11 track local yard

NG507056

11 track local yard

Facilities

One supplementary facility not generally available at hump yards is a separate yard for making up local freights. The results are either that locals are delayed and production is slowed while these cars are handled in pullout areas, or that the locals are moved to outlying terminals fed from the big yards by pick-up-and-drop trains. Neither alternative was considered acceptable at Elkhart, so that money was made available for an 11-track local yard, seen here from the west window of the west end yard office. It is about 1:30 PM and this yard, which is switched on third trick and emptied out by 10 AM, is therefore in ballpark status. Moving west on the local yard ladder are four units headed for Blue Island light, and beyond them, four more EMDs are heading in on the Early Bird track with NY-2, 49 cars of New York freight out of Blue Island with meat and perishables predominating.

Jeremy Taylor

Jeremy Taylor

5x7 glossy photo

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Yard

Elkhart, IN

See NG507056a