Bailey Yard, Largest Hump Yard In The World?

I have a few questions about union pacific's bailey yard, first of all does union pacific operate the entire yard, or do other railroads operate it as well?
second of all, what type of cars are served their, and third of all, why is it located in north platte, ne. and not anywhere else?

Bailey Yard is all Union Pacific. It's on UP's main transcontinental route, which for a long time was their only transcontinental route. Any and all types of freight cars pass through Bailey. Why North Platte? Well, its on their main line between the former eastern end of the UP in Council Bluffs, Iowa and where the main line splits to go toward either Los Angeles, Oakland or Portland. Bailey Yard is where cars received from eastern railroads are reshuffled into new trains based on their ultimate destination in the west, and vice-versa going the other way. I'm not sure why North Platte was chosen specifically, but it is probably because there was enough available land to build the yard and because the city is large enough to accomodate the large number of railroad employees and their families.

From what I gather from a History channel documentry. Bailey yard is a hub located at the central point of the UP system.

Jim

Bailey Yard is the largest "Classification Yard" in the world. having worked there for a few years its quite impressive. inbound and outbound yards both east and west. a coal car storage and recieving and departure yard. an intermodal yard. a huge diesel shop. there is also a new visitor facility that looks like a rail spike (not sure how high it is but you can see most of the yard). 2 humps.. east and west. not sure why North Platte was chosen for the site, i just know there is alot of railroading history there. The Canteen comes to mind.

I subscribe to Trains Magazine and in the July issue it looks like their is going to be a pretty good article about Bailey Yard Operations. The yard I heard is 8 miles long by 2 miles wide which is just incredible.

On the Trains Magazine website I was able to come across this pretty good map of the Bailey Yard. The PDF is attached. If people have a Trains account I believe that they should be able to access.

Just wanted to add, I use to work there, and it is pretty dang big. But why they picked NP, I think they said when the railroad was being built, its pretty much as far as they got before winter set in and started builing it up from there. And yea its UP only, BNSF runs through the southern half of the state. Alos in September they have railfest and give tours of the yard.

I'll be headed out to North Platte and the yard this summer. I gain more awe everytime I read about its size. Other than the tower, are there any other spots to view the yard?

Plenty of them ..but I dont wish to post here. You can email me at [email protected] and Ill give ya the scoop.

atsf sp wrote:I'll be headed out to North Platte and the yard this summer. I gain more awe everytime I read about its size. Other than the tower, are there any other spots to view the yard?

I was there May 20 for a few days. Viewing areas other than the tower a limited.

If you google North Platte the city map will give you a few ideas: mainly a few city
steet overpasses we hiked up, and W. Front St. on the eastside of the tracks in the
downtown area.

Another limited view is at N Front Rd. RR crossing on the westend of the yards where
it basically starts. We saw lots of train action the ten minutes there.

I went there and it is truly amazing. Plenty of SP units too including 2 unpatched units. I'll post pics later once I get them online.

So did my tips help at all? I just passed the Prometric exam today and have an interview to go back there on the 28th. It really is a nice place.

The tips did help. I drove by the hump and diesel shop. Saw a couple of unpatched SP units there.

http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/archiv ... x?id=58372This album is of North Platte plus the rest of NE.