A “Roundhouse” of long ago was a locomotive maintenance shed built around a turntable. Old time steam locomotives were smaller, slower than today’s diesel locomotives, therefore needing to operate over shorter distances, and requiring more servicing. The Manitoba & North Western Railway built this roundhouse because Yorkton was the end of steel in 1891 and the locomotives needed to be turned around in a roundhouse to return to its original route. There were “divisional points” — depots that included more facilities than a station; where roundhouses would be located between two communities from 100 to 150 or so miles apart. These divisional points tended to become the bigger towns along the line. For example, when the Manitoba & North Western Railway sold out to the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1903 and the company extended the line to Saskatoon, Lanigan became a divisional point.
We welcome more photos of Yorkton railway scenes.
This photo is from the Cindy Wheeler fonds.
Contact Terri Lefebvre Prince,
Heritage Researcher,
City of Yorkton Archives,
Box 400, 37 Third Avenue North
Yorkton, Sask. S3N 2W3
306-786-1722
heritage@yorkton.ca
