The Sacramento Railyard (Sacramento, California)

 railway, railroad yard, under construction

Currently known as the Sacramento Rail Yards, the empty quarters of which are slated for development in some form or another. The shops themselves are the proposed future home of the Railroad Technology Museum.

"Construction began on this site, 20 acres of filled-in slough donated by the City of Sacramento, in 1863. The CP built two buildings for materials storage and car repair (locomotives were initially stored outside) and a third, containing one forge, for locomotive repair. In 1864 another car shop and another locomotive shop were constructed, and in 1866 the first car construction building was completed. By 1877 the complex had grown to 50 acres. In 1922 the shops covered 145 acres; by the 1930s they had grown to their current size of about 200 acres.

"By 1877 the CP had already developed auxiliary shops in Oakland, Tulare, Los Angeles, Mojave, Rocklin, Truckee, Wadsworth, Carlin, Winemucca, Terrace, Wells and Red Bluff. Some of these shops, as well as additional facilities acquired in mergers, became important equipment maintenance, repair, and even construction sites after the turn of the century, though the Sacramento site remained the railroad’s largest shop facility until it was closed down in 1999.

"At its height, in the 1930s and ‘40s, the Sacramento site had more than 90 buildings. Only eight now remain; others have since been destroyed or demolished, though plans on paper and foundations and pads on the site remain to indicate their locations and footprints. The Boiler Shop and Erecting Shop were documented in 2001; the construction and history of the other six buildings were addressed in 2002."

Read more here:
cprr.org/Museum/Sacramento_Shops_HAER.html
www.cityofsacramento.org/dsd/projects/railyards/
www.csrmf.org/doc.asp?id=374
www.trainweb.com/travelogues/rayburns/2001j06a.html -- many inside shots of the shops and CSRM museum holdings waiting for restoration