The Round House in the yard at Chama, NM is a magnificent brick building. The
original roundhouse was built in 1881 and it had six tracks or stalls. This first
structure burnt down in the fire of 1889. Following the fire, a new 9 stall roundhouse was
built. Times were good when that many locomotive storage units were needed. As the demand
for rail service dwindled over the next century, the 1890 roundhouse slowly began to loose
stalls. Four of the nine stalls were removed in 1936. Three more were dismantled around
1955. There have been a couple more fires in the structure and the remaining two stalls
have a new wall enclosing them on the east side. But, what is left is vintage 1890's
stuff.
When you stand next to this structure you may not realize it is the ever
glorious roundhouse and one time turntable. The new engine house has been built to the
east and that partially masks the view of the roundhouse. A new sheet metal enclosure on
the east side does no justice to the look. But, if you study the large swinging doors in
front the one time beauty of the beast begins to appear.
   
Step around to the west side and look again at the windows, door and
service dock to remind yourself that you don't see this type of brick work anymore. On the
south side you can see the classic roof line that helped make these D&RG roundhouses
famous.
Inside the service stalls have 100 year old timbers supporting the roof.
TURNTABLE
There is a reason why roundhouses are round. They surround the rotating turntable that
supplies locomotives to the tracks. The turntable at Chama was located on the north side
of the roundhouse about the nearest switch is today.
The original 50 foot turntable at Chama was enlarged to 65 feet in 1925. In the 1950's
the turntable was removed because the K-36 Locomotives operating at Chama simply did not
fit on the turntable anymore. These larger engines are now turned around using the wye at
the south end of town.
MECHANICAL BUILDING
There is a second structure attached to the rear of the two existing roundhouse stalls.
This is a mechanical building that houses a machine shop and boiler room. The boilers are
converted from old 1880 locomotives. Pumps for the water supply are also located in the
mechanical building. A doorway in the east wall goes to the newly constructed enginehouse.
A machine shop, boiler room and pump room are housed in the mechanical
building. At one time the machines used to work on the locomotives were powered by two
steam boilers in one of the mechanical rooms. A tall iron chimney from the boilers was
removed sometime in the 1970's. The boilers were made from retired locomotive engines that
helped open the D&RG railroad.
A large pump in the mechanical room is put to work drawing water from
the Chama river and then lifting it to the top of the Water Tank in the yard. A deep cistern outside the
engine house draws from the river waters to feed the pump. |
