19th-Century Railway Turntable Unearthed in England

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND—BBC News reports that excavation at a former train station in central Birmingham ahead of a high-speed rail project has unearthed the remains of a railway turntable dating to 1837. A machine used by railway workers to turn the direction of rolling stock, the turntable was designed by Robert Stephenson, son of renowned civil engineer George Stephenson, who was known as the “Father of Railways.” Archaeologists are now at work trying to identify more remains of the original station, known as the Grand Junction Railway terminus, one of the earliest railway lines to be built in England. To read more about the discovery of early nineteenth-century railway structures, go to “A Tale of Two Railroads.”