The Roundhouse

The Roundhouse. . Every divisional point had an engine house or “shop” as it was commonly referred to. It was in these structures that after each run, steam locomotives were checked, cleaned, and miscellaneous light repairs performed. The “roundhouse,” known as such because of its circular layout, was the most common form of engine house in North America, and to railways. In conjunction with a turntable, tracks ran radially into the individual stalls of the roundhouse. A pit, located between the rails of each stall enable workmen to inspect and make repairs to the underside of locomotives., The Big Valley roundhouse was built in three sections. The original five stalls in 1913, the machine shop boilerhouse annex in 1917, and the last five stalls the following year. It saw little use after operations had shifted to Mirror in the late 1920', and finally during World War II, the roundhouse was stripped, leaving only this abandoned concrete shell., The original portion of the roundhouse walls remain intact, while the east side of the 1919 addition were collapsed in the 1950's when the structure was used as a hay-shed by a local farmer.
, [Captions] , . (Top) 10-stall Big Valley roundhouse - view from the coal dock, circa 1925. Note the the boiler stacks behind the roundhouse. , . (Bottom) Steam locomotives such as CNR 4-6-2 “Pacific Class” 5617 were used extensively on the Calgary to Edmonton passenger train and operated through via Big Valley. Ed Johnston and Jack Scott are the engine crew in this view from the fall of 1935.