Friday, Sep 22 2023
Nebraska is about 450 miles (725 km) west to east and the major cities are in the east of the state so I decided to make today a driving day. I also “lost” an hour since I have crossed into the central time zone. When I looked for interesting things to do on the way little sounded appealing and several potential places seemed as if they may repeat what I had already learned about the Pioneers. I then came across the Union Pacific Railway Bailey Yard in North Platte which is rated as a TripAdvisor Tourist Choice and decided it should be interesting.
This is the hub of the railway. All trains from anywhere in the east and west come through here (just like the Pioneers did) and the trains are broken apart and put back together so that each car goes to the correct destination. It is equivalent to a post office sorting center, except with rail cars instead of letters and parcels.
The place is huge. It is 8 miles (13 km) long but contains 400 miles ( 644 km) of track, 64 tracks connect to eastern destinations and 50 to western, 125 trains containing 12,000 railway cars are sorted each day and 10,000 locomotives are serviced or repaired here each month.
A n observation tower allows visitors to look over the yard but, unfortunately, that is about all you can do. An employee, who had been the yard master for five years, was on hand to answer questions but I could not get a real idea of exactly how each car got put together with others going to the same destination. Each car has an identifying code on the side that is scanned as it enters the yard and the whole system is computer managed. I had expected to be able to pick an example car and be told exactly where, and how, it would be processed but there was nothing like that and I came away having learned very little. It seems to be just a view unless you are a railway buff who already knows what is going on.
There is significant activity, as seen in this clip, but little information. The voice is that of the former yard master answering a question.
I head to Lincoln tomorrow and hope to be able to write about something more interesting.