Locomotive Turntable, Wolsztyn Live Cam

The turntable at Wolsztyn depot in western Poland sits in front of the camera, with the roundhouse behind it. Locomotives are turned on it most working days.

A turntable exists because a steam locomotive works properly in one direction only. Rather than lay a triangle of track, which needs far more land, sheds put in a pit with a bridge across it and swung the engine round on that.

Almost every one of these left in Europe is in a museum. This one is worked as part of an operating depot, and once a year, on the first Saturday in May, the yard fills with visiting engines and several thousand people for a parade.