Watch in High Definition! Here's my favorite video from our Tehachapi and Cajon Trip. After we left Tehachapi, we drove to Barstow. We visited the historic train station and the route 66 museum. Then, we headed over to the BNSF Hump Yard. Barstow Yard is massive. A yard (now called B Yard I believe) was the original yard at Barstow and is located just across from the Train Station (now seved by Amtrak's Southwest Chief). In the 1970s, the ATSF Railway decided to put a major hub in Barstow due to all the traffic that passes through the area. So, they started building a brand new facility west of B Yard. The facility includes an arrival yard, a hump yard, a secondary hump facility, a massive locomotive storage and servicing facility, a departure yard, and an intermodal inspection yard. Each of these yards is at least as large as B Yard. The whole complex is almost 5 miles long and a quarter mile wide in some ares. Overseeing the whole facility are the yardmasters. In order to be able to visually see the entire yard (minus B yard which is around a slight curve), a tower was built right next to the Hump yard lead. This central location allows the yardmasters to see the entire yard from a brid's eye view. This tower is supplemented by smaller yard towers placed around the yard. When we arrived, we talked to a BNSF employee for a few minutes (who turned out to be a yardmaster), who then offered to let us take a look inside the tower. Once in the tower, we were treated to an <b>...</b>
Share on del.icio.us
Share on digg
Share on Technorati
Share on reddit
Share on Yahoo!
Share on Facebook