RailRoadFan.com

Received this email, hoping someone can help her out. If you can find photos, just link them here, and she'll read this thread.

Hi,
I got your email address when I was trying to register for the railroad fan website and couldn’t answer the question.

I am not a railroad fan but was trying to find out info about the Pere Marquette in Ionia. That led me to your site. Since I got your address, I decided it may be easier just to ask you my questions rather than try to register, especially since I am not legitimately a RR buff.

I am researching family history, and learned (from the Ionia, MI, city directory of 1916) that my great grandfather worked in the PM railroad shops. He was a carpenter by trade.

I would love to have a picture of the Ionia shops from that era. A user on your site named Michael posted a photo on Jul 24, 1915, of the PM Ionia “diamond and roundhouse.” I don’t know what those terms mean. But the images did not come through (probably because they were hi-res).

Anyway, could you help me obtain any photos of the Ionia PM shops, from Michael or others?

Thanks for any help you can give me.
Marian

Hopefully we can help you out!

I don't have the pics, but I can help out with those two terms.

A "diamond" is a special piece of track where two tracks cross each other at-grade. So-called because they usually form diamond shapes, so long as they aren't 90-degree intersections. They occur most often in cities where different railroads crossed each other, but also in yards and near industries where the track layout works best with a shorter form of crossover than a full set of switches.

example:


A roundhouse was a once ubiquitous railroad building that could be found everywhere. Due to the one-ended nature of steam power (difficult to run in reverse for long periods due to sightlines), one needed a turntable or wye (trackage shaped like a three-pointed star) to turn engines at the end of each run. Because servicing requirements of steam engines were so extensive, railroads would combine their turning facilities with the maintenance shops at each major terminal. Basically, a roundhouse was a shop built around a turntable, to maximize space. They could be just a wedge serving only a few stalls, or in major yards, a full circle!

example:

I found this doing a quick web search for Ionia MI railroad photos.

http://ionia.migenweb.net/photoalbum5/p ... etterr.htm

I wish I could help but if I recall all I posted was a USGS topographic map of the Ionia area from 1915.
I doubt any photos of the Ionia shops from that time exist on the Internet but I will certainly look

Maybe you already saw this Marian but on the Ionia City website under History there are a few photos
http://www.ci.ionia.mi.us/DocumentCenter/Home/View/941
as well as a link to the Ionia Historical Museum http://www.ioniahistory.org/museum-gallery.html which also has photos on Flickr
PM Car Shops https://flic.kr/p/dce9RV
PM Depot https://flic.kr/p/dceaBG

I asked about these shops at one point cause I had no idea they existed. There is a thread for it...

Right. It was your original thread that Marian saw and prompted her to ask if there were any photos.

MQT1223 wrote:I asked about these shops at one point cause I had no idea they existed. There is a thread for it...