Bailey Yard
Bailey Yard is the world’s largest railroad classification yard. Owned and operated by the Union Pacific Railroad (UP), Bailey Yard is located in North Platte, Nebraska. The yard is named after former Union Pacific President Edd H. Bailey.
The gigantic Bailey Yard covers a total expanse of 2,850 acres (11.5 km2) and is over 8 miles (13 km) in length and 2 miles (3.2 km) wide. The yard is made up of some 315 miles (507 km) of track, including 18 receiving and 16 departure tracks.
Bailey Yard handles over 10,000 railroad cars every day. Approximately 3,000 cars are sorted daily in the yard’s two humps and 114 bowl tracks. Because of the enormous amount of products that pass through Bailey Yard, Union Pacific describes the yard as an “economic barometer of America.”
Besides being home to two humps, the yard also includes a locomotive fueling and servicing center that handles more than 8,500 locomotives per month, a locomotive repair shop that can repair 750 locomotives monthly, and a car repair facility that handles nearly 50 cars daily.
Union Pacific employs more than 2,600 people in North Platte, most of whom are responsible for the day-to-day operations of Bailey Yard.
Contents |
[edit] History
Since the original construction of the UP in the late 1860s, North Platte had been a division point, where trains are sorted, railroad crews are exchanged and maintenance or repairs are performed on equipment. The early yard design at North Platte was a flat-switched yard with 20 tracks.[1]
UP opened Bailey Yard in 1948 as a hump yard with 42 tracks. Another hump yard with 64 tracks was added in 1968, followed by a diesel locomotive shop in 1971, and a railroad car shop in 1974. The 1948 hump yard was replaced in 1980 with a new 50-track yard.[1]
In 1995, as a result of its massive size, the yard was recognized in the Guinness Book of Records as the largest rail yard in the world.[1] It was featured on the "Freight Trains" episode of Modern Marvels on The History Channel.
[edit] Managers
Chad Wilbourn - General Superintendent John Allberry - M.O.P. (Current)
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Van Hattem, Matt (2010-05-21). "North Platte: The rise of a railroad town". Trains. http://www.trains.com/trn/default.aspx?c=a&id=6816.
- McPhee, John (2006). Uncommon Carriers. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. pp. 206–210. ISBN 978-0-374-28039-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=uOSPZhoDIuMC&lpg=PP1&ots=Hw-t1zDai-&dq=%22uncommon%20carriers%22%20mcphee&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false.
[edit] External links
Coordinates: 41°09′01″N 100°49′43″W / 41.150191°N 100.828528°W
