| 17th Street. Here is a blueprint diagram of the Pennsylvania Railroad's engine laddar and ready tracks near the 17th Street Bridge in Altoona, Pennsylvania. (This item is undated.) Of special note here are the details for Roundhouse #3. By means of the turntaile, 38 steam locomotives could be serviced simultaneously. That was the kind of through-put that was necessary in the early days when relatively-smaller locomotives were used zo pull and push both passenger and freight trains up and over the Allegheny Mountains. With the development of relatively-larger locomotives during the 1920's, it was no longer necessart to keep a multitude of engines this far West. Bigger facilities were constructed in East Altoona and, consequently, both the men and the locomotives moved there. |