Gallery
Construction and Operation Pics of the S&W
These are pictures of construction progress and operations on the Saginaw and Western.
A coal drag trundles through North Yard. In the background you see the progress on the Attebury Grain elevator.
Early progress at Decatur, TX.
Early progress on the Trinity river valley north of Fort Worth.
Future home of Katy Yard in Wichita Falls, interchange between BNSF and WT&J.
Laying track across the Trinity River bridge in north Fort Worth.
Laying and testing track in the main body of North Yard in Saginaw.
Construction has begun here on the large ADM elevator in Saginaw. At one time this was the largest elevator in the world under one leg.
Here is the lift gate that allows access to the layout. As you can see, it is constructed of recycled plywood from a former HO scale layout.
UP 912 pulls a mixed freight across the Trinity River bridge on the inagural run across the newly completed main line in January, 2007.
With the main complete, North Yard in Saginaw, TX, quickly becomes a busy place.
UP 912 crosses the overpass over (fictional) TX Hwy 7 near Crawford, TX.
UP 912 pulls a local lpast the ADM elevator in Saginaw.
Here is a pic from right field of my little league baseball field on my previous Marsh Creek MoPac layout. This baseball scene is making the transition to the Saginaw & Western at Bowie, TX.
Here is a left field view of the field on the old layout. No N scale baseball players were on the market when I built this back in 2000, so I picked the figures from other "activities" and hand painted the uniforms on them. The Fence is scratchbuilt from cloth window screen and styrene rod.
I scratchbuilt North Yard tower and office from photos of the prototype building.
SD70MAC #9959 leads an intermodal train north out of Fort Worth across the Trinity River bridge. Originating in Houston, this train is bound for the large Alliance intermodal facility north of Fort Worth (represented by two hidden staging tracks). The warehouse in the background is a Z scale structure for some forced perspective.
Scenery has begun to appear as Dash 8-40BW #8615 leads the UP interchange south out of North Yard across the Trinity River toward Downtown Yard.
Here is my progress on the RIP and engine servicing facilities at North Yard. All of the structures here are scratch built from photos. In the background is Atteberry Grain which is under construction.
Here is a second perspective on the RIP shed and office. You can also see the yard tower in this view.
Scenery production has started in the Wichita River valley as SD40-2 6799 leads this grain interchange from BNSF Wichita Falls Yard toward WT&J's Katy Yard.
This view is an early mockup of Bowie, TX. This scene will certainly change. This shot is looking southwest down TX 59 (Mason St.) toward the downtown intersection of US 81 (Wise St.).
Here is North Yard with track work complete save a couple of bumpers on stub-ended tracks. You can see Attebury Grain at left and place cards in the distance at the locations of P&O Cold Logistics, Evergreen Feeds, and Payless Cashways.
6799 leads that grain transfer on the approach lead to WT&J Katy Yard.
Here is a view from Deen Road looking across North Yard at the RIP shed and engine servicing platform. You can see Atteburry Grail in the background.
Here is another perspective on newly (almost) completed North Yard trackwork. The train on the main (far right) in both photos is an intermodal out of Houston, TX heading for the large Intermodal transfer yard at Alliance, just north of Fort Worth.
SD70MAC leads an intermodal train out of Houston toward Alliance as it corsses (fictional) TX Hwy 7 north of Crawford TX.
Ballast is almost complete on the tracks in North Yard. You can see from the clutter in the background that work is in progress.
A BNSF grain train heads south past Fort Worth Downtown Yard as UP 912 pulls a cut of interchange cars.
This group of grazing cattle do not seem to notice the train rumbling out from behind the hill between Crawford and Fort Worth. The light colored area here will one day be a fence line.
UP 912 pulls a mixed freight north across the Trinity River on the Duncan subdivision between Fort Worth and Saginaw.
