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| Re: Has anyone Seen (630526) | |||
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Re: Has anyone Seen |
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Posted by trainsarefun on Sun Jun 8 21:04:01 2008, in response to Re: Has anyone Seen, posted by JournalSquare-K-Car on Sun Jun 8 20:46:16 2008. I can't say that I've ever been to LIRR's shops, but consider this description of the PRR locomotive plant:http://www.steamlocomotive.com/GG1/juniata.shtml "As the Pennsylvania Railroad pushed west in 1850, it established an engine house at the base of the Allegheny Mountains where trains could be broken up or additional locomotives added to climb the heavy grades westward. This location now in the City of Altoona, PA. and the engine house with its small shop buildings grew into the largest complex of railroad shops in the world. In 1866, locomotives were being built new in the Altoona Works in a shop known as the Altoona Machine Shop. The PRR built a total of 2,289 steam locomotives in this shop before it was converted into a locomotive repair shop in January, 1904. A new locomotive erecting facility was opened in July, 1891 at the Altoona Works and for a while it was operated simultaneously with the Altoona Machine Shop. The new facility, known as the Juniata Shops, built a total of 4,584 new steam and electric locomotives until it ceased building locomotives in June, 1946. The last locomotive outshopped was a T-1, number 5524. The name Juniata was dropped in 1928, in favor of referring to the entire complex as the Altoona Works. The first locomotive testing facility ever built went into operation at the Altoona Works. A unique locomotive test plant was designed by the PRR and it was operated as an exhibit at the Wolds Fair held in St Louis, Mo. After the Fair, in 1905, the plant was install in at the Altoona Works. This plant was a test stand that let the locomotive being tested run on rotating drums that could be regulated through braking to simulate the load of a train under various operating conditions. At its high point, the Altoona Works consisted of four units: the 12 th Street Car Shop, the Altoona Car Shop, the Juniata Shops and the South Altoona Foundries. These four units were comprised of 122 buildings containing 37 acres of floor space, 4,500 machine tools, and 94 overhead cranes. The complex employed 13,000 people and the rail yard alone covered 218 acres. Between April,1935 and June,1943, the Juniata Shops built a total of 124 GG1 locomotives." This is from a 1911 description of PRR production: http://www.trainweb.org/horseshoecurve-nrhs/S_Alto.htm "The Altoona Shops of the Pennsylvania System embrace five general departments as follows: Altoona Machine Shops, Altoona Car Shops, Juniata Shops, East Altoona Engine House and South Altoona Founderies. They cover a yard area of 242 acres and embrace a floor area of 48 acres. Altoona Machine Shops comprise all that body of buildings extending from below Twelfth Street to Sixteenth Street. Here are located buildings having an aggregate frontage of more than three miles, all constructed of stone or brick, and occupied by the best machinery for locomotive building and repairing that modern ingenuity can devise. The Altoona Machine Shops include thirty-six departments, the total floor area being nearly 16 acres giving employment to over 4,000 men. At the Altoona Car Shops in the southern section of the city, is located the yard enclosing the immense round house (largest in the world) and the construction and car shops. They cover an area of 65 acres, while the floor area of the buildings is 16 acres, divided into thirty departments, giving employment to nearly 4,000 men. Here are manufactured and repaired passenger, mail, parlor and sleeping cars. Like the Altoona machine shops, it is a giant plant, one of the largest of its kind in the world, but even by this statement their magnitude cannot be comprehended. It is necessary to see them running to realize their extent and capabilities. The Juniata Locomotive Shops are located a short distance from the eastern boundary of the city. Their total area is 6 1/2 acres and the number of men employed about 1,600. These men are employed solely in the production of steam and electric engines. There are two immense blacksmith shops in which are employed over 1,000 men. The East Altoona Round House is one of the largest structures of its kind in the world, and is said to have cost one million dollars. It is 395 feet in diameter. There is a turn table 75 feet in diameter, and the total area of all the shops of this department is 4 1/2 acres, while the yards cover 34 acres, an average of 300 locomotives are handled per day, and 750 men employed. The South Altoona Foundries, including shops and cover a tract of 84 acres, the floor area of the buildings being 7 1/2 acres. Here are manufactured all wheels used in the various departments of the locomotive and car shops, the operations giving employment to 950 men. The shipping facilities of Altoona are therefore unexcelled, and the city has sixty passenger trains daily." Are you REALLY comparing that kind of production power to LIRR's Hillside Maintenance Facility or Morris Park Shop? |
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