Buckeye Yard

Buckeye Yard Memories
by Russ Thompson

Part-1 - The Late Buckeye Yard (1969-2022)

         Planning began in the early 1960s for a modern yard to replace the numerous yards of the Pennsylvania Railroad in the Columbus area.
         It was once told to this writer that the location for the new yard was to be west of Hilliard on the north, and near Cole Rd. on the south. But being unable to obtain the land, the site was moved east of Walcutt Rd., where the yard as we knew it was constructed.
         This land was not as favorable as the western site, because a part was lowlands that needed to be drained before construction began, and the yard needed to be shortened, as the PRR-Bradford side ran northwest out of Hilliard, giving the earlier site more length.
         While initial planning was by the PRR, the yard was finished by the merged PRR/ New York Central known as the Penn Central Transportation Company. With this merger came more traffic with the closure of the local NYC yards. The Buckeye Yard land was owned by PRR Properties until its recent sale.
         By the original plans, the yard was to have 6 groups of 10 tracks each, coming off the hump. The two shortest groups were never built, thus the yard ended up with groups 2,3,4,5, only. Groups 1 & 6 were never constructed. The new yard consisted of 453 acres, containing 88 miles of track.
         Inbound and outbound main lines worked out of the General Service Building, located near the middle of the west side of the yard. Nearby were the locomotive shops, the car shops, and the fueling facilities.
         "Buckeye", the switch and signal controller for West Alton, Alton, East Alton, North Alton, Buckeye, Mounds, and CP Darby, was located in the North Locker Building, just south of Roberts Rd., on the east side of the yard, which was also the location of the car department for the departure yard, and the locker room for the local crews.
         Nearby was North Tower, the headquarters of the yardmaster, and the controller of all yard activities, except the hump, which was controlled out of the Hump Building, on the east side of the hump.
                                                      Click for Part-2