Overall Layout Theme and Variations

My intention is to model the BNSF’s Wichita Falls and Red River subdivisions and relevant lines as they existed in the years 1998-2003.  This range allows for an extreme variety of railroads, trains, motive power, rolling stock, and modeling potential.  It represents a still fairly early time in BNSF’s life span whereby BN and ATSF stock is still very common, and moves into the beginning of great change in the railroad industry with things like 53ft containers, new freight cars, and other nuances that make for an interesting mix from which to develop an interesting operational scheme, and layout theme. 

The actual date span seems to be a moving target.  Further thought/research would result in an expanded timeframe of September 1st, 1996 to June 1st, 2006.   These dates represent the 1st day the “Trinity Connection” was in service on the new BNSF, and roughly the last day of the Union Equity logo before the generic “Attebury Grain” sign was painted.  I've also entertained other date ranges, such as December 31, 1996 to December 31, 2006--the First Ten Years of the BNSF--or even expanding the end date to 2009 when Saginaw Yard ceased to function as a classification yard.   See the "Timeline" post for more information about other date milestones that impact/influence my decision making.  But overall, the focus will still be June 1998-June 2003, with June 2000 being the target for modeling.   I will have locomotives and cars outside of that era range, but it will be a small percentage of the fleet and will be managed to retain congruency.

Officially, the Wichita Falls and Red River subdivisions include the ex-BN, ex-FW&D  line from Fort Worth/Saginaw to Amarillo.  In reality, this realm might be expanded further.  There is some desire to model portions of the ex-ATSF Texas Sub near Fort Worth, the ex-ATSF Transcon on either side of Amarillo, (and including the Panhandle Northern line to Borger’s Carbon Black cityscape), and possibly parts of the Dalhart sub.  Expanding further could be portions of the C&S line in Colorado, (including possibly Denver) the Powder River Basin, and maybe even a vignette of the Utility Fuels unloading facility near Houston.  Oh, and did I mention UP’s Duncan sub with the Chico rock crushers?  The FWWR yard south of the ex-BN Yard in North Fort Worth would be cool!  This is quite honestly the most difficult part of the planning…pinning down exactly what it is I want to do.  Some days I want to model about 7 miles of the lines immediately around Saginaw switch per switch, and others I want to model the majority of the trip a UFIX train took between mine and power plant.  Often I think it would be cool to model a portion of the Transcon with just tons of trains running through from staging but then I realize the immense cost of that proposition.  Overall, I am realizing that the practicality of building a huge model railroad (not to mention the cost) is just not going to allow me to do some of the things I would like to.  Following are some options considered:

Abstract/”Protolanced”

I am starting to lean to the side of modeling an abstract representation of “BNSF Railroading in North Central to Northwest Texas” that captures the essence of what I want without the specificity of modeling absolute locations.   So pulling key elements in and simplifying operations.  The Fort Worth & Denver line is largely a “bridge route” with the goal of getting trains with far away destinations past one another.   So still Saginaw on one end, Amarillo the other end.  One medium city in between with  elements of Wichita Falls, Quanah, and Childress combined.  (“Chiqua Falls”) Two passing sidings between with a “small town” attached to each end.   Roll a carbon black plant off of the ATSF line and hang it off of the FW&D near Amarillo.  Don’t model the active Transcon but do include a portion of the Texas sub to reach a scaled down Alliance Yard and Gainesville. (to give the Heartland Flyer one station stop and a place for the roadrailer to stretch its legs)   Give UP trackage rights to a rock crusher “outside of Decatur”.  Amarillo and Saginaw will be “portals to staging” for the most part….both will have industry, with Saginaw having the more functional interchange and more elaborate elevators.

“Saginaw Valley”

This version would be very much a railfan’s perspective, (aisle to the west and viewpoint as if sitting in the community room parking lot) encompassing the “valley” between the three elevators and immediate surrounding industrial trackage.   Trains would largely be staging to staging, or staging to local switch job.   No major yard representation outside of part of the ex-ATSF Saginaw yard mostly for cosmetic reasons.

“LBJ Grasslands”

This option would be predominately focusing on scenery, an area that is one of the more scenic areas around and still nothing like a Colorado mountainscape, but if done right could look really good.  Operations would be mainline railroading and the helper district out of Alvord.  No industry,  just staging to staging trains.

“The Current Plan”

All of the above have been the “current plan” at times.  To say things are set in concrete is way off…money, space, and time all factor in to what might be done and how things might change.  But, this really does represent the best combination of elements that I’ve wanted over the years, with few exceptions.    So, the plan will be “North Fort Worth to Wichita Falls”.   That’s pretty nebulous and does allow for inclusion/exclusion of certain elements.  But in a related post, "The Current Plan", is a laundry list of key elements, and a few optional things that will be incorporated if possible.