July 8, 2009

We are in North Platte, Nebraska. Today we went to the Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center at the Union Pacific Railroad’s Bailey Yard. Thank you Fred for recommending this place. Bailey Yard, a 24 hour operation, is the largest classification yard in the world – 2,850 acres, 8 miles long and 2 ½ miles wide. Every 24 hours Bailey Yard handles 15,000 railroad cars. Of those, 3,000 are sorted daily in the eastbound and westbound yards. The interesting thing for us was the humps and bowls where the cars are sorted. The incoming trains are taken to the top of the hump where an operator determines how the train is to be taken apart. The cars are disconnected, either one at a time or in small groups, and allowed to roll on their own down to one of 114 bowl tracks for reconnecting. This reconnection area is called the bowl. There are eastbound and westbound humps and bowls depending on the direction the new train is to travel. It was fascinating watching the cars travel by themselves on the way to be part of a new train.

There is a diesel repair shop here also. The shop replaces 10,000 pairs of wheels and repairs 750 locomotives each year. Bailey Yard fills locomotives with 14 million gallons of diesel fuel every month. Each locomotive holds approximately 3,000 gallons of fuel.

The visitor’s tower is manned by volunteers, some but not all are retired railroad employees, who enlighten everyone with interesting stories and details of what is happening below in the yards.

This tower is eight stories tall. There is also an open-air balcony below the glassed area. I tried the open-air area but didn’t find it very comfortable. In case you didn’t know or have forgotten, I do not like high places.

This is the viewing area at the top of the tower. Notice the chairs along the windows. You can stay as long as you want. The lady in yellow and the tall man behind Char are two of the volunteers.

This is part of the eastbound hump yard. At the top you can see the 34 ft. high hump where the cars are separated. They then roll down into the bowl. The operator can control the speed of the cars going into the bowl with wheel brakes installed along the tracks.

This is another view of the eastbound bowl.

This is the diesel repair shop.

This is one of the areas where fuel and sand are loaded into the locomotives. The white tower is for sand and the blue tower is for diesel fuel. The sand is used for additional traction under the locomotive wheels.

While we were in the tower, a Union Pacific engineer stopped by and talked with us. He runs coal trains between North Platte and Kansas. It was great having the person that drives a train to answer questions. He told us coal trains usually have 143 cars and each car carries approximately 125 tons of coal. Trains used to travel at 55-60 mph, but because of new Union Pacific energy requirements (fuel use) trains now travel between 40 and 45 mph. He also said that loaded coal cars are more fuel-efficient than empty cars. He explained that empty cars catch more air and are more susceptible to strong winds. Once full cars are up to speed, the locomotives don’t need as much fuel to keep them rolling.

We also went to Buffalo Bill State Historical Park. We enjoyed a self-guided tour of the house, barn and outbuildings. The original ranch was 4,000 acres and called Scout’s Rest Ranch. Now 25 acres are preserved by the State of Nebraska.

The front portion of the house was built in 1886 as a place for Buffalo Bill to relax between shows and for entertaining friends. The rear section was added in 1909.

The building on the left is for grain storage, the one on the right is the icehouse and the springhouse is in the middle.

The barn now features Wild West Show memorabilia, original posters and a movie of film clips taken at the time the show was touring throughout the US and Europe.


We really enjoyed the landscaping and large yard.

As you can tell, we had a terrific day. I’m sure today will remain high on our list of favorite things we have done on this summer’s trip.