Looking back at the goal: 1973 BN

 

I shot this photo almost accidentally one evening, enjoying the scene of two BN engines randomly lined up in Stacy St. yard. Examining it closer, it does a nice job of summarizing the goal of my current model railroad layout, the "proto-freelanced" Burrlington Northern, Seattle Region, in 1973. At this point in history, about half of the BN's legacy locomotives had been repainted BN green (the last wouldn't be until 1977, an RS3), and intermodal traffic was just starting to be a thing to take seriously.

In this picture, in addition to the two BN green locomotives, we see a string of intermodal flats, some tank cars, a grain car and a MILW woodchip car (most likely about to be interchanged, over in Argo yard). The trailers are from GN, NP and CB&Q, showing their interest in capturing this new intermodal traffic.

There is lots of weathering to do on the rolling stock, but at least the engine sideframes and roofs are dusted up with some pan pastels to make them more visible to both the camera and the naked eye. And the track is ballasted! There are only a few spots left on the layout with unballasted track, one of the past few years' priorities around here. Finally, the backdrop is at least painted, with a rough treeline, but of course it needs something that looks a little more like the Beacon Hill neighborhood that lives behind the Stacy St. yard. Backdrop improvements are definitely a priority for the next several years, in addition to making progress on the West Seattle expansion and, of course, more weathering!

But, looking back on the original goal, I still like it, a group of friends do too, and we are progressing just fine towards it!