The Roundhouse
It was clear what we would find down “Roundhouse Road”. Every railroad will have one, used for the shelter, maintenance, and repair of locomotives. Essentially garages, these buildings got their name from their usual semi-circle – or round - footprint. Roundhouses would circle a central turntable, used to turn and direct locomotives to their respective berth in the building. What we found on “Roundhouse Road” however, wasn’t exactly what we expected.
Sitting along the road, the building’s poor-rock walls loomed high above our heads as we approached. The building was tall – a good ten feet above our heads. The abstract patterns of rock and mortar graced the façade, looking much like any other Keweenaw structure. Along its length ran a generous helping of windows that were haphazardly boarded up. It was clear from this side that the building wasn’t round. In fact it was more of an “L” shape, with an apparent addition to the rear that made up the vertical stroke of the “L”.
We moved around to the rear of the building. It was more and more evident that this part of the structure was added at some later date. The masonry was of a different quality, the rocks darker and the windows were absent the ornate brick headers found on the rest of the structure. A large wooden door – literally large enough to drive a train through – graced the back wall. Around the corner we found a doorway – the door long gone. This made entering the building rather easy.
Visiting this same building while at college over a decade ago I remember clearly the roof being intact. Today, however, only blue sky and a series of metal beams covered our heads. While bad for the building it was paradise for the weeds and brush now growing inside. From our angle it seemed more like a greenhouse then a roundhouse – the floor covered in a relative forest. Soon however we started to make out artifacts of man’s presence. Next to us a sturdy workbench sat upside down in the brush. Along the rear wall a boiler sat idle – its maw open wide like a chick awaiting food from its mother. And along the floor a long trench – probably used to access the locomotives underbelly – ran along a pair of tracks.
Looking towards the front of the building we could see a row of massive doors, now gaping open. Three doors stood in a group to the left while a single door apart from the rest sat in line with the tracks at our feet. Originally this railroad was fitted with only two engines, and we assumed that the doors on the left led to storage berths for the locomotives (with a third berth for future expansion) while the door ahead of us was used for repair and maintenance.
Moving forward the building widened by a good twenty feet. Littered throughout were various machine parts, pipes, and fittings. In the far berth a piece of machinery – which looked like an old printing press – sat upright below a series of belt drives on the ceiling. The locomotive doors were still intact, sitting in an open position. These doors were in pairs – like French doors – and opened inward. They were framed in by large metal beams, and were made of a dark wood that has since weathered gray.
Standing now in front of the building, we took in the scale of the structure. While not round by any means, the front façade was curved slightly inward. The building was definitely built with three locomotives in mind, which made the addition to the rear apparently necessary when more engines were added. Looking at it now, its easy to picture engines being backed into their berths, or a group of men working on another in the maintenance bay – even more than a hundred years since it was built.
In 1976 I was a student at MTU and happened to be snooping around the old buildings at the Quincy site when I came across this roundhouse. It was mostly intact and there were four locomotives inside. It litereally appeared as if it were a time capsule.
The tools were still laying around right where the workers left them when the mine closed thirty years before. I vividly remember seeing one wrench on the pilot of one of the locomotives that had an intact head and a handle that faded off into rust dust on the locomotive pilot. There were signs and a calendar on the walls as well as workclothes on hooks and rags laying about. It was a very eerie feeling wandering around that building.
There was one hole in the roof above tender of one of the locomotives, and a tree was growing out of the coal pile in the tender. I took some color sildes and b&w photos as best I could in the dim light. I was not the first visitor here. There were signs of past intruders, missing brass and instruments on the locomotives as well as the bells, whistles, and builder plates. The two locomotives on display at the Quincy Hoist were inside the roundhouse during my visit and pretty much look the same as they did back then other than for the addition of the shiny black paint.
If only the preservation movement today was active back then. You could have created an entire museum on what was inside this roundhouse alone. I wonder where all of this stuff went after they opened up the roundhouse and removed the locomotives?
Rob Kitchen
Harrisburg, PA
Rob Kitchen | January 27, 2007
Rob - Back when I was a student at Tech in 1995, I also took a trip to the roundhouse. I remember very little remaining inside, but I do remember the roof being still intact and a boiler (or something similar) sitting on a flatbed car out front. The engines had long since been removed. It looked alot different then it does today, thats for sure.
Perhaps all is not lost, however. Its obvious to me that the building is being stabilized by some entity - perhaps the Hoist Association or the park service. Depending on who took control of the building (and is currently stabilizing it) they might of removed a lot of materials from inside before they were destroyed. But your right - if the Copper Country was as concerned about preserving their heritage then as they are now, less of these buildings would be in ruin today.
Thanks for great comment!
explorer | January 27, 2007
Last time i talked to the QMHA the railroad and round house were the next areas they were looking for preservation of course it all depended on the funding so email them and see if you can help out!
Geoff | January 30, 2007
Actually, what was left of the roof was removed to be able to save the building, if you look at the top of the walls in the top photo, you can see a concrete cap is put over the top of the walls to keep moisture out of the walls I assume. Many of the buildings have had that done, including the new mineral building by the Quincy hoist.
Its definitely to bad this stuff could not have been saved years ago.
Gordy Schmitt | September 3, 2007
Gordy..
Well the building is in rather good shape considering. I plan to offer a few more photos of it here soon and its clear by those photos that its generally intact and should be easy to return to its former glory. Hopefully they are working on that as we speak.
explorer | September 6, 2007
As a retired and career railroader, the sites at Hancock and Quincy were just amazing to us, and we’re from Colorado. It seemed as though the word came to “shut her down”, and everyone just walked away! EVERYTHING we saw surely is worth preserving, and hopefully the money and motivation will follow.
Terry Van Schwartz | May 17, 2008
Terry..
It looks like the Quincy Mine Hoist Association and the National Park have made some strides in preserving the Q&TL, even since I first went to the site back in 2006, They have stabilized the roundhouse walls, and cleared out the brush from inside. The two locomotives that still remain are being refurbished I heard, and there is still a good 30 or so rock cars sprinkled about that are under their control as well.
Its a good thing too because there isn’t a huge amount still remaining from all the other railroads, the Q&TL is the best preserved one of the bunch.
explorer | May 20, 2008