The Watertown Engine Terminal And Roundhouse At Pine Street Rail Yard
Construction on the new engine terminal and roundhouse in Watertown began in 1918 and finished the next year. Consisting of a 30-stall roundhouse between Pine Streets and Sackets Harbor tracks, it would replace the smaller terminal located on Coffeen Street at the end of Cedar Street.
At the start of the engine terminal and roundhouse construction, plans had already been drawn up for a second roundhouse if necessary. The New York Central was allowed nearly $70,000,000 of a $1B nationwide effort to improve services. As reported by the Watertown Daily Times on Tuesday, May 21, 1918—
Mr. Emery (Division Superintendent) at the time called attention of the New York Central officials to the necessity for the construction of two new roundhouses in the city with capacity for about 50 locomotives as compared with 26 locomotives accommodated by the present stall; the need for doubling the capacity of the present freight yards in Watertown; the construction of a new round house at Norwood and an extension of the yards at that place and the construction of several miles of track between Philadelphia and Dekalb Junction, giving a continuous stretch of double track through Syracuse to that point; and the building of an extra track over the Calcium cut-off.
In July of 1918, the contract would be awarded to the Walsh Construction Company of Davenport, IA, for constructing a 30-stall engine terminal and roundhouse costing between $600,00 to $700,000. Walsh would put forth an aggressive schedule, as reported in the Times–
The present yards at Massey Street are made up of 70-car tracks, which will be extended to become 90-car tracks and four additional 90-car tracks on the east side of the yard will be built.
Engineer Martin and a number of representatives of the New York Central and Walsh Construction Company were in the city today in regard to the improvement, which will be started within a few weeks. It is expected that eventually, when work gets in full swing that about 200 men will be employed.
It is proposed to rush the construction speedily as possible and have the new round house ready for occupancy by early winter if possible.
When the new round house is complete it is expected that the old 20-stall house in Coffeen Street will be abandoned.
While the plans and specifications call for the erection of only one round house at the present time, it is proposed to construct another 30-stall house later on the tract recently purchased and which is large enough for twin houses.
In conjunction with the new engine terminal and roundhouse, the New York Central and the city of Watertown were working to eliminate the crossing at Massey Street. It had been described as “one of the worst in the St. Lawrence Division and a number of people have been killed or injured there,” including “the three Ladds from the town of Hounsfield who met death there last September.” The work called for changing the gradient of the slope and changing the street, per the Annual Report of the State of New York Public Service Commission, Second District–
A joint petition by the Mayor and Common Council of the City of Watertown and the New York Central Railroad company under section 91 of the Railroad Law was filed August 22, 1918, asking that this Commission determine that the grade crossing of Massey Street in the city of Watertown over the tracks of said railroad company be eliminated by means of an under crossing and a re-location of the street, to be constructed in accordance with the plan attached thereto.
Ordered: That the petition herein be and hereby is granted, and that the grade crossing of Massey Street over the tracks of The New York Central Railroad Company in the city of Watertown shall be eliminated substantially in accordance with the following requirements, more specifically shown on the above entitled plan:
Said street shall cross under the three existing tracks in a subway approximately at right angles to the center line of the railroad, the intersection of the center line of the subway and the center line of the railroad to be approximately at New York Central chaining station, 375 plus 268. The tracks of the railroad are to be carried by a bridge of the solid floor type, supported by concrete abutments, which shall give a clear width of roadway between neat lines of not less than 24 feet and a minimum clearance between the highest point of the roadway and the lowest point of the bridge structure of 13 feet.
For more information, including how Massey Street was to be relocated, click here and scroll to the next page, number 494.
Residents Of The Flats Resent “Attack On Their Gardens”
Not everyone was happy with the new engine terminal and roundhouse construction. Many Italian families said the railroad company’s word was broken and that they started construction before their gardens had been harvested. As reported in the Times on August 5, 1918–
Italian residents and other residents residing on Smith and Gregory Streets are up in arms today over the action of the New York Central in allowing the Walsh Construction Company of Davenport, IA, to be sent to their property to start work on the new operations. They said that sometimes they gave the railroad company an option on their land, but an agreement was made that the railroad company would not start construction there until Oct. 1 or until after they had their crops harvested from their gardens.
Trouble started this morning when the contractors sent a force of engineers with drills to drill on the Joseph Rezzo property at 248 Smith Street. They immediately started to place their drill in the middle of Rezzo’s large tomato patch, but the Rezzo family at once set up a protest and drove the drilling gang off. They are now drilling in the center of Smith street in front of the Rezzo Property.
Rezzo said this afternoon that he was willing that the railroad company start operations on his property if they would settle for the crops he has in. Rezzo values his crops at $3,000.
A few days later, the issue was resolved when New York Central opted to delay work in the vicinity of the gardens and begin the construction of tracks on a different parcel of land for the time being. Senator George H. Cobb, who represented three Italian families, would settle for the sale of properties in question within a matter of weeks.
More Problems, More Delays
As soon as work was able to begin on the engine terminal and roundhouse, another problem arose: the Walsh Construction Company had difficulty finding people to build it. Initially hoping to get 200 people, the numbers were far short at around 75. Persistent advertisements did little to remedy the situation; by the end of August, another issue came forth in the Daily Times.
In acquiring some property on Smith Street, the railroad company drew protests from other residents who stated they opposed the initiative that would call for the closure of the street, and the Alderman, M. J. O’Connor, planned to take it up with the City’s Common Council. The residents, however, claimed the street was not part of the city and their section was never deeded to the city. The section in question encompassed nearly half the street.
By Thanksgiving, work had progressed with hopes the engine terminal would be enclosed by December 15th, but much work was still needed. The Daily Times would report, “The extension to the Massey Street yards is still underway and now that the war is over it is probable that the elimination of the Massy Street grade crossing will be taken up next spring.”
The engine terminal and roundhouse had hoped to be ready by June 1st. Further delays in getting work completed jeopardized its likely completion in 1919. June would come and prospects grew stronger for the project being done by fall.
At the present, many laborers are engaged in digging a place in the center of the circle for the large turntable. That job has just been started and it is not expected that the table will be finished and ready for use for about two months. The men find no difficulty in digging for the ground to some depth is mostly of hard packed sand.
To the west of the new round house, on the left of the Sackets Harbor track, is the new ash pit which is almost completed. The pit is constructed entirely of cement. It is about 300 feet long and is capable of holding about eight engines at a time. The pit is double-tracked and in the center of the two tracks is a large cement hole in which a track will be laid shortly.
The ashes will be shoveled from beneath the locomotives to the cars in the pit and will be carried away. The double tracks are about two feet above the level of the ground. When the eight feet below the level of the gourd is laid and the cement sides subbed, the ash pit will be completed.
Finally, Completion!
By September, plans were being made to move operations from the Coffeen location to the new engine terminal and roundhouse by October 1st, when the building could be put into use. In addition to the 30 stalls, a machine shot for making repairs, a heating plant, offices, and a coal trestle completed the project to the tune of $650,000 in just over a year.
The first locomotive was run at the new engine terminal and roundhouse on October 20th, at approximately 8 a.m.
Alex Duffy Recalls Watertown Roundhouse
In the November 11, 1988 edition of the Watertown Daily Times, Alex T. Duffy, who helped build the roundhouse, recalled the first one’s location and other tidbits, including–
Watertown, according to Alex T. Duffy, who helped build one of the roundhouses, beginning in 1918, was the hub of the St. Lawrence Division of the New York Central. As rail traffic boomed, more track construction and facilities for handling engines and cars were essential.
“There were at one time,” Mr. Duffy said, “40 tracks under the Arsenal Street viaduct, and in back of Greico’s Brass Rail there was a three-story hotel. A Railroad YMCA, which catered to the railroad people. A beautiful place.”
The first roundhouse, Mr. Duffy said, “was on Coffeen Street, right by the tracks, to the left of the tracks.”
“The second roundhouse was constructed off Willow Street, where Peter Cook’s father, Peter Cuccaro, had a skating rink
“They never charged us anything. Flood the whole area over to the tracks. They got permission from the New York Central.”
“It was a good-sized rink, probably half as big as The Times parking lot. Oh, people came from all over. I was skating there when I was 5 years old and the rink was there before that, probably around 1900.”
But in building the roundhouse, the Central purchased an area as far up as Pine Street.
“They eliminated probably a hundred houses,” Mr. Duffy added. “This was where they talked recently about putting up a prison.”
1 Reviews on “Engine Terminal And Roundhouse – Established 1919”
Wow–GREAT you found “new” photos that I’ve never seen!!! But, a couple notes: The WD Times photo of a “second roundhouse” being built (see below), is 100% incorrect; they’re building the 100′ diameter pits for the massive turntable (also see below), used to rotate locomotives and their tenders to go to the right track.
In that same picture, you can see the two ash pits described in the article; the ash pits AND the turntable pit are all still in existence as is much of the roundhouse itself. Please PM me to show you the safest way to access them at you convenience (hurry–once the leaves come out it’s more of a fight to get back in there)!
Aaaaaaaaaand–the building shown in the third picture below was dismantled and rebuilt as the rear part of at 24685 State Route 37. Once the HQ and bakery for Jreck Subs, it now houses the offices of The Volunteer Transportation Center for Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties.
~~Steve