Union Pacific Bailey Yard
Bailey Yard is the world’s largest railroad classification yard.
It sorts, services and repairs locomotives and cars headed all across North
America. 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 is midway between Chicago and Salt Lake City and
halfway between Denver and Omaha. It 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
has 200 separate tracks totaling 315 miles (507 km) of track, 985 switches, 766
turnouts,[2] and 17 receiving and 16 departure tracks. 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.
An average of 139 trains and over 14,000 railroad cars pass through Bailey Yard
every day, and the yard sorts approximately 3,000 cars daily using the yard’s
two humps. The eastbound hump is a 34 feet (10 m)-tall mound and the westbound
hump is 20 feet (6.1 m) high. These are used to sort four cars a minute into one
of the 114 "bowl" tracks, 49 tracks for the westbound trains and 65 for
eastbound. The bowl tracks are used to form trains headed for destinations
across North America, including the east, west and Gulf Coasts of the United
States, and Canadian and Mexican borders.
East bound hump
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. The car repair shop replaces 10,000 pairs of wheels each year. The yard features an in-motion wheel defect detector developed by Union Pacific that uses ultrasound technology to inspect each wheel. It is the only such detector in the world. UP has also developed a method for changing wheels in the field on empty westbound coal trains, which enables three workers to use a hydraulic jack under the couplers between two cars and exchange the trucks. This has reduced the time needed to replace trucks from up to 12 days to 8–12 minutes.
car rolling
Locomotives can be serviced in a NASCAR-like pit stop facility staffed by five crew members—an electrician, machinist, fireman, oiler, and car inspector. Locomotives are serviced in 45 minutes without detaching them from their trains. The yard features a custom-built one-of-a-kind ultrasound wheel defect detector.
engine maintenance
Because of the enormous amount of products that pass through Bailey Yard, Union Pacific describes the yard as an “economic barometer of America.”
coming off the hump
North Platte was first platted as a railroad town by Chief Engineer Grenville
Dodge. He chose the location because of the availability of good water nearby,
and its distance from Grand Island, Nebraska. The town, first known as "Hell on
Wheels", received its first train in 1866. Dodge then constructed major shop
facilities and winter quarters for its crews. In 1867 it began conducting main
line operations through the town. The early yard was a flat-switched yard with
20 tracks.
Buffalo Bill located Scouts Rest Ranch at North Platte because it allowed him to
move his Wild West Show by train or by wagon across the United States relatively
quickly. From 1941 to 1946, the North Platte Canteen served baked goods and
refreshments to more than six million service members during a 10-minute stop as
they were convoyed across the United States. After 105 years, passenger service
was discontinued in 1971.
North Platte became a division point for UP, where trains are sorted, railroad
crews are exchanged, and maintenance or repairs are performed on equipment.
Bailey Yard was updated after World War II 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. In 1980 the 1948 hump
yard was replaced with a new 50-track yard.
engine overhaul shop
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. It was featured
on the "Freight Trains" episode of Modern Marvels on The History Channel.
Text from Wikipedia
engine servicing
cat rolling from the hump
train refueling station
car rolling down the hump
coal train passing through
Union Pacific System
Golden Spike Tower and Visitors Center
Bailey yards of the Union Pacific from Galen Frysinger on Vimeo.
My return to North Platte, Nebraska and the Bailey yards of the Union Pacific - 2015 -