1	Trabue Road	12	Car Cleaning Track
2	Roberts Road	13	Car Repair shop
3	Receiving Yard	14	Hump Tower and Freight office
4	Classification Yard	15	Construction Co. Offices - would become railroad offices
5	Departure Yard	16	Puller Track
6	Local Yard	17	Balloon Track
7	Engine Service & Ready Track	18	Hump Escape Track
8	Caboose Track	19	Hump Escape Track
9	Yard Office and Crew Change Lockers	20	Bradford Lead
10	Diesel Shop	21	Columbus Lead
11	Fuel Tanks

 

        A brand new  Buckeye Yard on the Westside of Columbus.  The photo was taken looking to the north.  The yard is orientated north - south and was built between the PRR Bradford main line to the north and the PRR Xenia main line behind the camera.  The project was planned by the PRR and constructed by Penn Central* at a cost of about $29 Million. 

        Buckeye Yard was designed to replace the PRR yards 'A', 'B' and the 20th Street shops.  After the Penn Central merger the traffic handled by the NYC West Columbus yard was also folded into Buckeye Yard. Construction started in 1968 and was complete or at least complete enough that by December 1969 Buckeye Yard opened for business.

        This photo is now 40 years old and undoubtedly changes have been made to Buckeye Yard over the years.  For example in the Conrail era the Diesel Shop was converted into a system wide signal instruction school.  With the construction of Buckeye Yard along with the creation of the Penn Central, the Columbus PRR and NYC facilities of the 1950's were history.

Photo from the Dave Bunge Collection.

 

*The Pennsylvania and New York Central Transportation Company