North American Railyards

This classic illustrated reference is now fully updated with revised profiles, additional diagrams, and more than a dozen new railyard profiles. Railyards are the epicenter of modern railroad operations sprawling multi-acre facilities, featuring miles of track and complex operations. There, freight-carrying rolling stock of every conceivable type is dropped off, sorted, and switched from train to train before being sent off to its next destination. Michael Rhodes, a devoted U.K.-based rail enthusiast, has traveled the United States and Canada dozens of times, gathering information about the histories and operations of these facilities. In this updated and expanded edition of his 2003 book, North American Railyards, Rhodes provides a unique reference to railyards across the continent, including the latest information on their status, traffic, and more. In addition to revising the previous yard profiles where necessary, he has added more than a dozen profiles not included in the previous edition, bringing the total in this volume to 100. The book also includes 10 new yard diagrams not appearing in the previous volume, provides updates to the existing 25 diagrams where needed, and features system maps for the Canadian National, Canadian Pacific, CSX, Norfolk Southern, BNSF, and Union Pacific railroads. Where the first edition of North American Railyards was unparalleled in enthusiast literature published before it, this fully revamped and expanded edition brings even more information and a beautiful new layout to the bookshelf of any true railfan.

Michael Rhodes is a retired surgeon residing in Norwich, United Kingdom. He has traveled North America more than 40 times since 1989 to research and record American and Canadian railyards and is most recently the author of North American Railyards, Updated and Expanded Edition (2014) from Voyageur Press.