Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse was built in 1884 in Marshall, Michigan, for the Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee Railroad. Today it services the locomotives and equipment of Greenfield Village's Weiser Railroad.

This photograph shows the Detroit, Toledo & Milwaukee Roundhouse in its original location in Marshall, Michigan. The roundhouse's crew is posed in front of the building. Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse at Flat Rock, Michigan, served the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse at Jackson, Ohio, served the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse at Ironton, Ohio, served the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse at Ironton, Ohio, served the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse at Flat Rock, Michigan, served the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse at Ironton, Ohio, served the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse at Ironton, Ohio, served the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse at Jackson, Ohio, served the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse at Jackson, Ohio, served the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse at Jackson, Ohio, served the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance and the roundhouse is where that work took place. An army of skilled and unskilled workers, like this unidentified man at the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad's Jackson, Ohio, roundhouse, kept locomotives in good running condition. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Railroad workers posed with a 4-4-0 American-type steam locomotive for this photograph taken in Massachusetts in 1881. The locomotive sat in front of a two-stall engine shed. "Roundhouse" became the common name on American railroads for any building in which locomotives were serviced and maintained -- whether the building was round or not.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse at Jackson, Ohio, served the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Workers posed with a 2-8-0 Consolidation-type locomotive sitting on a turntable. The locomotive, numbered 5733, most likely belonged to the New York Central Lines. The men probably worked at the roundhouse in back, servicing and maintaining this locomotive and others like it. Some of the men wore suits and ties, suggesting that they were supervisors or administrators.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse at Flat Rock, Michigan, served the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse at Napoleon, Ohio, served the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Steam locomotives required constant maintenance from an army of skilled and unskilled workers, and the roundhouse is where that work took place. This roundhouse at Ironton, Ohio, served the Detroit, Toledo & Ironton Railroad. The DT&I operated a 378-mile mainline between Detroit, Michigan, and Ironton, Ohio.

Where space was too tight for a loop or wye track, railroads could turn locomotives and railcars around using a turntable. Some turntables also provided access to roundhouse stalls. The Pere Marquette Railway used this one in Saginaw, Michigan, before moving it to Petoskey, Michigan, in 1913. This well-balanced turntable had no motor and was rotated by hand.