From the early to mid 1900s, Danbury Yard was a major hub of transportation for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. In 1917, the railroad began construction of a locomotive repair facility at the east end of the yard. Rail access to this facility was provided by a 95-foot long turntable built by George P. Nichols & Bro. of Chicago. Turntables are bridges that spin and are used for turning locomotives and rolling stock. The Danbury table could handle all but the New Haven Railroad’s longest steam engines, the Class R-2 and R-3 4-8-2 ‘Mountain’ types.

The wooden roundhouse originally had eight stalls and was used for light locomotive repairs. An enclosed ninth stall was later built on the South side of the building for storage of a self-propelled passenger car. Behind the roundhouse was an adjoined shop facility containing a machine shop on the first floor and offices on the second. The roundhouse was torn down in January of 1966. By the early 1970s, the electric motor powering the turntable had stopped working and instead of fixing it, the railroad began using a truck to turn the table. Two fires would ravage the remaining back shops, one in November of 1976 and the other in April of 1988. After discontinuing use of the table, the pit was used to collect debris, including the remains of the 1988 fire.

After nearly 20 years of neglect, we began resurrecting the turntable; the first thing to go was the dense overgrowth. An excavator was brought in for the removal of heavier rubble and dirt, followed by a lot of hand digging to remove the remaining debris. The electric motor, which hadn’t functioned since the early 1970s, was removed and a gasoline engine was installed in its place. The table returned to service in the early 2000s, and has since been used to turn our equipment, access the original roundhouse site, and provide visitors with the unique experience of riding on one of these structures.

In 2018, we began a total rehabilitation of the bridge deck. This process includes the replacement of 76 custom-cut large oak timbers, cleaning the top of the metal bridge and applying a rust-preventative coating, and the replacement of the wooden deck and handrails. The estimated cost for the materials is $30,000. As of today, the project is about 50% funded and 60% complete.