Yes, very rare, I think. They have a similar setup here in San Antonio and I cannot remember ever seeing a diesel being turned on the turntable. It must have happened some, but I just never saw it.
I just got back from checking on something... The old Seaboard Air Line turntable in Raleigh is still present and looks like it can be used (and has in the not too distant past). I remember seeing CSX turn units on it, more like GP's; not mammoth SD70's Harold
BNSF has a truntable up in the Vancouver Wa yard. I've never seen a loco on it, but I have seen the occasional SD40-2 on the storage track and it looks to be in good order.
Now here is what a turntable was designed to do, turn a steam engine. This is SP&S 700 at the Brooklyn roundhouse. The big guy in the second picture is Doyle McCormack. YoHo, this is what will happen for sure at the convention, as the turntable will be in use and both 700 and her stablemates will be turned.
It still depresses me that I never managed to see either the 700 or the 4449 when I went to snoop around brooklyn yard. I wish I could figure a way to be up there for the convention. Unfortunatly I'll need to be there a month later for a wedding, so going twice is financially untenable.
BNSF has an operational turntable in Birmingham Alabama. I believe the CSX turntable at Birmingham Alabama is still in use. Also, CSX has an operational turntable in Atlanta that is used occasionally. In Nashville TN, CSX still uses both a turntable and roundhouse on a daily basis.
There's a Turntable in Grafton WV, that CSX still uses from time-to-time to turn locomotives around while making a consist.
