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: