Section house

A section house is a building or house-like structure located near or next to a section of railroad used for housing railroad workers, or for the storing and maintenance of equipment for a section of railroad. Section houses were used mainly from the 1890s to the 1960s. By the 1970s, section houses were being slowly phased out. In Canada section houses were usually located right across from the railway station.

Examples[]

United States[]

Alaska

Potter Section House, Potter, Alaska, now housing a small museum with a rotary snow plow and crew cars, located south of Anchorage, Alaska.
Whitney Section House, built in 1917 in Wasilla, Alaska.

Arizona

Benson Section House, built by Southern Pacific Railroad in 1880s–'90s in Benson, Arizona.
Elgin Section House, Elgin, Arizona, built for the now-abandoned Benson-to-Nogales mainline of the New Mexico & Arizona Railroad (later Southern Pacific).
Patagonia Railroad Section Foreman Residence, built next to the Patagonia Depot in 1904 by New Mexico & Arizona Railroad and moved to its present location in Patagonia, Arizona in 1964.
Skull Valley Section House, built in the 1920s in Skull Valley, Arizona.
Wickenburg Section House, built by Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway in 1925 in Wickenburg, Arizona.

Kansas

Kansas Pacific Railway Section House, an 1879 stone railroad superintendent's residence, one of only two remaining Kansas Pacific Railroad structures. Wallace, Kansas.

Oregon

Maupin Section Foreman's House, built in 1910 in Maupin, Oregon. Now used as museum commemorating the Deschutes Railroad War

South Carolina

Little Mountain Section House in Little Mountain, built in 1890 by the Columbia, Newberry and Laurens Railroad

Gallery[]

Potter Section House in Alaska.
Section house for the New Mexico & Arizona Railroad, Elgin, Arizona. The railroad line ran just to the right of the large porch, approximately where the large cottonwood tree now stands.
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway section house in Wickenburg, Arizona.
Southern Pacific section foreman's house in Benson, Arizona.
Maupin Section Foreman's House in Maupin, Oregon.

External links[]

True Tales from a CPR Section House

v t Rail infrastructure
Tracks (history)	Axe ties Ballast Baulk road Breather switch Cant Clip and scotch Date nail Fastening system Fishplate Ladder track Minimum radius Profile Tie/Sleeper Transition curve
Trackwork	Balloon loop Classification yard Headshunt Pocket track Junction Gauntlet track Guide bar Passing loop Track gauge dual gauge Rail track tramway track Rail yard Railway electrification system overhead lines third rail ground-level power supply Railway turntable Transfer table (traverser) Roll way Siding refuge siding Switch Track geometry Water crane Water trough Wye
Signalling and safety	Block post Buffer stop Catch points Defect detector Derailer Interlocking Level crossing Loading gauge Railway signal Signalling control Structure gauge Signal bridge Tell-tale Train stop Wayside horn
Structures	Coaling tower Motive power depot/Railway workshop Platform Roundhouse Shed for trains for goods Station building clock Water stop

v t Railway track layouts
Railway track	Single track Passing loop Double track Quadruple track Crossover
Rail sidings	Balloon loop Headshunt Pocket track Refuge siding Rail yard Classification yard
Junctions	Flying junction Level junction Double junction Facing and trailing Grand union Grand circle / roundabout Wye Switch / turnout / points Swingnose crossing Level crossing
Stations	Railway platform Bay Island Side Split Terminal station Balloon loop Spanish solution Cross-platform interchange Interchange station Infill station
Hillclimbing	Horseshoe curve Zig Zag / Switchback Spiral
Track geometry	Track gauge Ruling gradient Minimum curve radius Cant Cant deficiency

Section house

Contents

Examples[]

United States[]

Gallery[]

See also[]

External links[]