That might be a possibility, that the after picture is the smaller roundhouse.
But every roundhouse I’ve seen, there is an approach track between the turntable and the stall.
And the stall is large enough to hold the locomotive 
Even if this is the smaller roundhouse, I still think the locomotives are between the turntable and stall entrance on the “before” photo.
Ralph
Ralph Berg said:
Even if this is the smaller roundhouse, I still think the locomotives are between the turntable and stall entrance on the “before” photo.
Ralph
That’s what I think too. 
Besides, one is captioned as the “Chattahooga Railraid Roundhouse”, the other has Atlantic and West Point locos in it. At one time Atlanta was named “Terminus” because of all the different RR’s the came through it.
Just one question…Why aren’t there any door openings in the standing wall ? Behind both the boxcar and the one locomotive are a wall with windows but no door…just a track leading up to the wall? Wasting a whole stall in the interior?
Bart “Mr. Worldwide” Salmons said:
Just one question…Why aren’t there any door openings in the standing wall ? Behind both the boxcar and the one locomotive are a wall with windows but no door…just a track leading up to the wall? Wasting a whole stall in the interior?
I don’t think by the angle we can say for certain they are windows.
Even if they are windows, it’s possible these areas are offices or tool cribs.
But the telling factor is the box car and flat in the foreground. The flat had to be pushed back in order to fit on the adjoining track to the box car. You certainly would not build a roundhouse where you could only use every other stall .
Ralph
Bart “Mr. Worldwide” Salmons said:
Just one question…Why aren’t there any door openings in the standing wall ? Behind both the boxcar and the one locomotive are a wall with windows but no door…just a track leading up to the wall? Wasting a whole stall in the interior?
That’s what I see too. But I’ll agree to disagree with Ralph ;]
This page on Shorpy indicates that the roundhouse was still standing after Sherman left Atlanta, and a bit down on the page says that the photos are of two different buildings.
http://www.shorpy.com/node/10236
Curiouser and curiouser
For those who say that the turntable cannot be inside the roundhouse, the B&O Museum is housed in just such a structure,
(http://static.ddmcdn.com/gif/family-vacations-baltimore-ohio-railroad-museum.jpg)
(http://www.readingrailroad.org/news/images/news03_b_and_o_roof_2.jpg)
(http://ieee-sensors2013.org/sites/ieee-sensors2013.org/files/bo2.jpg)
You can see here when the roof collapsed several years ago the turntable is entirely within the roundhouse and looks similar to the Civil War era pic.
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/bart_salmons/_forumfiles/Atlantaroundhouse1864.jpg)
Enlarged 200% and zoomed in… those are definately windows in the first segment of the wall…and they are the same shapoe and height on the other segmenet…not to mention the piles of crap up next to the wall…and it doesn;t look like the openings behind the locomotive go all the way to the ground either…
Now…something else I just noticed…
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/monkeycircus/atlanta2.jpg)
In this view the footprint of the roundhouse inside the wye shows a rectangular shop area to the north of the roundhouse…just like the before photo…the 1889 map is 20 years later, a lot happened so the smaller roundhouse may not have existed then…
An really as big as tother roundhouse and shop is…shouldn’t we be able to see it on the horizen in the backround? This was a tiny roundhouse no matter how ya look at it…
Jon Radder said:
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/monkeycircus/Atlantaroundhouse1864.jpg)
I thought we had established there were two roundhouses. I guess not
Now, getting back to the ruins. Several of you seem to think that because there are two windows, this is the back exterior wall.
Buildings in the South prior to electricity were designed for flow through ventilation. If the area standing was an office, tool crib, work shop, etc., it would most likely have windows on the exterior and interior walls. After all, the turntable is “outdoors”.
I think the main part of the roundhouse is where the photograph was taken, and to the right.
If you draw a circle to bring the standing wall around, you see that all these tracks would extend beyond the wall.
Ralph
(http://georgiainfo.galileo.usg.edu/courthouses/fultonoldCH1.jpg)
Is this the tower at the upper lefthand of the ruins photo?
No question to me we are talking two seperate roundhouses here…the big one (inside the wye) looks to be on a par with a ‘modern roundhouse’ this ruined one looks positivly dinky…no way they are the same structure…
This is from the bottom right hand corner of the 2nd map…the footprint fits what we see in the ruins doesn’t it? I submit that the capitol building isn’t shown on this map…
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/bart_salmons/_forumfiles/atlanta2.jpg)
Here’s a thought…what if the ‘ruined’ roundhouse was actually just partially demolished and was being decommissioned even prior to the war…the damage dosn’t look recent…and theres not a lot of charred debris, nor wrecked shop equipment one might expect…perhaps it dates from an earlier time and the tracks have been extended as possible to accomodate the ‘modern’ locomotives…note how the bald faced engines seem to fit better than the more ornate ones? Just a theory…
Just to add to the confusion. Or knowlege base.
Here is another view of the big roundhouse.
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/Atlantaroundhouse_zps186a9adc.jpg)
Looking from the other leg of the wye.
In the view above, that looks like the typical southern 5 ft wide gauge.
Absolutely. The gauge wasn’t changed until 1886 on the Southern railroads. Here is a good account of the rapid changeover…http://southern.railfan.net/ties/1966/66-8/gauge.html
A little more data… Went up to Google Earth, Downtown Atlanta, looking to see if I could find the location of the big roundhouse, Knowling that most rail right of way don’t change much once laid down.
Taa Daa… Downtown Atlanta has the rails nearly still in place.
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/TurntableAtlanta_zps1c2e0ac4.jpg)
The Red circle is the spot. Right across from what is now the CNN Building. There is a parking garage over the spot, and it appears to me that the whole area is built up off the ground with underneath open areas. If someone from the Atlanta area could check to see whats under the parking structure, it would be neat to see. There are still rail there shown by the Yellow lines and at least two legs of the wye are still in use. I verified the location by cross-referencing the streets on the 1885 map ( the blue lines highlight key points to reference) the bend in Decator street at the Peachtree crossing is still there. And Spring street NW pointed to the roundhouse, Today it zig zags around the old location to re connect to SW Spring. The rail line leading into the old wye is still in use, and my gustement is that the little roundhouse area is now the downtown intermodal yard.
Need to do some more look-seeing.
This is very interesting thread kinda like a detective mystery.
Boomer. You stated that the first courthouse was torn down to build the new State Capital. It’s located about 9 big blocks SW of the turntable site, That is if it hasn’t been moved since ti was built. Across the street diagonally, on the block that had the little roundhouse, Now Is what appears to me to be twin 20 story office buildings, I’m guessing that there are state admin. buildings, judging by their location to the Capitol, But I’m not at all up on Atlanta.
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/atlanta2-1_zpsba53eea1.jpg)
Blue = State capital building. Gold,= Office buildings.
And one more… It is my learned opinion, that the roundtable photos were taken from the indicated positions on the overlay to the 1886 map.
(http://i1234.photobucket.com/albums/ff403/dave2-8-0/atlanta3_zpsccb79883.jpg)
Note that as you look at the first shot of the big roundhouse, the photographers camera position is higher up then the top of the roundhouse, as you can see partially down into the open circle of the roundhouse. In the second picture with the Big Roundhouse in the background, As I believe the photographer was shooting the freight house, as that is what is in focus, the viewing angle is much lower. At first I thought that the first photo might have been taken from the upper reaches of the freight house, as it would give a downward view of the Roundhouse, But on closer examination, the view is wrong, or there is a good amount of time between the photo,and the war changed the sky line. Note there is war damage to the left corner of the freight house, my guess, artillery, And all the windows are shuttered.
Bart “Mr. Worldwide” Salmons said:
This is from the bottom right hand corner of the 2nd map…the footprint fits what we see in the ruins doesn’t it? I submit that the capitol building isn’t shown on this map…
(http://freightsheds.largescalecentral.com/users/bart_salmons/_forumfiles/atlanta2.jpg)
I agree, the image of the smaller roundhouse shown on the map definitely fits the ruins. The footprint of the larger roundhouse is completely different.
I think with all the RR “dicks” (read: detectives) on this caper, we have conclusively determined that the first picture I posted is of a smaller roundhouse than was originally thought and there were obviously two roundhouses in Atlanta in that time period. The National Archive said "The ruins of an extensively damaged Roundhouse in Atlanta, Georgia after the Atlanta Campaign in the summer of 1864. After Union Maj. Gen. William T. Sherman captured the city, he began his destructive March to the Sea, finally taking the port of Savannah on December 21. (Mathew Brady/NARA)
They never said it was the ONLY roundhouse in Atlanta at that time, nor did they actually say it was destroyed by Sherman and photographed in 1864.
If it was actually taken in 1866, that would account for the lack of rubble behind the rolling stock since they had two years to clean it up. Also, if taken in 1866 and not 1864, it very well could have been taken by Brady and not Barnard as I previously thought. Good detective work one and all.