Was driving past BNSFs Northtown yard in NE Minneapolis, also looked at the old Soo Line Shoreham roundhouse and the CP intermodal facility right next to Northtown from a distance. Since Chicago is the railroad hub of the midwest, how many yards in Chicago are as large as Northtown? This was an old Northern Pacific yard and it was upgraded in the 1970’s after the merger of Great Northern, Burlington, and Northern Pacific.
[#welcome]
Welcome to our little and friendly group of rail enthusiasts. Wow, your question is a tough one to answer as an individual may differ in his/her definition of the word large. Also, your question dealt with Chicago and if you consider the “collar” counties to be in your area of interest the number goes up dramatically. I think for the sake of accuracy, I will defer to others on this forum for the answer (let’s see how close my guess of about 35 yards in and around Chicago is for accuracy).
Can’t tell you how they compare but Proviso, Clearing, IHB Riverdale, Barr are just some of them.
If you calculate all of the acreage of the present and past yards in Chicago and its collar counties it represents an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.
I’m not familiar enough with Northtown to compare our yards to yours. I’d say that CPRS Bensenville is another one whose footprint would trample most other yards in the country.
I would also think that UP’s Yard Center in Dolton, and EJE’s Gary yard would be on that list too.
Let’s see… Proviso Yard, Clearing, Barr, Corwith, Clyde, Eola, Bensenville, hmmm… that’s all I can come up with off the top of my head… What’s the name of the ex-ICG yard in Cicero that the CN now operates?
That would be the Hawthorne yard in Cicero.
I was thinking it was Glenn, the ex GM&O yard.
CN also has Glenn Yard which is off Central Ave at Stevenson Expressway which is pretty good sized. Cn’s Markham, while not as large as it used to be (conversion to intermodal) is still pretty good sized.
Gibson Yard in Hammond is about 15 tracks and is used exclusively for auto racks.
ed
Let’s see (I’ll cheat and use the old Train Watcher’s Map of Chicago by John Szwajkart) but only count those yards that I know originate and terminate road trains. There are certainly more yards that are only used by transfer or switch jobs, but corrections are welcome.
Going north to south you really don’t have anything until you get to CN’s ex-WC, nee-Soo Line Schiller Park Yard. Just west of there you have CP’s ex-Milwaukee Road Bensenville Yard. The Indiana Harbor Belt has Norpaul yard located just south of where the CN becomes the IHB crossing the CP in Franklin Park. Norpaul though sort of borders on the “large yard” though, but the IHB does originate and terminate freight jobs there and you are likely to find 6 or more Harbor locomotives there. Just south of there you have Union Pacific’s ex-C&NW Proviso Yard. Going west on the UP you have the yard at West Chicago, but that isn’t used for originated and terminating road trains. If you want to count Metra you have the ex-MILW yard at Western Ave. A large facility there where the commuter trains for the MILW North and West lines, the North Central and the Orland Park train sets are serviced during the day. In downtown Chicago you have UP’s Canal Street along with their Global 1 (the C&NW’s old Wood Street Yard).
On the BNSF you have Eola out in the western suburbs east of Aurora and then there is Cicero. On the CN just south of there you have Hawtorne and the ex-GM&O facility called Glenn Yard still originates and terminates trains. The BNSF’s ex-ATSF yard at Corwith and the NS’s Ashland Ave. The NS intermodal yard is Landers. The Belt Railway of Chicago has Clearing Yard of course. Heading further south you have the CSX’s Barr Yard and IHB’s Blue Island. The CN’s main yard is the ex-IC facility, Markham Yard at Homewood. The UP’s ex-Mopac Dolton facility is just east of there. The NS also maintains Calumet Yard–a bit north of Lake Calumet.
Goin
From what I’ve heard of Northtown, it’s a hump yard, and is probably bigger than most of the yards mentioned, with the exception of places like Barr, Blue Island, Clearing, Proviso, and Bensenville. And yes, Markham would have been included had it not been fragmented.
Thanks for the welcome. Wow that is impressive. How the railroads move all that traffic in and out of Chicago is amazing in itself.
Is Chicago the second largest port city in the USA behind New Orleans?
Not even close. Chicago used to see about 500-600 salt-water freighters a year (plus lake boats) in the 10-15 years after the St. Lawrence Seaway was opened but most of that traffic dried up with the switch to containers. Lake ore traffic decreased with the collapse of the steel industry.
Hmmmm…So, does anyone know how much rail traffic Originates in Chicago (production), and how much Terminates (Consumption), and how much actually just passes through (Transfer)? And where would you find information like that, anyway?
And would the larger container ships be able to navigate to Chicago now? I would imagine they would have the same issues as in Panama…
Sending a container ship to Chicago as opposed to Halifax, New York/New Jersey or even Norfolk would be a waste of time and capital. One of the advantages of containerization over break-bulk is the speed of turnaround and minimization of time in port. CN can move containers from Halifax to Chicago a lot faster than a relatively small container ship navigating the Seaway.
If you go to the top of the Sears Tower on a clear day you will realize that there is only one rail yard in Chicago, but it encompasses the entire city. 
Jack
It’s not that far from the truth[(-D]
I work for the NS and I can think of 25 yards we go to regularly and I know there is more that we don’t even go to such as barr yard