QUICK FACTS

Model: 115 ft. turntable
Built: circa 1927-1928
Builder: unknown
Past Railroad Owners: Erie, Erie Lackawanna, Conrail
Current Owner: City of Port Jervis (leased to and operated by Operation Toy Train of New York, Inc.)

The centerpiece of the Port Jervis railyard and the namesake for this overall preservation project is the operable Erie Railroad turntable. This turntable is the fourth installed on the property and the third in this exact location.

The first predecessor of the Erie Railroad reached the western bank of the Neversink River in Port Jervis and opened for traffic on January 7, 1848. As the line continued to expand westward, it became apparent that a base of operations should be established at Port Jervis to service locomotives before the climb up the mountains to Binghamton.

The first turntable and roundhouse in Port Jervis was built in September of 1854 near the present-day Metro-North train station. This original wooden roundhouse was a half-moon shape, featuring 20 stalls for the maintenance of up to 30 locomotives and a 50-foot turntable. A second, full-circle roundhouse of brick construction and 40 stalls was built on the site of the present turntable in 1866, featuring a 60-foot turntable in the center.

The 1854 roundhouse was removed entirely in the early 1880s, and between 1894 and the turn of the century, the 1866 roundhouse was mostly torn down, leaving just ten stalls. Around 1906, the remaining ten stalls were removed and a completely new roundhouse was constructed of brick and wood. The turntable pit was enlarged to fit a 90-foot turntable, and the new roundhouse could fit the new, larger locomotives of the era. The turntable pit was enlarged again circa 1927-1928 to fit a 115’ bridge, large enough to turn the Erie’s new 2-8-4 “Berkshire” locomotives that were being delivered around that time. This is the turntable that remains at the site today.

With the coming of diesel locomotives in the 1950s, the 1906 roundhouse was partially removed, leaving just seven stalls. These last stalls were destroyed by an arson fire on March 19, 1987, although the foundation remains on the southwest side of the turntable. The site was sold to the City of Port Jervis on August 24, 1988.

The circa 1927-1928 turntable was restored to operation in 1996, and it was again restored in 2021. It is powered by 240 volt AC electrical current, which drives two electric motors (one on either end of the turntable). The turntable pit shows concentric “growth rings” of concrete and cobblestone, showing the 60-foot (1866), 90-foot (1906), and 115-foot (circa 1927-1928) sizes of the turntables installed here over time. The current Port Jervis turntable is the largest surviving turntable on the East Coast and one of the largest operable turntables in the United States.