Englewood Yard, Houston, Texas

[Flash Blackman]

Is this Englewood Yard? I am using Google earth.
29°47'29.44"N
95°17'58.34"W

It is a bigger place than I thought. Looks like construction there. What are the UP plans for the yard? Thanks.

[r_i_straw]

I don't see any construction on the satellite image on Google Maps. Different image? It was always one of the major hump yards on the SP system and ground zero for the big melt down after the UP/SP merger. I knew one of the former SP yard masters at the time before UP got rid of him. UP decided that they would shut down all the small yards within a hundred miles of Houston and shove everything over the hump at Englewood. If everything would not go through, they would just push harder. We all know that did not work and they eventually went back to doing it the old SP way of pre-sorting trains in the small yards before shoving them over the hump. They also added an interchange to Settigast yard that is the old MoPac yard just north east of Englewood.

[Flash Blackman]

Thanks, Russell. I expect what I thought was construction is just open space.

[r_i_straw]

I went east a little and found the old Hardy Street Shops. Well demolished by the time Google Satellite got their images. These are the coordinates for the center of the old turn table pit.
+29° 46' 22.44", -95° 21' 11.34"

Microsoft Terraserver (http://terraserver.microsoft.com/) shows older images with a lot more still there.
Longitude Latitude
-95.35307, 29.77160

Terraserver is harder to use. First you have to paste the coordinates into the boxes one at a time then zoom in all the way and the paste them in all over again as it has rounded things off and ended up way south of Hardy Street.

[SOUPAC]

"Big Melt Down"? That's an interesting label. What were the specifics?

[r_i_straw]

"Big Melt Down"? That's an interesting label. What were the specifics?
That is what the railroad press called it. After the UP/SP merger, and UP's attempt to run things their way, Englewood backed up. Crews went "Dead on the law" waiting on sidings around Houston. The lines radiating out of Houston looked like parking lots with one train after another stopped on the main lines. Soon there were crew and power shortages spreading out from Houston until the entire UP system about ground to a halt.

[englewoodyardman]

UP IS chopping up the yard....its horrible...