ABOVE: SD70ACe No. 8362 leads a west- bound intermodal train across the North Platte River just east of the town of the same name. The view is from the U.S. 30 overpass.
RIGHT: A graveyard for concrete ties is locat- ed at the Airport Road crossing as a westbound manifest goes by on May 21, 2015.
ground. If you need the exercise, you can climb all 157 steps to the top instead of using the elevator. The tower has volunteer docents
on hand to help explain what you are looking at. On my visit, I had the opportunity to talk to Milton Lehman, a retired 30-year veteran of UP. He had spent ten years working at Bailey Yard, so he was extremely knowledgeable about the local operations. Prior to coming to the yard, he was a conductor and rode the DDA40X Centennials — the largest diesels ever built — between North Platte and Cheyenne, Wyo. The tower is located on the south side
of Bailey Yard, so light for photography is good throughout the day. It opens each morning at 10:00 a.m., so for the
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best light on the engine shop (located just west of the tower), you’ll want to get there right at opening. For even more interesting photos, try to hit the tower on the third Saturday of each month when it is open after dark — until 11:00 p.m. from May until September and 9:00 p.m. the rest of the year. With all the lights illuminating the yard, you can get some interesting images as the sky turns red. The tower normally closes at 7:00 in the summer and 5:00 in the winter.
The Largest Yard in the World The yard you are looking at from the
Golden Spike Tower is Bailey Yard, named for former UP president Edd H. Bailey. At two miles across and eight miles long, the yard occupies 2,850 acres and is the largest classification yard in the world. There are 400 miles of track in the yard. Additionally, the yard employs about 2,600 people. Over 100 trains pass through the yard daily. There are two humps in the yard,
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