Salina Post proudly presents Flashback Friday in partnership with the Smoky Hill Museum. Enjoy a weekly tidbit of local history from the staff at Salina Post and the Smoky Hill Museum as we present “Salina-Flashback Fridays.”
By SALINA POST
In the 1920s, Salinans heard thousands of trains charge through town on the Union Pacific Railroad as travelers used the line to get from one city to another or across the country.
This continuous train activity called for building a roundhouse since steam locomotives were difficult to redirect from one direction to another on a rail line.
The roundhouse would have stalls that held large steam locomotives for maintenance or when the vehicle wasn't in use, which, when needed, conductors would drive the engine onto a turntable to redirect it.
Salina built its roundhouse in the late 1800s, but in the early 1900s, Union Pacific replaced the building with a new one located at North Fifth and Decatur streets.
With its eight stalls, the roundhouse was soon inundated with rail activity. Local newspapers at the time cited the area as dangerous due to multiple reported fires, injuries and deaths due to activity in the building.
As diesel engines took over the railroad market, roundhouses saw less and less use as the years went by, causing Union Pacific to tear down the building sometime during the 1980s.
Today, Union Pacific railroads still cross through 616 N. Fifth Street, but no building stands there now.