Western Railroad Discussion > Busy Days in UP's East Spokane Yard

UP's East Spokane Yard has never been so busy over the past few decades as it is now. METSK trains come down to Spokane and then make a two mile long shove down this beat up lead into the East Spokane Yard to be sorted. The horrible shape of the tracks in and around the yard seem like they should be in excepted status, but yet they bring in trains full of hazmat down these tracks. The cars are sorted into HSKNA and HSKPC trains (Nampa and Pocatello, ID respectively). I'm not sure what train gets what block or works what stations enroute. I'm wondering where the cars for California and western Oregon and western Washington get dropped and which trains they ride. For the moment it seems the California traffic is going via Pocatello to avoid the nuclear meltdown happening in and around Albina. UP is starting to refuse cars from connecting railroads in the PNW due to it's inability to handle them.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

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Traffic was down most of the winter, and many low senority employees in Spokane either chased their jobs to Hinkle or La Grande, or found another line of work. Now UP is hurting for employees in Spokane as all the extra switch jobs has the TY&E workforce turnin' and burnin'. Many of the senoir conductors have jumped on the south pool to presumeably to avoid the mess.

Ted Curphey
Ontario, OR

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Good look at a busy yard.
Looks like track work is coming with a lot of new ties along the beat up lead. 
Go

Thanks Ted - perhaps you could create one of your famous maps to show how the trains coming off the SI get to the East Spokane Yard. On the scanner early this morning, BNSF Boyer West D/S had UP trains holding for hours.

BB in Bismarck

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funnelfan Wrote:
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> I'm not sure what
> train gets what block or works what stations
> enroute. I'm wondering where the cars for
> California and western Oregon and western
> Washington get dropped and which trains they ride.
> For the moment it seems the California traffic is
> going via Pocatello to avoid the nuclear meltdown
> happening in and around Albina. 

MSKNA takes California traffic to Hinkle where it’s set out.  MNPPD picks up the California traffic at Hinkle.  MOGPD and MCONP both set out CP traffic at Hinkle.

Possibly related to the Spokane / Hinkle situation, but the West Colton - Ogden train, MWCOG, was extended to Pocatello and was resymboled as MWCPC.

Andrew

Made me remember the old say:  You can't spell stUPid without UP!  Big just doesn't equate to better.

Rob

Thanks for the interesting post Ted!

Larry

Just as a point of interest, the East Spokane yard the UP uses was actually the former Milwaukee Yard, a 10 track yard built by the Milwaukee in 1954 when they decided to move some facilities from downtown Spokane (I'm not sure where their original freight facilities were).  The yard was built immediately north of the UP's East Spokane yard at the time, which made sense since Milwaukee came in to Spokane on trackage rights over the UP.  In the early 1980's when the Milwaukee abandoned its western extension, their East Spokane yard was put up for sale.  The BN turned down the offer outright, though one officer who looked at the yard said it was in better condition than BN's own yard (having been built only 26 years earlier it was still in good condition, unlike much of the rest of Milwaukee's trackage).  Of course it also had the disadvantage of not being well located for use by BN.  UP, however, quickly saw a good thing.  It was located right next to their yard, so it would be easy to just reconnect their main line to the Milwaukee facility.  The UP's original East Spokane yard laid right next and parallel to Sprague Avenue, Spokane's main east-west thoroughfare.  By moving over to the Milwaukee Yard, UP could abandon their facility and sell the land their former yard was on for commercial purposes.  You can see in the aerial view big box retailers and the like now occupying the land former UP yard was on.

I don't know how much UP has invested in the yard maintenance since they obtained it, but having been built in 1954 it is not surprising they need to replace some ties.

I heard that UP put on two new switch jobs at Spokane, and all the jobs are working 12-hour days.

So, if UP is spending all this extra money at Spokane to switch cars (add two new jobs and paying out all that overtime), and presumably UP is probably doing pretty close to the same thing in Portland, Nampa, Pocatello, Eugene, and maybe more locations; someone please enlighten me on how the hell this is saving them money from operating just one hump yard at Hinkle!!!

If UP was a person, my imagination tells me that by now, UP would've cut off their legs and arms by now because on paper, it would look like it could save money on food and clothing!  I'm also assuming that this "UP person" has already long lost their head and brain!

What insanity.

No worries, they know what they're doing  ;-)
JB