Turntables in the early 20th Century.

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Since the original question about turntables in Southwest Virginia seems to have expanded to early turntables ingeneral I will note that turntables in the early coalfields were  fairly common.  My book "Gary Hollow" has a picture of the turntable at Wilcoe in 1904 on page 134.  Wilcoe had a turntable up to the time it closed in the mid-1959s, but it never had a roundhouse even though one was proposed, but never built.  The following is an excerpt from the book  I am currently working on.

Morgan  
 

Morgan was the name given by the N&W Railway to its original engine terminal facilities near Elkhorn.  Morgan was located approximately one mile east of the Elkhorn train station and two tenths of a mile west of the Crozer Coal & Coke Company operation.  Among the first facilities built at Morgan in 1888 was a 52-foot wooden turntable.  As the railroad moved west toward Eckman and Vivian the facilities at Morgan were removed.  Locomotive watering services were maintained at Morgan for some time.  In 1904 the pumping station at Morgan was increased in capacity as an eight inch well was drilled at Morgan.  This was followed in 1906 by the erection of a water softening plant at Morgan

In 1894 there was a 75 foot turntable at Vivian and in 1908 a 75 foot turntable was erected at Berwind. There were also a turntable at Welch by 1903.  I suspect that Mason Cooper's new book will provide information on all of these. 

Alex Schust
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