Interesting Finds on Google Maps — February 2017

If you can add any more information about any of these places, please do so in the comments section at the bottom of the page.

LD Commodities NW (Portland, OR)

Location: 45°31’46.1”N 122°40’09.4”W (45.529475, -122.669268)

The Louis Dreyfus Company Northwest Facilities have interesting trackage surrounding their elevator, including some really tight curves.

LD Commodities NW
900 N Thunderbird Way
Portland, OR 97227

Orange Empire Railway Museum (Perris, CA)

Location: 33°45’36.5”N 117°13’54.7”W (33.760148, -117.231850)

Orange Empire Railway Museum
2201 S A Street
Perris, CA 92570
(951) 943-3020
http://oerm.org

Beard Industrial District (Modesto, CA)

Location: 37°37’44.7”N 120°55’47.1”W (37.629078, -120.929740)

The Beard Industrial District is a 2000-acre industrial park in Modesto, California. It is served by the Modesto & Empire Traction Company (M&ET), a short-line railroad that operates within the district. The M&ET’s main line is only 5 miles long, but they have an additional 38 miles of track within the district. They have daily interchanges with both BNSF and UP.

Modesto & Empire Traction Company (M&ET)
530 Eleventh Street
Modesto, CA 95354
(209) 524-4631
http://www.metrr.com

Beard Industrial District
Beard Land Improvement Company
530 Eleventh Street
Modesto, CA 95354
(209) 524-4632
http://www.beardland.com

Channel Avenue/McKellar Lake Area (Memphis, TN)

Location: 35°05’44.8”N 90°06’33.9”W (35.095778, -90.109411)

The area is bounded by Jetty Street on the west, Harbor Avenue on the north, and McKellar Lake on the east and south, and is easily visible in Google Maps’ satellite view. There are a lot of spurs servicing many industries packed into this small area.

Mid-South Milling Company (Memphis, TN)

Location: 35°06’10.4”N 90°05’27.5”W (35.102898, -90.090972)

Mid-South Milling Company
1141 Channel Ave
Memphis, TN 38106
(901) 767-0071
http://www.msmilling.com

The trackage at the animal-protein blending plant makes a loop around the property with a portion of it built on piers over the McKellar Lake shoreline. Their shipping methods include barge, rail, and truck. Mid-South operates their own trucking business, ComTran Inc.

Turntable (Memphis, TN)

Location: 35°04’13.3”N 90°04’14.9”W (35.070373, -90.070802)

I can’t tell who owns the turntable. Google Maps has labels for the CN Harrison Yard to the northwest and CN’s network map on their website has a label for BNSF Memphis Harrison Yard to the west and a label for CSXT Memphis TN Yard slightly southeast of the turntable.

Bailey Yard (North Platte, NE)

Location: 41°08’39.9”N 100°49’46.3”W (41.144404, -100.829528)

Bailey Yard
Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center
1249 North Homestead Road, North Platte, NE 69101, (308) 532-9920
http://goldenspiketower.com

Union Pacific’s Bailey Yard in North Platte, Neb., is the largest railroad classification yard in the world. Named in honor of former Union Pacific President Edd H. Bailey, the massive yard covers 2,850 acres, reaching a total length of eight miles. The yard is located in the midst of key east-west and north-south corridors, making it a critical component of Union Pacific’s rail network.

Bailey Yard has 17 receiving and 16 departure tracks handling 14,000 rail cars every 24 hours. Of those, about 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, comprised of raw and finished goods, such as automobiles, coal, grain, corn, sugar, chemicals, steel and consumer goods, including electronics, apparel and other retail products, are handled at Bailey Yard.

To keep America moving, train operations and repair shops at Bailey Yard are open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The fueling and service center processes more than 9,000 locomotives each month, using technology like overhead cranes and elevated work bays to maintain fluid operations.

The on-site car repair facility annually replaces 10,000 pairs of wheels, many identified through an in-motion defect detector using ultrasound technology to inspect the wheel. This detector was developed by Union Pacific and is the only one in the world. Some wheel repairs even take place without the rail car ever leaving the track, minimizing down time.

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

Source: _____. “Bailey Yard”. Union Pacific. Accessed February 8, 2017.

CHS Oilseed Processing (Mankato, MN)

Location: 44°09’25.5”N 94°01’52.2”W (44.157089, -94.031181)

CHS Oilseed Processing
2020 S Riverfront Dr, Mankato, MN 56001, (507) 625-7911
http://www.chsag.com/mankato

Railcare Inc (Hamilton, ON)

Location: 43°16’08.1”N 79°49’49.6”W (43.268917, -79.830444)

Railcare Inc
500 Sherman Ave N, Hamilton, ON L8L 8J6, Canada, (905) 527-8238
https://www.gwrr.com/customers/railcar_repair

What I found interesting here was not just Railcare Inc (PYX), per se, but the general area. Railcare is situated in a heavy industrial area served by a lot of rail spurs. Some of the other industries are American Iron & Metal (AIMX), Hamilton Works, Heddle Marine Service, National Steel Car (NSCX), Platinum Rail (RSX), Railink Southern Ontario (RLHH), Stelco Canada (SELX) (formerly U.S. Steel Canada), Sunrise Metals, and many others.