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Larger than life - UP's Bailey Yard.

Rail Time - a Model Train Blog: Larger than life - UP's Bailey Yard.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Larger than life - UP's Bailey Yard.

2,850 acres...
315 miles of track with 985 switches...
155 trains per day...
10,000 railcars sorted and 300 locomotives serviced per day...
Two receiving yards, two humps, two bowls, two departure yards, an intermodal yard, a coal car storage yard, a full-service locomotive shop, etc...

Words fall short when trying to convey the awesome size of Union Pacific's Bailey Yard in remote North Platte, Nebraska. This is the world's largest railroad yard by a wide margin. My family and I were fortunate enough to attend Union Pacific's second annual Train Fest this weekend at North Platte. Patricia was cool enough to go online and score us some tickets for a guided bus tour of Bailey Yard!

You can find a lot of info online about Bailey and it was even on an episode of the show
Modern Marvels. So rather than continuing to heap on the superlatives, I'll just post the pictures!

This was the view from the Golden Spike, Bailey's brand-new 7-story observation tower:


Bailey's locomotive shop:


Heritage SD70ACe units (Missouri Pacific and Missouri-Kansas-Texas) in North Platte:


Patricia in front of the Challenger (4-6-6-4) under steam!:


Changing out a wheelset at Bailey's RIP (repair-in-place) tracks:


A covered hopper rolls down the eastbound hump toward the east bowl:


A view toward the west end of the yard (run-through and eastbound receiving) from the flyover:


Three more heritage units (Southern Pacific, Chicago & Northwestern, and Denver & Rio Grande Western) at the Bailey locomotive shop:


Patricia and the boys in front of the D&RGW SD70ACe:

4 Comments:

Blogger Steve said...

That looks like one huge experience. If I ever get that far east, I'm going to have to stay there a day to take it all in! Great pics, by the way. The heritage fleet and the 3985 are not together all that often.

Steve Walden
Colorado Railroads blog

September 23, 2008 at 3:45 PM  
Anonymous Donna W. Guthrie said...

I am a children's author and video maker currently producing a new series for children titled MEET ME AT THE CORNER.

This series of virtual field trips is being distributed over the Internet as video pod casts on our web site www.meetmeatthecorner.org

Each video is linked to fun websites and a Learning Corner of questions and extended activities. New episodes are uploaded every two weeks.

Next week a new show goes up. It is virtual field trip to the Model Rail Museum in San Diego. Kids learn about the history of model trains. The head docent talks about what can be learned from the hobby of model trains and then takes Holly ( age 11) on a short tour of the museum.

Would you consider  reviewing MEET ME AT THE CORNER, Virtual Field Trips for Kids for your readers? 

I look forward to hearing from you.

Donna W. Guthrie 
Email: DonnaG6113@AOL.com
www.meetmeatthecorner.org

December 18, 2009 at 7:04 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

The world's biggest model train set.
http://www.blikbit.com/article/3

January 11, 2010 at 8:57 AM  
Anonymous cheap viagra said...

I love trains but I've never get in to.
I would like to be in one of those nearly

August 11, 2010 at 4:21 PM  

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