I know to some that yard operations can be slow and boring but, personally I find them intriguing. So I was wondering, in your opinions what are some of the best railyards to view from a railfan’s perspective and why? Also if you have a good spot on Public property to view from please share it!
My favorites:
Clearing Yard, Chicago- Can’t beat the volume of traffic or the fact that it serves pretty much all of the Class 1’s. Good views from Cicero Ave overpass if you are feeling adventurous and don’t mind traffic and from either Harlem Ave Wye or Hayford Junction to the east.
Proviso Yard, Chicago -Solid traffic from the UP. Views are limited to Berkeley METRA station and Mannheim Rd overpass.
My vote for the worst: CSX’s Big Four Yard in Avon, IN. - I grew up very near to this yard and there is almost no where to view it from publicly that is safe. Best bet is behind the Meijer or Target shopping complexes to the east.
Y’all come on out to the BNSF Eola (Aurora) yard…plenty of action with freight, METRA and Amtrak all day and most of the night…lots of both switching and mainline action with freights and passenger doing over 60 per through here…good scanner chatter most of the time. Come on out and find out why so many of us can be found there on a Saturday afternoon at about Amtrak time (anywhere between 1:30 and 5:00 p.m.). The best spot is the McClure Road crossing on the South side of the main.
Wenatchee Yard in washington state, it has a pedestrian overpass right over the center of the yard, it may not be the most active in the way of switching but a lot of trains pass through.
walbridge yard and stanley yards in toledo.walbridge has a park and a big hill north of the yard.also garrett indiana its a crew change point for csx and it has a little park and museum.
stay safe
Joe
Menomone Valley Yard, Milwaukee Wisconsin. This is the huge old Milwaukee Road yard complex, it’s currently used by Canadian Pacific. Viewing is very easy because of a series of viaducts that bridge over the yard as well as a city park (Mitchel Park) that is along the southern side of part of the yard. It’s also visable (although a bit far) from two of the four districts of downtown Milwaukee. The yard lead is easily viewed from a viaduct in Walker’s Point and a portion of the yard as well as the CP main is visable from Marquette University.
The yard is not that wide, but is quite long, extending from just south of downtown to near Miller Park. Sadly however, the famous old Milwaukee Road shops, where much of the Hiawatha equipment was created, has largely been razed.
I used to Like Eola Road when it was a grade crossing. Not so great now that it’s up-and-over. I may come join you guys some Saturday after work.
That “Proviso” place sounds interesting, too. Might have to try that sometime! [;)]
Seriously, in regard to Proviso, I feel that you can see most of the same things in Elmhurst that you can from the Berkeley platform (you’d miss out on a few transfer runs, and some intermodal and industrial switching, but you’d gain all of the coal trains and inbound manifests). The Mannheim bridge is pretty good, if you have binoculars and telephotos to see the diesel ramp, and if you get there by scoot (Bellwood). I wouldn’t want to park anywhere near either end of that bridge.
Galesburg Illinois, the 2nd. largest yard in the country, according to BNSF. Knox county highway 10 runs right over the north end of it with the loco and car shop on the north side of the bridge, yes it’s a bridge with shoulder for rail fan parking!!! They really did their home work when they built this one. Rail-fans ARE welcome at Galesburg!!![:D]
How about CSX Queensgate Yard in Cincinnati? You can view the northern section of the line from an overpass on Hopple St., the hump yard in the middle from Western Hill Vioduct, and the southern end from 8th St. vioduct. The southern end can also be viewed from Tower A in the old Cincinnati Union Terminal. From Tower A you can watch the action as CSX loads and unloads intermodel trailers. Also you can view the NS Gest Street Yard comings and goings.
Go to http://www.cincyrails.com/ there you can view just about everywhere that I’ve mentioned. Click Site Map, then click CSX Queensgate Yard. Enjoy!
Yes I also thought Green River was terrific. I also like Barstow as there is a overlook so you can shot the mainline/yard at the same time + the signal bridges
mark
well on the north side of the yard(next to the park) someone had to be doing some digging.you get a good view of csx traffic coming and going and transfer traffic too
stay safe
joe
Carl-
Yeah, you should definitely “check out” Proviso![:D] HAH![;)][swg]
I like Elmhurst too but you can’t see the switching that happens in Proviso like you can from the other sites. Actually, one of my favorite places to photo trains entereing and exiting the yard is from the little community garden/park that is just east of the highway. It is public property, very quiet and affords some nice pictures. The area residents do find it strange when I go there in the middle of winter though.
And ditto about parking near Mannheim.[tdn]
I haven’t been to Cincy in a while but Queesgate is a good call. Lots of action there too.
Joe- I had to look up Garrett, IN despite having been born and lived in the Hoosier state for some 20 years but after doing so I’m thinking I may have to visit. Any town website that has a train graphic on it is okay in my book![:)] Ii has a big yard for a small town too! Out of curiousity do you know who owns/owned the abandoned ROW CSX’ line crosses just east of Garrett in the town of Avilla? It appears that the abandoned line runs on to Kendalville where it joined up with another east-west line. Thanks for any info.