Sunnyside Yard
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Coordinates: 40°44′59″N 73°55′37.37″W / 40.74972°N 73.9270472°W
Sunnyside Yard is a large coach yard, a railroad yard for passenger cars, in Sunnyside, Queens in New York City.
Contents |
[edit] History
The Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR) completed construction of the yard in 1910.[1]:93 At that time Sunnyside was the largest coach yard in the world, occupying 192 acres (0.78 km2) and containing 25.7 mi (41.4 km) of track.[1]:76 The yard served as the main train storage and service point for PRR trains serving New York City. It is connected to Pennsylvania Station in Midtown Manhattan by the East River Tunnels. The Sunnyside North Yard initially had 45 tracks with a capacity of 526 cars. The South Yard had 45 tracks with a 552 car capacity.[1]:93
[edit] Current operation
Currently, the yard is owned by Amtrak, but it is also used by New Jersey Transit. The shared tracks of the Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) Main Line and Amtrak's Northeast Corridor pass along the southern edge of the yard. Plans for the LIRR East Side Access project to build tracks to Grand Central Terminal would have those tracks diverging in the vicinity of, or perhaps through, the Sunnyside Yard.
Northeast of the yard there is a balloon track which is used for "U-turning" Amtrak and NJ Transit trains which terminate at Penn Station. Leading eastward, this balloon track switches off at the southernmost portion of the yard. It then turns left under the LIRR/Amtrak tracks, turns left once again, and merges with the Sunnyside yard track to turn the train west toward Penn Station.
[edit] See also
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Pennsylvania Railroad |
- List of railroad yards in New York City
- New York Connecting Railroad
- New York Tunnel Extension
- Transportation in New York City
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Couper, William, ed (1912). History of the Engineering, Construction and Equipment of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company's New York Terminal and Approaches. New York: Isaac H. Blanchard Co.. http://books.google.com/books?id=1Vs5AAAAMAAJ&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q=&f=false. Retrieved 2009-09-24.
[edit] External links
- Track diagrams of Sunnyside Yard from 1905, 1946, 1956 and various photos - Trainsarefun.com
- Sunnyside Yard photos from Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers Division 272
- Photos of Sunnyside Yard circa 1925.
