Union Pacific’s Chief Engineer Grenville Dodge platted North Platte as a railroad town during the transcontinental railroad’s construction. The railroad planners selected North Platte because of its proximity to good water and distance from Grand Island, Nebraska. In 1866, the first train rolled through what was known, at the time, as “Hell on Wheels” town. General Dodge quickly moved to construct major shop facilities and winter quarters, and by 1867, mainline operations began. Two years later, on May 10th, East met West at Promontory Summit in Utah, 690 miles east of Sacramento and 1,087 miles west of Omaha. The railroad crossed two-thirds of the continent over some of the most challenging terrain on earth. It was called “The Work of Giants,” and it was the end of the frontier as we knew it.

General Grenville Dodge,
Engineer for Union Pacific.

Buffalo Bill’s Home Base

Bill Cody’s Scouts Rest Ranch because of its proximity to the railroad. Able to move his Wild West Show by train or wagon from this location, Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show entertained throughout the U.S. and performed in front of heads of state worldwide.

WWII On The Homefront

From 1941 to 1946, The North Platte Canteen served more than six million members of the armed forces, providing home-baked goods and a warm welcome to the nation’s young men and women as they passed by for a 10-minute stop. The country was at war, and the volunteers at the North Platte Canteen stepped up to give each serviceperson a welcome break from going to or returning from the war.

End Of An Era

Passenger rail service was discontinued in 1971 after operating for some 105 years. Gone are the days of Pullman sleeping cars, dining cars, lounges, and coaches. Automobiles and air travel replaced the romance and luxury of passenger trains.

Today, Bailey Yard, named for former Union Pacific president Edd H. Bailey, is the world’s largest train yard. Covering a massive 2,850 acres—reaching a total length of eight miles—each day, Bailey Yard manages 10,000 railroad cars. 3,000 are sorted to ensure the cargo reaches its final destination. The yard is located in the midst of key east-west and north-south corridors on America’s busiest freight rail line, making it a critical component of Union Pacific’s rail network. You can see it all from the Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center in North Platte.

Bailey Yard has 17 receiving and 16 departure tracks handling 14,000 rail cars every 24 hours.  3,000 cars are sorted daily in the yard’s eastward and westward yards, nicknamed “hump” yards. Using a mound cresting 34 feet for eastbound trains and 20 feet for those heading west, the hump yards allow four cars a minute to roll gently into any of 114 “bowl” tracks. Here, they become part of trains headed for destinations in the East, West, and Gulf Coasts of America, as well as the Canadian and Mexican borders. An average of 139 trains per day are largely comprised of raw and finished goods, such as automobiles, coal, grain, corn, sugar, chemicals, and steel, along with consumer goods, including electronics, apparel, and other retail products.

The train operations and repair shops at Bailey Yard are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week to keep America moving forward. The fueling and service center processes more than 8,500 locomotives each month, using technology like overhead cranes and elevated work bays to maintain fluid operations.

On-Site Car Repair

The on-site car repair facility annually replaces 10,000 pairs of wheels; many are identified through an in-motion defect detector using ultrasound technology to inspect the wheel. Union Pacific developed this detector, which is the only one in the world. Some wheel repairs even occur without the rail car ever leaving the track, minimizing downtime.

Union Pacific’s annual capital investments continue to enhance operational capabilities at Bailey Yard, ensuring safe, reliable, and environmentally friendly transportation.

Command Center

The latest computerized control systems handle all train movement throughout Bailey Yard through the on-site command center. The Bailey Yard command center is tied to the Harriman Dispatching Center in Omaha, which controls hundreds of intercity trains daily throughout the company’s 23-state rail system.