Received these pictures from an urban explorer friend who says she may have found the foundations of the old Turcot Roundhouse which was demolished in 1961. I wonder if the Ministry of Transport (MTQ) has any idea of what they have dug up? If you look at the proximity of the foundations to the wall in the bottom picture and notice the curvature of the foundations then you pretty much have to conclude that this is the foundation of the old Turcot Roundhouse. That is roughly where the Roundhouse stood and what else could have been there? Also the wall running along the top of St. Jacques was once the vehicle for what was probably Montreal’s longest ever graffiti piece. It was never easy to see because of the growth on the side of the hill that was obviously cut away for the construction.
This is very exciting stuff but probably all dug away the following day.
Big thanks to Nelly Van Cleef for the pictures and please check out her Flickr page!!
P.S. Have since found out that the MTQ did hold a poorly attended (poor publicized?) public consultation on this issue in September 2014 and they even had an architect come in who claimed the foundation was of no architectural interest. See the report here (en francais).
It would have been quite something if they had just dug it up as it was and allowed people to go in to view/photograph it.
PostArctica 
Dear Nelly-
you hit -paydirt!(Congratulations!)(well done!)
This IS were the Turcot Roundhouse was!(I was in it-in September 1960 ( when one of my neighbors Canadian Northern Steam locomotive(built in 1944) was retired(what you found- looks like part of the locomotive turntable-( as well as the trenches used for doing locomotive repairs( they likely had these trenches nearly at the Glen Rd streetcar buildings-also( these were used for maintenance UNDER the locomotive( or a streetcar( and common in both roundhouses and streetcar maintenance facilities).
When I was really young-(and I lived at Rue Drake and De Biencourt(in Cote Ste Paul( across from the park(that the Metro line(Green Line) now runs directly under) I went to the Turcot yards roundhouse-(for the retirement of my neighbors steam locomotive(my upstairs neighbor-was a locomotive engineer(when CN completed the final switch over to diesel locomotives)(was one of the very last ones to be retired( and I was allowed to ride up in the cab……)(which I still really vividly remember..(Turcot Yards-was HUGE..(endless)…( too bad they did not have digital cameras back in 1960!)
(There is a Canadian Northern Locomotive -preserved in Toronto(now at the Steam Whistle Brewery-in Toronto(it was retired on September 8 1960( and for many decades sat in front of the Marine Museum on the Exhibition Grounds(downtown Toronto).
This Canadian Northern locomotive is now in the Steam Whistle Brewery building in Toronto( which used to be a railway roundhouse(like Turcot Yards had…)(this roundhouse survived)(and open to the public).(Steam Whistle is so named in honor of the roundhouse( the other roundhouse- was where the CN Tower/La Tour CN-is now)…
(Steam Whistle is as good quality as Molsons-btw(its NOT Dow Beer(at all-either(lol)…
(Terry Mosher (Aislin) did a really good cartoon (in the 1970s)(in The Gazette) of Turcot Interchange ramps going up and engulfing the Cross on Mount Royal(lol).
(I also(presently) live 300 feet-(from my front window)from an abandoned railway station(Exhibition Railway Station( abandoned in 1967)(its on the main Montreal- Toronto railway line( the one that goes into Central Station/La Gare Central).
(its at the very foot of Dufferin Street/Gardiner Expressway/the Exhibition Grounds(in downtown Toronto)….)
(The concrete stairs(down to the railway tracks-( are fenced off).
(but I have-urban explored it- the concrete stairs and railway stop platforms survived(It is similar to the Wellington Tunnel(except it doesnt fill with water…(like Wellington Tunnel(another place I am very familiar with(does….)…
(Its tricky-urban exploring it(its CN property-(and CN does use it for maintenance work in it(on a regular basis( so physically exploring it -I dont recommend doing(but you can photograph ALL of it-really safely really easily..(from the Dufferin Loop TTC stop(next to it).(easy to extensively photograph(there WAS a ticket building- but it was demolished(this station was in use(late 1800s- to 1967..)
Joyeux Noel-et Bonne Annee-mes vieux Sud- Ouest amis!
je me souviens tres bien!
Kerry
Sorry-also to hear of the passing of Jean Beliveau( he will NEVER ever be forgotten……)
Too bad this didn’t somehow get incorporated into a redevelopment. History reappears only to be destroyed.
Pingback: Forget it, Neath, it’s Turcot… | PostArctica·