Question: Largest Roundhouse in the World

From: "Steve and Mary Ann" smg990@wilbernet.net  

... I ... have a question about the largest roundhouse in the world.  The CPRR stated that the largest roundhouse in the world is in Sparks, Nevada.  It was only a 40 bay roundhouse.  There was one in Oneonta, NY that had 52 bays, was 400' in diameter and had a 75' roundtable.

Is the information on the CPRR site correct?

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Claims of "World's Largest Roundhouse" –

Sparks, Nevada, 1904-1905 (CPRR); ?largest 1905-1906

Oneonta, New York, 1906 (Delaware & Hudson RR); largest 1906-?1915

Altoona, Pennsylvania, (Pennsylvania RR); largest ?dates
"Work on the oldest section of the Altoona Roundouse began in the early 1880s, with a major expansion built in 1913 and a third in 1947."

Question: Date station name changed from Burson to Helisma

From: "Salvatore Manna" dharmadog@earthlink.net

I live in a small Calaveras County, California town called Burson. It was founded when the San Joaquin & Sierra Nevada railroad built a station here in 1884. By 1888, the Southern Pacific had purchased the narrow gauge line and in 1904 converted it to standard gauge. At some point--believed to be between 1888 and 1912--the railroad changed the name of the station from Burson to Helisma. Where can I access, or have someone access for me, a series of annual railroad maps or timetables, for example, that could pinpoint the year of the name change? I have scoured the Internet, any book I could lay my hands on, County archives, etc. – I'm a professional journalist – but have yet to find an answer. HELP!

Cheers,

Sal

Railroad Lands - REITS to combine: Catellus to Be Bought by ProLogis

You may have seen in yesterday's business news the announcement that two of the largest Real Estate Investment Trusts will become one as Catellus, spun off to shareholders in 1990 by Santa Fe Pacific Corporation, is to be acquired by ProLogis. What you may not know is that according to the Los Angeles Times, Catellus, one of California's largest private landowners with the best industrial real estate portfolio in the United States, including Union Station in Los Angeles, is the descendent of the Big Four railroad real estate holdings, including former CPRR and SPRR lands going back as far as the Sacramento Valley Railroad.

Courtesy of Google Alerts.