Moline Round house revisited

[jssand]

I just discovered this group and joined. I found you through the 2008 discussion of the roundhouse in Moline. I too would love to find a photo of that structure. I am the author of the pages at http://atsfrr.net/resources/Sandifer/Howard/index.htm and I model several places on the Howard District of the ATSF including Moline. You can see my model at http://ssandifer.com/Lay/Howard/Index.htm. 

I know many railroaders who use engine house and roundhouse interchangeable. Many "roundhouses" were not round and did not have a turntable. As was mentioned, the wye on the east side of Moline was available to turn engines. Grand Summit is a pretty steep grade on the railroad, so a helper engine was kept at Moline in the steam and early diesel era to assist trains getting up the hill. I was told that most of the helpers backed down to Moline, but if there was a turntable at Grenola they could be turned to return in a forward position.

Mention was made of doodlebugs, self propelled passenger cars. Therse ran daily east and west through Moline, but not up the Howard District. That train was a mixed train - freight cars followed by a passenger car instead of a caboose. 

[W. Gray]

Welcome Jssand. I was waiting for the "Big Mama" to move your post to the Good Old Days before I replied.

My defunct HO layout was called the Sibley, Six-Mile, & Western RR. In its hey day, I sent a life time free pass to President Truman to ride the SSM&W's crack passenger superliner, the Osage Warrior. I even got a response back from him. The area  of modeling was in the eastern Jackson County, Missouri, area around the restored Fort Osage on the Missouri River.

At one time, there was pretty good number of model railroaders exchanging passes, apparently a sub-hobby started by Railroad Craftsman magazine in the 40s or 50s.

As a note, the Osage in that general area of Missouri who eventually came to the pre-Elk County area and are now directly to the south in Osage County, Oklahoma, were one and the same. The federal government moved them and the Missouri tribe out of Missouri so they would not be in the way when Missouri became a state.

Grenola had a turntable in the 1880s but I could not say when it was taken out. So you were probably given the correct information about the helper engines backing their way to Moline from Grand Summit.

That is a very nice track plan you have but I think I noted that it does not seem to have a spot for Howard on the Howard Branch. I might have missed it, though.

Also noted that you included Climax, the former home of James Burke, the young teenage "Climax Switchmaster." I cringed when I read that the good ole boys on the Howard Branch were letting him to that.

I went into the Howard library just last week and was delighted that they had both volumes of his book.

There are a few self professed railroaders on this forum.

A few years ago, I went into the Benson Museum in Howard looking for railroad stuff but all they had was a desk from the old depot. And that was being used for administrative purposes.