes in detail the earlier roundhouses built on the site by the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, and how the company's rapid growth led to the turntable's expansion. He provides specific information about the background politics and the construction of the primary roundhouse, and the improvements made to the monumental building over the years. The book is heavily illustrated, with 122 photos and 53 maps and diagrams, including full schematics for the roundhouse, turntable, and adjacent buildings. Other chapters focus on the D&H's Challenger locomotives, and the coal pocket fire of 1946 that ultimately ended in tragedy. The book's epilogue chapter includes Loudon's photographs of the building's twilight, taken only months before the remaining structure was dismantled."
