Hi, I'm thinking about modeling my home town of Savannah, GA in ACL. I want to have a turntable in Southover Yard but I'm not sure if it was still or if one was ever there in 1955-1967. If it was, was the roundhouse still there?

Thanks for the help!

Jason

-- Jason Casting (Multivortexf5@hotmail.com), March 11, 2002

Answers

Hey Jason, Yes, there was a large turntable at Southover in the steam days, and it was located at the exact spot where the CSX car repair shop is today. There were no large shops there, just a roundhouse and supporting buildings, dual water towers, and a few other buildings. Since Waycross is only 100 miles away or so, it wasn't necessary for Coast Line to build a big shop there. The roundhouse ran about ten or twelve stalls of wood and corrugated steel construction as I recall. I'm away from my library at the moment but Buddy Hill--who's also on this site--can fill you in on the details. I don't know when it came down but it was probably pretty soon after steam left the road. There was also a turntable and engine shop at Liberty Street Yard downtown, and the enginehouse--1880s vintage--survived until about 1998. Coast Line also used the turntable at the Savannah Union Station, although in later years most trains just backed in and out of the station. I grew up in Savannah in the 70s and 80s myself and know the area pretty well! Yours Truly, John Golden

-- John Golden (John.golden@psab.af.mil), March 16, 2002.