ROUNDHOUSES ON THE WEST SIDE

COVE STREET ROUNDHOUSE OF THE NEW YORK, PROVIDENCE & BOSTON

The drawings submitted to the city of Providence in 1848 regarding the facilities to be built by the NYP&B as part of the Union Station on the Providence Cove include what may be the earliest plans of a railroad roundhouse that exist. The roundhouse was only 150 feet across which meant a turntable of about 40 feet and stalls of about 55 feet. While small, the Cove Street roundhouse was adequate for the NYP&B locomotives of the day, which were mainly small 4-2-0's. As late as 1852 the NYP&B owned only seven locomotives despite its key role in Boston to New York rail/boat transportation.

Despite the increasing size of NYP&B locomotives the Cove Street Roundhouse apparently served the road's needs until the Acorn Street Roundhouse opened at the end of 1886. A serious fire occurred in October 1870 which destroyed or badly damaged the Providence shops, enginehouse and seven locomotives but it seems the old roundhouse was rebuilt and it was not until 1883 that land was purchased on Acorn Street for a new facility. By this time thirty engines were in operation. The NYP&B began converting its engines to burn coal in 1859 after the "Matthew Morgan" was built that year expressly to burn coal and proved better than the wood-burners.

LOCATION MAP OF THREE ENGINEHOUSES WEST OF UNION STATION

The New York, Providence & Boston Cove Street Roundhouse is at the bottom of this section of the Hopkins map of 1882. Above it is the roundhouse of the New York & New England and above it is the roundhouse of the Providence & Springfield.

The NYB&P roundhouse was located about where Route 10 and I 95 interchange at Providence Place.

NEW YORK & NEW ENGLAND ENGINEHOUSES

The Hartford, Providence & Fishkill entered Providence in 1854 and the Providence & Springfield in 1873. Both eventually became part of the NY&NE and both used the same route into the center of Providence. However, neither road had substantial traffic and the 1882 Hopkins Map may not be a good depiction of their enginehouses although the locations are correct and the relative size is probably right. The NY&NE stretched from Boston to The Hudson River but the line from Providence to Willimantic did not require many engines and a six stall house would probably suffice. The P&S had three engines in the 1870's and only five as late as 1890 when it was leased to the NY&NE. When it was destroyed by fire in 1885, the P&S shop and enginehouse was said to be a 58x160 foot structure. Presumably it was rebuilt since there was insurance. The P&S also had a three stall roundhouse at Pascoag so two or three stalls in Providence would be a reasonable estimate.

New York & New England 117 at the Providence roundhouse. 117 was built by Grant in 1882.

The NY&NE's financial condition had deteriorated critically in 1893 and over the next two years it was reorganized under the control of the New Haven which already controlled the other Providence railroads. There was no need to replace the NY&NE engine facilities and the area where they stood became a large team yard as part of the upgrading of Providence's freight yards.

Following below is a sample of the multi-page inventory listed in the "Statement of the Financial Condition of the New York And New England Railroad Company on December 31, 1883. The inventory of the Providence Enginehouse consisted of about 300 hundred line items. As a comparison, the inventory of the Boston Enginehouse consisted of the same number of line items but the value of Boston's inventory was four times higher because more of certain expensive items such as metal was held.

BELOW IS ONE PAGE OF THE MULTI-PAGE INVENTORY OF THE