Orr’s view is a soot-caked cross-section of the American economy. To his left a 1.25-mile-long train trundles west toward Wyoming to refill after dropping off 30 million pounds of coal; to his right 140 double-stacked cars clack off to the East Coast with furniture, auto parts and electronics from China and Japan. Beyond, westbound grain trains shriek through the yard while refrigerated cars the color of dirty snow carry fresh produce from California to the Mid-Atlantic, and rusty blue boxcars bear lumber from the Pacific Northwest to points east. “We stay busy,” says Orr. “It’s like New York–this place doesn’t sleep.”
Orr’s
soot-caked