I decided to start a new series looking at the major yards in Ohio. Since the size of a “major” classification yard is a bit arbitrary and Ohio has plenty of rail yards and former rail yards, I’m sticking active hump yards. Hump yards work by using gravity to sort cars rolling down a hill or “hump”. Retarders and mechanical switches keep everything working smoothly.
For the purpose of these series I’ve identified the following major yards in Ohio:
- CSX: Stanley Yard – Toledo
- CSX: Queensgate Yard – Cincinnati
- CSX: Willard Yard – Willard
- NS: Bellevue Yard – Bellevue
Special mention also goes out to the recently mothballed Buckeye Yard. These days the bowl of tracks below the hump is being used for car storage.
Stanley Yard
Stanley Yard, located in Lake Township, was constructed by the Toledo & Ohio Central in 1913. It was first use as a hump yard in 1930, although in these days brakemen riding on the backs of cars served the same purpose as the modern automatic retarder systems of today.
The T&OC was leased by the New York Central System in 1922 and formally merged into the larger company in 1938. The yard became part of the ill-fated Penn Central merger in 1968 and eventually made its way through the Conrail breakup, becoming part of CSX in 1998. Over time the Penn Central and Conrail consolidated many of their Toledo-area operations in Stanley Yard.
In 1996 Conrail reportedly sorted 450 to 700 cars per day at the yard, with only 1 shift operating. Under CSX the classification hump was actually closed for a time in 2004, however it has since reopened and appears to be safe for the near future. Judging by the article the CSX system seems to struggle without its use. The photo to the right was taken at the Stanley Hump in 2005. The tracks in the foreground is the staging yard, with the classification bowl in the far background.
Interesting to note, the first area of CTC track ever operated ran from Stanley Yard to Berwick, OH.
For those wishing to photograph Stanley Yard, it is located in a relatively open area off of Walbridge Road. It is recommended to avoid the actual hump area itself (especially post-9/11) but CSX is usually pretty easy on railfans who don’t get too close to the other tracks.
References:
- Michael Rhodes. North American Railyards
. MBI October 2003.
- “Stanley Yard“. Michigan Railroads.
Other than a book or two