Spencer Yard aka Linwood Yard is one of the largest classification railroad yards in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. It is also one of the remaining

hump yards A classification yard ( American and Canadian English ( Canadian National Railway use)), marshalling yard (British, Hong Kong, Indian, Australian, and Canadian English ( Canadian Pacific Railway use)) or shunting yard (Central Europe) is a railwa ...

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 in the United States formed in 1982 with the merger of Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. With headquarters in Atlanta, the company operates 19,420 route miles (31 ...

(NS). The yard is located north of

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of Wil ...

, 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, n ...

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 Track or Tracks may refer to: Routes or imprints * Ancient trackway, any track or trail whose origin is lost in antiquity * Animal track, imprints left on surfaces that an animal walks across * Desire path, a line worn by people taking the shorte ...

. The yard facilities include

diesel locomotive A diesel locomotive is a type of railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine. Several types of diesel locomotives have been developed, differing mainly in the means by which mechanical power is conveyed to the driving whee ...

repair shops, which replaced older facilities at the nearby

Spencer Shops Southern Railway's Spencer Shops was once a major steam locomotive repair facility between Atlanta and Washington, D.C. in Spencer, North Carolina.

."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.) {{NorthCarolina-transport-stub