Yep, BN ran thru the Lone star State. The predecessor lines were both Ft. Worth & Denver and Frisco. The FW&D line ran from Texline (on the TX-NM state line, way up in the Panhandle northwest of Amarillo) through Amarillo to Wichita Falls, Ft. Worth, and on to Houston. FW&D was a subsidiary of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, and became BN property after the 1970 merger. The Frisco entered Texas at two places- one was the line from Paris, TX north to Hugo, OK (part of the Central Division) and the second line was out of Tulsa through Sapulpa, Ada and Madill, OK to Denison, Sherman and Irving, TX. At Irving, the line split, with one branch going to Dallas, the other to Ft. Worth. The FW&D line became a coal conveyor thanks to the Powder River coal deposits in Wyoming. Ah yes, at Texline the Colorado & Southern (C&S) joined up with the FW&D and headed northwest to Clayton and Des Moines, NM, and on to Trinidad and north to Denver and Cheyenne. Hope this helps.
Oh, thats right, BRI Junction in Waxachie and the sign on the rr bridge on Northside Drive. The FW&D line is now owned by the BNSF and is coal converyor to south Texas, why does UP run their coal trains down it too? For example: Both BNSF and UP ship coal to LCRA plant in La Grange, thus BNSF almost has a straight line and shortest route running through the panhandle, while UP runs thier coal trains from SPRB to Neb. then down south to Texas.Oops they do run coal trains down that line, little coal trains, Not the monster unit coal trains like for the LCRA (137 cars @120 tons of coal a piece or SATX 137 cars @100/120 tons) I like hearing the hotbox calling out total axle count 5-6-0 that rumble by my house a 1,000 or so feet away. Why dont they do that anyway??
Yes, the old Fort Worth & Denver is a very interesting piece of railroad that doesn't get a lot of attention. I have lived in various places along the route and I am pretty familiar with it operations, history, etc. I am also in the planning stages for an N-scale layout based on the FW&D in BNSF merger era. In addition to being a "Coal Conveyor", it also hosts a fair amount of manifest freight, and quite a few intermodal trains, especially post-BNSF. Don't quote me on this, but I believe the UP trains are a combination of ex-DRGW/SP and BN joint venture coal trains, as well as new trackage rights agreements from the merger-mania period a few years back. UP does indeed run full-bore trains (120+ aluminum cars with DPU) but not as often as the shorter trains that usually have only two or three (non-DPU) engines and an assortment of hoppers from UP, CNW, DRGW, et.al. Hopefully someone can suppliment this information with facts! If anyone has an interest in the FW&D or BN in Texas in general, please e-mail me as I would like to correspond with you. I would always welcome info, photos, train consists, etc. that anyone would like to share, and I will certainly share what I have. Thanks. [ 12. September 2002, 13:33: Message edited by: Doug A. ]
