Repair Facilities and Command Center
 The "One Spot" car shop replaces 10,000 pairs of wheels annually. |
A car repair facility with three completely equipped "one-spot" tracks, repairs an average of 50 cars daily. The shop replaces 10,000 pairs of wheels yearly and has a fleet of trucks to repair small defects in trains. Its employees do 1,000-mile car inspections. Light repairs are completed in less than an hour so cars can quickly be moved back into trains. The shop can repair 18 to 20 cars per hour, with shifts running 24 hours.
Union Pacific Fruit Express, a subsidiary of Union Pacific Railroad, has a fleet of more than 5,500 mechanical refrigerator cars and trailers. Its largest pre-trip operation is at Bailey, where up to 75 cars per day are conditioned, fueled and prepared for the next shipment of fresh fruits and vegetables. These "reefer" cars are distributed to loading territories, primarily in Idaho and the Pacific Northwest. North Platte also inspects loaded reefers to insure proper temperature and fuel supply.
The Bailey Command Center controls all movement through Bailey Yard, utilizing the latest computer-based controls. Bailey is tied to the Harriman Dispatching Center in Omaha, which controls hundreds of intercity trains operating daily throughout Union Pacific's 23-state system.
Union Pacific employees in North Platte are paid about $100 million annually. Besides 2,600 UP workers and their families, North Platte is home to 1,500 UP retirees. North Platte and Union Pacific are truly synonymous terms.
Bailey's importance was recognized in 1995, when it was entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's largest railroad yard.