Railway turntable

The turntable rotates locomotives and wagons together with the length of track beneath them. Running onto it, turning and leaving can replace a journey through a complex arrangement of points. The vehicle changes its orientation while remaining on the rails of the moving structure. At Jaworzyna, the turntable connects tracks radiating towards nineteen locomotive stalls. Aligning its rails with a selected approach track opens the way to the corresponding part of the depot. Each stall has its own approach.

The building follows an arc, with the turntable at the centre of this arrangement. The fan of tracks and the shape of the depot form a single locomotive-servicing system, with the turntable as its moving link. Its operating principle is demonstrated during the Steam Route ride. The demonstration explains a way of repositioning a vehicle that is harder to understand from stationary rails alone.