Abandoned Rails: The Abandoned Taylor Yard

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All that remains of Taylor Yard: rails, spikes, tie plates, etc. View is looking west. Photo by Andrew Laverdiere, June 2009.

In 1923, Southern Pacific opened up a new maintenance and service yard near Glendale, CA. Named for a local entrepreneur, Taylor Yard was one of the larger service yards in the Los Angeles area. It was a full-service railroad hump yard, and was responsible for maintenance of both locomotives and railroad rolling stock and for freight switching and classification. The closure of SP's nearby Midway Yard also helped Taylor Yard to grow to the massive complex it once was. As other railroad facilities were opened around Los Angeles after World War II, Taylor Yard began to lose some of its traffic, and by the late 1970s, its usefulness had diminished. What remained of this once-great railroad yard had all been abandoned by 1985.

Today, only a small sliver of the original railroad yard remains, in use by Union Pacific as a locomotive repair shop. A majority of the site is now owned by the City of Los Angeles, on which they operate the Rio de Los Angeles Park.

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Taylor Yard in the 1960s

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I'm originally from Oxnard Ca and made many trips to LA, including Taylor or what was left of it in the mid 80's, although nothing like the 60's pics linked here there was actually alot of activity there in the mid to late 80's, I really miss pacing the SP along San Fernando Rd. which seemed mere inches away from the tracks, I also remember all the old derelict locomotives and cars that were stockpiled here back then, this brings back alot of great memories, only wish I'd taken more pictures, especially of the structures that were still there

I worked Taylor and the Shops etc from 1963 thru 1983. I was a Switchman and CRO (Car retarder operator) at the Hump which switched cars from the intake A yard to the classification B yard. There were three towers A B and C. The A was the hardest to master because it handled every car (empties and loads mixed) and at 3 to 4 cars a minute it was a trick to run. Of course all this is done now in the big yard at Colton with computers. More efficient less fun. I believe the tower in the above picture was called Dayton tower and when you called the operator he would pick up the phone or radio and say "Dayton Interlockers. Dennis

Glendale, California

The Abandoned Taylor Yard

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