During the late 1800s, the Orange and Alexandria Railroad built a locomotive turntable at this site, and it became the center of rail yard activity by allowing steam engines and their tenders to be reversed for the 8.9-mile return trip to Calverton. When the railroad replaced steam locomotives in the 1950s with more efficient, multi-directional diesel locomotives, the turntable was no longer needed. In 1954, the Warrenton turntable was dismantled and the circulation filled in. Its foundation was not discovered and unearthed again until construction of the Warrenton Branch Greenway, making this important part of Warrenton's railroad history visible once more. The turntable was used by having a train arrive, uncoupling the locomotive and tender from the front of the train and backing them onto the turntable siding, rotating them on the turntable, backing them out to move to the rear of the train for recoupling, and then backing the train into the station.
