Railroad turntable's future home is ready

TUSCUMBIA -- John McWilliams has noticed passersby along Water Street doing double takes when they pass the old Tuscumbia Depot.

That's because of the newest addition to the downtown rail attraction: a huge hole.

Some 66 feet across and 5 feet deep at its center, the hole is the result of weeks of tedious backhoe work.

It soon will provide the snug resting spot for a 60-foot antique railroad turntable that is being renovated by Total Maintenance Center, a division of Wise Alloys.

"It should be only a matter of days before it's brought here," said John McWilliams, superintendent of the nonprofit Tuscumbia Railway Co.

The railway company operates the downtown depot and small train rides at Spring Park.

"The hole should be close to the right size," McWilliams said. "We're checking to make sure on the fitting."

The railway company obtained the turntable in January 2006. McWilliams said it is believed the turntable was built in 1870. An inscription that was on the turntable when it arrived in Tuscumbia states it was built by the Union Bridge Co., of Athens, Pa.

It had been used in Maine by the Belfast and Moosehead Railroad until 2004.

The turntable was hoisted by crane and taken to Total Maintenance Center on April 10.

The ultimate plan for the railway company is to build a roundhouse on the grounds of the old depot, at Water and Fifth streets. The turntable is being repaired so it can hold a steam engine and be fully functional.

A roundhouse was the location where steam engines could be switched from track to track. McWilliams said steam engines would stop at the roundhouse where workers pushed against the turntable attachments to move it from one track to another.

The work was done by hand, and McWilliams wants that to be the case when the roundhouse is completed.

Plans call for that to be part of the exhibit, so visitors can watch the turntable operate. The railway company is negotiating to purchase an actual steam engine. That would allow for rail car train rides for visitors.

The path would start at the depot, travel down Fifth Street to Spring Park and on to Tuscumbia Landing before returning to the depot.

Part of the work by Total Maintenance Center has been around the bottom of the turntable, where age and life near the ocean's salt water have taken their toll, company president Chip Flournoy said.

He said turntables were designed to place the most weight at the center, where it rests on a strong pedestal. That makes them easier to spin.

Bernie Delinski can be reached at 740-5739 or bernie.delinski@timesdaily.com.