Thursday, December 20, 2018

Port Huron, MI: Roundhouses

(A blog posting about the C&O roundhouse)

While looking for the 6-stall round house talked about in this article: CSX readies Michigan roundhouse for donation (source), I discovered the land scar of a big roundhouse (below). (Caution: TheTimesHearld has an absolute pay count.) Another article about CSX donating instead of destroying (source) And another article   
David Cofield, CSX project monitor-inspector for asbestos abatement removal projects, says crews started working in Port Huron Township this month. The Times Herald reports that they soon heard from concerned railroad history buffs worried about losing the historic structure. Plans initially called for clearing the site about 55 miles (88 kilometers) northeast of Detroit, but Cofield says the project has changed to environmental cleanup and salvage. [USnews]
So the cost of  asbestos containment during demolition was probably high enough that just removing the asbestos might be cheaper. Or maybe CSX has had enough derailments that they feel the need to get some good PR. Or maybe some of that corporate tax cut is actually trickling down rather than just buying back shares.


I believe this was GTW's roundhouse. You can see that some of the stalls were longer than the others to accommodate larger steam locomotives.
Satellite
Fortunately, the second article gave an address for the existing roundhouse. It is too bad CSX didn't donate it before the roof fell in.
Satellite

David Combs, May 2018
David Combs, May 2018
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The C&O roundhouse was originally Pere Marquette. This page (source) has several photos. It claims it is by 16th Street. But I couldn't find one over there. The photos look similar to this Street View.
Street View

CSX has agreed to give the roundhouse to the Port Huron and Detroit Railroad Historical Society. 


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