As I read a lot of train info, the names of different train yards are mentioned. Some names make sense,like when the yard and the town have the same name. So far,so good. But where do some of these names come from? For example, Pig’s Eye Yard, in I believe St. Paul.Minn.? How about some others?
A friend of mine in the Twin Cities tells me that St. Paul was originally named (you guessed it!) Pig’s Eye!
Many other yards are named after various RR officials.
All the points along a line can have very interesting and historic names. It seems to be a fairly informal thing when they do the naming, except for the ones named after RR officers. The best part is they seem reluctant to change them, so the RoW becomes a kind of time capsule. There was a spot on the EJ&E in Chicago named Electric Jct. I’ve talked with crew guys that didn’t even know what it meant. But there was actually an electric interurban line there in the old days. Some points were also named after old businesses that were served at a given location, which are long gone.
Dave
-DPD Productions - Featuring the NEW TrainTenna LP Gain RR Scanner Antenna-
http://eje.railfan.net/dpdp/
October 1986 Trains, page 31-
Railroaders almost never refer to Milwaukee’s St. Paul Yard by its proper name. To them, it’s simply Pig’s Eye, the original name for that area of present-day St. Paul. According to legend, the first settler, a French Canadian bootlegger named Pigs Eye Parrant, settled by the lake adjacent to today"s railroad yard, and both the lake and the community which grew up there became known as Pig’s Eye.
Clearing got its name based on its original purpose. When it was originally proposed by A. B. Stickney, he intended it to be a great clearinghouse for all railroad cars passing through Chicago. It didn’t quite work out that way but the name stuck and also came to refer to the neighborhood north of the yard and west of Chicago Municipal Airport. The September and October 1966 issues of TRAINS have a good two-part article about the BRC which include a lot of interesting background about Clearing Yard and the BRC.
Lots of the names along the RR right-of-way were at one time small towns, albeit, the towns were most likely there because of the RR in the first place.
Lots of times they had a Brass Pounder and perhaps a small station, and now there’s nothing more than a Station Name Sign.
This is something I don’t understand to much. How did Bailey Yard get it’s name considering it’s up and over (for me) in North Platte?? I would of just called it NP or something, however, now days people don’t really refer to Bailey Yard as Bailey Yard, it’s North Platte. Sometimes, the railroad likes to confuse people, instead of making things plain and simple. lol
CSXrules4eva,
North Platte’s Bailey was named for Edd H. Bailey. He was U.P.'s president during the 1960’s I believe.
Decoursey Yards-Latonia KY
Queensgate Yards-Cincinnati OH
More in the area. These are the ones I like.
Brian (KY)
The yard in Watertown, NY is called Massey - after the street/road that it’s on. One of the yards at Fort Drum is sometimes referred to as the coal yard, even though the old coal dumping facility on that yard is long gone. On the other hand, the yard where the coal facility is now is called east, or Gas Alley…
Even some of the waypoints on various lines can be a source of wonderment. “Cona” and “Brad” are pretty obvious abreviations of “Lacona” (a town) and “Bradley” (a street). “Stan” is probably a shortening of “Stanwix,” an early name for Rome, NY. It’s located about where the old RW&O line headed south for Rome, vs the current line which goes to Syracuse. I still haven’t figured out “Roots” or “Kane”.
CSX Selkirk yard was orinaginaly known as Perlman yard…after the railroad CEO of New York Central…Willard Yard was known as East Chicago OH but the town and that railroad were renamed after the B&O railroad exectutive
Proviso on the C&NW got its name because it is located in Proviso Township. Argo on the IHB drew its name from Argo cornstarch, a product of Corn Products, who has a major plant adjacent to the IHB at that point. Calumet Yard, an N&W/NKP facility, is located at the edge of what is known as the Calumet region of Illinois and Indiana.
the name here in the milwaukee is called Mitchell yard.
What about CN’s Mac Millan Yard in Brampton/ Toronto vicinity?
Here are a few yd names from KS: BNSF at Newton is named Sand Creek, the yd at Hutchinson is Way (named after a official), the former RI (now UP) Wichita yd is known as Cline (named after RI land agent who helped the rr purchase the site for the yd when it was buikt in 1911).
Gravity Yard in Pine Bluff, Arkansas is a hump yard. It uses gravity for switching the cars to their classification tracks!
NEFF YARD in KCMO was named after a Missouri Pacific Railroad president. But what about some other Kansas City yards like ARGENTINE (A.T.S.F.) and ARMOURDALE (C.R.I.& P.)? What are their origins?
The J.R. DAVIS YARD in Roseville, Calif. is named after the Southern Pacific’s last president. GEMCO YARD, just north of Van Nuys, honors what may still be its biggest customer, General Motors. But what about some other Espee affiliated yards like TAYLOR in Los Angeles, J-YARD in East Los Angeles, ENGLEWOOD and STRANG in Houston, and ROPER (ex-D.& R.G.W.) in Salt Lake City? What are their origins?
Lastly (for now) who was the “Conway” behind CONWAY YARD (PRR) in Pittsburgh?
A crusty, old, yet brilliant General Superintendent told me one time, “Young man, trains standing still lose money while trains moving make money. Seeing a train stopped or freight cars rusting in a track make me very nervous.” Given all of the poor velocity issues plaguing the industry today, I should think that no railroad executive would want to lend his moniker to that most conspicuous obstacle to railroad financial performance: the freight yard.
Selkirk yard in NY was originally Selkirk, then Pearlman and THEN back to Selkirk, following various corporate name changes.
Was Selkirk yard named after the Selkirk mountains?Did the Pearlman name change after PennCentral went down?
CP here in Milwaukee has Lake (named after the town of Lake, now all absorbed by Milwaukee, Cudahy, and St. Francis), Wash 4 (named after Washington Street), Muskego Yard (named after a street that it displaces/used to run through it?), and Grand Avenue Junction (right under Wisconsin Avenue, formerly known as Grand Avenue, also the name of a mall farther east on Wis Ave.).
UP has Mitchell Yard and Butler Yard. Various Mitchells have been instrumental in Milwaukee’s history, and I know a Mitchell was once president of the Milwaukee Road, although I’m not sure of C&NW. A Mitchell or two was a banker, so maybe they lent C&NW money? Butler is interesting since no part of it actually exists in Butler itself, but actually across the street in Milwaukee!
-Mark
www.fuzzyworld3.com