BNSF's Barstow, CA classification yard continues to serve as the railroad's principle freight classification point in southern California, a title the busy location has held since it was completed by the Santa Fe Railway in February 1976. Santa Fe was quickly out growing their original freight yards in Barstow by the 1970s, rather than expand the old Santa Fe went all in and broke ground on the new state of the art hump-classification yard that continues to serve Santa Fe's successor to this day. Barstow yard can always be found buzzing with activity, from the constant parade of mainline intermodal trains coming in for inspections and crew swaps to the round the clock switch crews who disassemble and reassemble trains. Working the east end of the bowl a pair of SD40-2 yard sets build outbound trains, trains which have the potential to head north to northern California and the Pacific Northwest, south to Los Angeles/San Diego, or east across Santa Fe's 'transcon' towards Texas, Kansas, or Illinois just to name a few places.
