Everyone's familiar with railroad roundhouses and turntables, but the real work took place in the back shops. This is where locomotives and cars were brought for routine maintenance repairs or to be completely overhauled. Here's a 1910 view of the Missouri-Kansas-Texas shops at Parsons, Kansas. Electric overhead cranes made light work of moving locomotives.
This is a another circa 1910 card showing the enormous Grand Trunk facility at Battle Creek, Michigan.
This is an interior view of the same shop with some of the machinery needed to help true up wheels, machine new parts, etc.
This Northern Pacific shop in Livingston, Montana looks like it can handle anything that comes its way.
Lastly, the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific's shops at Silvis and East Moline IL ,were new when these cards were first published circa 1910. and 1908 Many railroads had the capability to build their own locomotives from both fabricated and supplied parts. Note the electric overhead crane with the suspended locomotive boiler and cab in the second card.
