Spencer Yard aka Linwood Yard is one of the largest
classification railroad yards in
North Carolina
North Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, South Carolina to the south, Georgia (U.S. stat ...
. It is also one of the remaining
hump yards in North America, which are steadily being eliminated. The yard is operated by
Norfolk Southern Railway
The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...
(NS). The yard is located north of
Salisbury
Salisbury ( , ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and civil parish in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers River Avon, Hampshire, Avon, River Nadder, Nadder and River Bourne, Wi ...
, and north of
Spencer, off
Interstate 85
Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with I-95 in Petersburg, Virginia, ...
in
Davidson County, west of
Linwood Linwood may refer to:
Places
Many of the place names for Linwood come from the presence of linden trees. Australia
* Linwood, South Australia
*Linnwood, Guildford, 11-35 Byron Road, Guildford, New South Wales
Canada
* Linwood, Ontario
* Linwood, ...
.
The yard is on the edge of the NS Charlotte District and Danville District, and the Asheville District is nearby in Salisbury.
History
Spencer Yard, aka Linwood Yard for the location, is named after
Samuel Spencer, the first president of
Southern Railway. It started operations in 1979 for the
Southern Railway, before the NS merger. The project cost $49 million to build. The yard is and long and consists of more than of
track.
The yard facilities include
diesel locomotive
A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover (locomotive), power source is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is con ...
repair shops, which replaced older facilities at the nearby
Spencer Shops.
"North Carolina Transportation Museum - History of Spencer Shops."
Accessed 2009-06-17.
Current operation
The hump was shut down in 2020 and now the yard only features four trains directly to and from it, mostly being used to divide up local freight rather than classify cars for long-distance hauling.
References
Norfolk Southern Railway
Rail infrastructure in North Carolina
Rail yards in the United States
Southern Railway (U.S.)
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