The Golden Spike Tower and Visitor Center is an eight-story observation tower on the south edge of Union Pacific's Bailey Yard in North Platte, Nebraska. Opened on June 26, 2008 after roughly eleven years of planning and construction at a cost of about $6 million, it was conceived in the mid-1990s when Union Pacific's earlier viewing platform fell into disrepair. The privately operated, non-profit tower draws around 30,000 visitors a year from all 50 states and nearly 40 countries.

The tower overlooks Bailey Yard, recognized by Guinness in 1995 as the world's largest railroad classification yard. Named for former Union Pacific president Edd H. Bailey, the yard covers 2,850 acres, stretches eight miles (13 km) end to end and carries roughly 200 tracks totaling about 315 miles (507 km) of rail. An average of 139 trains and more than 14,000 rail cars pass through every day, with about 3,000 cars sorted over two hump yards — an eastbound hump 34 feet (10 m) high and a westbound hump 20 feet (6 m) high — that feed 114 bowl tracks.

North Platte was platted as a railroad town by Union Pacific chief engineer Grenville Dodge, and its first train arrived in 1866. The location is woven into rail and frontier history, from Buffalo Bill Cody's nearby Scout's Rest Ranch to the WWII North Platte Canteen, which served more than six million service members between 1941 and 1946. Scheduled passenger service ended in 1971, but freight operations at Bailey Yard run around the clock.

The 7th-floor open-air observation deck is the prime shooting position — no glass between you and the yard, and the best place to capture humping and switching moves; it is also usually less crowded than the 8th floor. Bring a telephoto lens and binoculars, since the yard spreads for miles below. The enclosed 8th floor offers a sweeping 360-degree panorama through windows, useful for wide establishing shots of the full yard. Train movement is steady around the clock, so there is rarely a wait for action to photograph.

For railfans, the Golden Spike Tower offers a vantage point found nowhere else: a bird's-eye overlook of the busiest stretch of America's busiest freight railroad. From the 7th-floor open-air deck and the enclosed 8th-floor deck you can watch Union Pacific crews hump-sort cars four at a time, service locomotives in the run-through shops and assemble trains bound for the East, West and Gulf coasts and the Canadian and Mexican borders.

Retired Union Pacific employees staff the 8th floor, explaining yard operations and sharing first-hand stories from their careers. Interactive kiosks, maps of Bailey Yard and exhibits on Union Pacific equipment round out the experience, and two live cameras (east and west) stream the yard for those who want to scout the action before arriving.

The tower also anchors a cluster of rail heritage in North Platte. A short drive away, Cody Park Railroad Museum displays Union Pacific Challenger 4-6-6-4 No. 3977 — the only 3900-series Challenger on public display — alongside Centennial DDA40X No. 6922, one of the largest diesel locomotives ever built.

Plan roughly one to two hours. After paying admission in the lobby — where a model train circles overhead and a "Hall of Fame" honors people who helped build Bailey Yard — take the elevator, or the 168-step stairwell, to the top.

The 7th-floor open-air deck immerses you in the sounds of the yard: locomotives powering up at the diesel shop, horns, and the screech of cars rolling down the classification hump. The fully enclosed 8th floor gives a climate-controlled 360-degree view through glass, which is ideal in wind or cold.

Downstairs, a large gift shop, the 23-flag courtyard (one flag for each state Union Pacific serves) and the commemorative Brick Pavilion fill out the visit. The tower is busiest in summer and during the annual North Platte Rail Days celebration.