Barry's Model Railroad

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Thursday, August 28, 2014

Building a BNSF HO Layout With The Grandkids

My next attempt after the Canadian National N scale layout is to build a BNSF Burlington Northern Santa Fe HO layout with my grandkids. We just started putting it together.


BNSF Railway       

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The BNSF Railway is the second-largest freight railroad network in North America, second to the Union Pacific Railroad (its primary competitor for Western U.S. freight), and is one of seven North American Class I railroads. It has three transcontinental routes that provide high-speed links between the western and eastern United States. BNSF trains traveled over 169 million miles in 2010, more than any other North American railroad.[2]
According to corporate press releases, the BNSF Railway is among the top transporters of intermodal freight inNorth America. It also hauls bulk cargo. For instance, the railroad hauls enough coal to generate roughly ten percent of the electricity produced in the United States.
Headquartered in Fort Worth, Texas, the railroad is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.[3]
The creation of BNSF started with the formation of a holding company, the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation on 22 September 1995. This new holding company then purchased the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (often called the "Santa Fe") and Burlington Northern Railroad, and formally merged the railways into the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway on 31 December 1996. On 24 January 2005, the railroad's name was officially changed to "BNSF Railway," using the initials of its original name.[4]
In 1999, Burlington Northern Santa Fe and the Canadian National Railway announced their intention to merge and form a new corporation entitled North American Railways to be headquartered in Montreal, Canada. The United States' Surface Transportation Board (STB) placed a 15-month moratorium on all rail mergers, which ended this merger.
On November 3, 2009, Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway announced it would acquire the remaining 77.4 percent of BNSF it did not already own for $100 per share in cash and stock - a deal valued at $44 billion. The company is investing an estimated $34 billion in BNSF and acquiring $10 billion in debt.[5][6][7][8][9] On February 12, 2010, shareholders of Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation voted in favor of the acquisition.[10]History[edit]
Main articles: Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and Burlington Northern Railroad

The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (ATSF) was chartered in 1859. It built one of the firsttranscontinental railroads in North America, linking Chicago and Southern California; major branches led toTexas, Denver, and San Francisco. The Interstate Commerce Commission denied a proposed merger with the Southern Pacific Transportation Company in the 1980s.BNSF's history dates back to 1849, when the Aurora Branch Railroad in Illinois and the Pacific Railroad of Missouri were formed. The Aurora Branch eventually grew into the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, (CB&Q), a major component of predecessor Burlington Northern. A portion of the Pacific Railroad became theSt. Louis-San Francisco Railway (Frisco).
The Burlington Northern Railroad (BN) was created in 1970 through the consolidation of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad, the Great Northern Railway, the Northern Pacific Railway and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway. It absorbed the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway (Frisco) in 1980. Its main lines included Chicago-Seattle with branches to Texas (ex-Burlington) and Montgomery, Alabama (ex-Frisco), and access to the low-sulfur coal of Wyoming's Powder River Basin.

BN-ATSF merger[edit]

On June 30, 1994, BN and ATSF announced plans to merge; they were the largest and smallest (by mileage) of the "Super Seven," the seven largest of the then-twelve U.S. Class I railroads. The long-rumored announcement was delayed by a disagreement over the disposition of Santa Fe Pacific Gold Corporation, a gold mining subsidiary that ATSF agreed to sell to stockholders.[11] This announcement began the next wave of mergers, as the "Super Seven" were merged down to four in the next five years. The Illinois Central Railroad and Kansas City Southern Railway (KCS), two of the five "small" Class Is, announced on July 19 that the former would buy the latter,[12] but this plan was called off on October 25. TheUnion Pacific Railroad (UP), another major Western system, started a bidding war with BN for control of the SF on October 5.[13] The UP gave up on January 31, 1995, paving the way for the BN-ATSF merger.[14] Subsequently, the UP acquired the Southern Pacific Transportation Company (SP) in 1996, and Eastern systems CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Railway split Conrail in 1998.
On February 7, 1995, BN and ATSF heads Gerald Grinstein and Robert D. Krebs both announced shareholders had approved the plan, which would save overhead costs and combine BN's coal and ATSF's intermodal strengths. Although the two systems complemented each other with little overlap,[15] in contrast to the Santa Fe-Southern Pacific merger, which failed because it would have eliminated competition in many areas of the Southwest, BN and ATSF came to agreements with most other Class Is to keep them from opposing the merger. UP was satisfied with a single segment of trackage rights from Abilene, Kansas to Superior, Nebraska, which BN and ATSF had both served. KCS gained haulage rights to several Midwest locations, including Omaha, East St. Louis, and Memphis, in exchange for BNSF getting similar access to New Orleans. SP, initially requesting far-reaching trackage rights throughout the West,[16] soon agreed on a reduced plan, whereby SP acquired trackage rights on ATSF for intermodal and automotive traffic to Chicago, and other trackage rights on ATSF in Kansas, south to Texas, and between Colorado and Texas. In exchange, SP assigned BNSF trackage rights over the former Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad between El Paso and Topeka and haulage rights to the Mexican border at Eagle Pass, Texas.[17] Regional Toledo, Peoria and Western Railway also obtained trackage rights over BN from Peoria to Galesburg, Illinois, a BN hub where it could interchange with SP[18] (which had rights on BN dating from 1990[19]). The Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) approved the BNSF merger on July 20, 1995 (with final approval on August 23), less than a month before UP announced on August 3 that it would acquire SP.[20]Parents Burlington Northern Inc. and Santa Fe Pacific Corporation were acquired on September 22, 1995 by the new Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corporation. The merger of the operating companies was held up by issues with unions;[21] ATSF merged on December 31, 1996 into BN, which was renamed the Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Company.[22] Thus the present BNSF Railway Company (name adopted January 24, 2005) dates back to the January 13, 1961 incorporation in Delaware[1] of BN as "Great Northern Pacific & Burlington Lines, Inc."[23]

Effect of UP-SP merger

The Union Pacific-Southern Pacific merger further enlarged the combined BNSF network. Unlike BN and ATSF, UP and SP had significant overlap, where competition between the two would become a monopoly. UP and BNSF announced in late September 1995 that, in exchange for BNSF not opposing the merger, it would obtain ownership of 335 miles (539 km) of line and about 3,500 miles (5,600 km) of trackage rights to reach these "two-to-one" shippers. Significant additions included rights over SP's Central Corridor from Denver via the Moffat Tunnel and Salt Lake City, and over Donner Pass, to the San Francisco Bay Area, with an alternate route through the Feather River Canyon along UP. The ATSF trackage in California's Central Valley was linked to BN's line into Oregon, through trackage rights over UP between Stockton and Keddie and acquisition of UP's section of the "Inside Gateway" to the beginning of BN trackage at Bieber. In Texas, BNSF received rights in several directions from the Houston area: west over UP to San Antonio, with a branch to Waco, and continuing over SP to Eagle Pass (replacing the haulage rights they had just obtained); south over UP to Brownsville; east over SP to New Orleans (including the purchase of this line east of Lake Charles); and northeast over SP to Memphis with a branch on UP to Little Rock. Ownership of a short connection between Waxahachie and Dallas also went from UP to BNSF. UP, in return, got a few short sections of trackage rights over BNSF, mainly connecting the SP at Chemult to the UP at Bend, Oregon, and connecting the SP at Mojave with existing UP rights on ATSF at Barstow, California.[24][25] On April 18, 1996, UP, BNSF, and the Chemical Manufacturers Association entered into an agreement giving BNSF rights over the UP line between Houston and East St. Louis, paralleling the Houston-Memphis SP line, and allowing BNSF to participate in the UP's plan for directional running, in which each line would serve through trains in only one direction.[26][27] The Surface Transportation Board, successor to the ICC, approved the UP-SP merger on July 3,[28] and UP control of SP took effect on September 11, 1996.[29] BNSF trackage rights operations began on the Central Corridor on October 10, and soon thereafter on other lines.[30]
BNSF continued projects started by its predecessors, most notably BN's work on reopening Stampede Pass. BN had closed Stampede Pass, the Northern Pacific Railway's main line across Washington, in 1984, in favor of the ex-Great Northern Railway's Stevens Pass. BN never abandoned the line and began rehabilitating it in early 1996, and the route reopened in early December, relieving the crowded Stevens Pass.[31] The ex-ATSF main line, now known as the Southern Transcon, has also seen steady work to add tracks, giving BNSF more capacity on this major intermodal route.[32]

Attempted merger with CN[edit]

On December 20, 1999, BNSF and the recently privatized Canadian National Railway announced plans (STB Finance Docket No. 33842) to combine as subsidiaries of a new holding company, North American Railways, which would control about 50,000 miles (80,000 km) of railroad. With CN's lines located primarily in Canada and, through subsidiary Illinois Central Railroad, on a north-south corridor near BNSF's eastern edge, the two systems had little overlap. The combination would have benefited both companies by expanding available cash for capacity improvements, and allowing for longer single-system movements. Shippers and the Surface Transportation Board expressed concern and surprise about the timing, since the merger that produced BNSF had been the only one in the 1990s that did not cause severe deterioration in service.[33] The STB imposed on March 17, 2000 a 15-month moratorium (STB Ex Parte No. 582) on mergers involving any two Class I railroads, citing widespread opposition not only to the merger but its effects, likely starting the final round of mergers into two big systems. BNSF and CN immediately turned to the U.S. Court of Appeals,[34] which on July 14 ruled that the STB's right to regulate mergers allowed a moratorium, and the two railroads called off the merger.[35] The STB released its final rules (STB Ex Parte No. 582  on June 11, 2001, requiring any new application to merge two Class I railroads, with the exception of smaller Kansas City Southern Railway, to demonstrate that competition would be preserved and address effects of defensive moves by other carriers.[36] Since then, no Class I mergers have taken place.
On November 3, 2009, Warren Buffett said Berkshire Hathaway would buy BNSF for $44 billion. The acquisition was approved by the boards of both companies and was approved by BNSF shareholders on February 12, 2010Not including second, third and fourth main-line trackage, yard trackage, and siding trackage, BNSF directly owns and operates over 24,000 miles (38,624 kilometers) of track. When these additional tracks are counted, the length of track which the railway directly controls rises to more than 50,000 miles (80,467 kilometers).For administrative purposes, BNSF is divided into fourteen operating divisions: California, Chicago, Colorado, Gulf, Kansas, Los Angeles, Montana, Nebraska, Northwest, Powder River, Southwest, Springfield, Texas, and Twin Cities. Each division is further divided into hundreds of subdivisions, which represent segments of track ranging from 300-mile mainlines to 10-mile branch-lines.
Additionally, BNSF Railway has gained trackage rights on more than 8,000 miles (12,875 kilometers) of track throughout theUnited States and Canada. These rights allow the BNSF to operate its own trains with its own crews on competing railroads' main tracks. BNSF locomotives also occasionally show up on competitors' tracks throughout the United States and Canada by way of leases, mileage equalizations, and other contractual arrangements.

Yards and facilities


BNSF Railway also operates numerous transfer facilities throughout the western United States to facilitate the transfer ofintermodal containers, trailers, and other freight traffic. BNSF Railway has direct control over a total of 33 intermodal hubs and 23 automotive distribution facilities. On February 9, 2005, BNSF announced that it plans to build a new intermodal transfer facility near the port of Los Angeles called the Southern California International Gateway. The new facility, with direct rail access to the recently constructed Alameda Corridor, would supplement the container transloading abilities of the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF) built by Southern Pacific in the 1990s.BNSF operates various facilities all over the United States to support its transportation system. Facilities operated by the railway include yards and terminals throughout its rail network, system locomotive shops to perform locomotive service and maintenance, a centralized operations center for train dispatching and network operations monitoring in Fort Worth, and regional dispatching centers.
The BNSF mechanical division operates eight locomotive maintenance facilities that perform preventive maintenance, repairs and servicing of equipment. The largest of these facilities are located in Alliance, Nebraska and Topeka, Kansas. The mechanical division also controls 46 additional facilities responsible for car maintenance and daily running repairs.
The BNSF system mechanical division, a subset of the mechanical division, operates two maintenance-of-way work equipment shops, responsible for performing repairs and preventive maintenance to BNSF's track and equipment, in Brainerd, Minnesota and Galesburg, Illinois. The system mechanical division also operates the Western Fruit Express Company's refrigerated car repair shop in Spokane, Washington.
In 2006, BNSF teamed with Vancouver, WA-based Tri Star to run BNSF's new transload facility in Fontana, CA, near the California Speedway.

Barstow, California - Barstow YardLarge freight car hump yards are located throughout the BNSF system.[42]
In 2005, Argentine Yard processed the most freight cars.

Routes

  • The Northern Transcon runs from Seattle to Chicago. It is the most northerly route of any railroad in the continental United States. The route is a combination of parts of the old Great Northern, the Northern Pacific, and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle Railway.
  • The Southern Transcon runs from Los Angeles to Chicago. The 2006 BNSF Annual Report states: "We also added about 33 miles of second main track on our main line between Chicago and Los Angeles. All but 51 miles of this high-volume 2,200-mile route were double track, as of the end of 2006. Last year, we ran 100 trains per day on this expanded main line, compared with 60 per day in 2000." Technically, it is not double tracked in mid-Kansas where two routes are used: Mulvane to Wichita to Newton to Emporia for primarily eastbound traffic; Emporia to El Dorado to Augusta to Mulvane for primarily westbound traffic. In 2008, BNSF completed nearly sixteen miles of a third main track through Cajon Pass in Southern California, increasing capacity on the transcontinental main route between Chicago and Los Angeles from 100 to 150 trains per day. BNSF started adding a second main track in Abo Canyon (east of Belen, New Mexico) the largest bottleneck on the Transcon with grading in 2008-2009, bridges in 2010 and signal work in late 2010 or early 2011. Approximately 1.7 million cubic yards of rock need to be excavated, mostly by blasting. The 2008 BNSF Annual Report states: "Following completion of the Abo Canyon project scheduled in 2011, our 2,200‑mile Transcontinental Corridor between Southern California and Chicago will have only about 30 miles of single track."
  • The Powder River Basin supplies forty percent of the coal in the United States. The 2008 BNSF Annual Report states that the quadruple track project was completed.

Passenger train service

The line used by Rail Runner was sold to the state of New Mexico, but BNSF still dispatches it and operates freight trains as needed.
Metra's cars that were originally purchased by BNSF predecessor Chicago Burlington & Quincy have letterboards above the doors. In about 2011, about 15 of the remaining cars had the original "BURLINGTON" lettering restored, while the rest now read "BNSF RAILWAY". Other Metra cars assigned to BNSF have the current BNSF "swoosh" logo next to the door.
Although it does not have a steam program like the Norfolk Southern and Union Pacific, the BNSF has allowed for the Southern Pacific 4449, Santa Fe 3751 andMilwaukee Road 261 steam locomotives to operate excursions over their rails.

Equipment

According to the 2007 BNSF Annual Report, at the end of 2007 the railway had more than 40,000 employees; 6,400 locomotives; and 85,338 freight cars.
At the end of 2007, the average age (from date of manufacture) was 15 years for the BNSF's locomotive fleet and 14 years for the freight car fleet.
On January 24, 2006, BNSF announced a $2.4 billion program of infrastructure upgrades for 2006. The upgrade program includes: double- and triple-tracking 40 miles (64 km) of track and a second mainline track through New Mexico's Abo Canyon on the former ATSF transcontinental line; expanding the Lincoln, Nebraska,classification yard and double- and triple-tracking 50 miles (80 km) of track in Wyoming's Powder River Basin region; expansions at eight of the railroad's larger intermodal facilities, and extending many sidings and expanding and improving refueling facilities. In making the announcement, BNSF chairman Matthew K. Rosecited improvements in the company's return on invested capital, and expressed hope for continued improvement.[49] In March, 2008, the railroad was completing the triple-tracking of Cajon Pass in California, creating four tracks through the pass—three BNSF (former Santa Fe and newly installed) and one Union Pacific (former Southern Pacific).


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