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Pages providing information and links to the Ballard Southern Railroad (model) and the Ballard Terminal Railroad (real)

Like so many guys, I have loved toy trains and model trains since I was a kid and my Dad gave me a 4' x 8' O guage toy train layout. I outgrew it and didn't return to trains until after I got out of the Army in 1963. A friend was invovled in HO and I built (or semi-built... I have rarely gotten to complete a layout before our circumstances changed and we moved) a small shelf layout in HOn3. Point to point shelf layouts have been my favorite ever since.

With the frequent moves and such, I have ended up building several HO layouts, a couple of quite nice N scale layouts, and in our last home, a fabulous O scale lalyout. No question, O is my favorite. There is a reason they call it the "King of Scales". However, a layout that big was an impossibility in our present house, and I began working on yet another HO shelf railroad. The structure got done, but, after experiencing O scale, I just couldn't get excited enough about HO again to finish it. After a couple of years of using the structure as book shelves, I discovered On30... O scale narrow gauge industrial, running on HO tracks. The existing shelves were used to build my first On30 railroad. Subsequently, I gained the use of a 14 x 14 foot furnace room and am now engaged in building a complete around the walls On30 layout there. Complete photos of the upstairs shelf layout are available on thhis layout, but I haven't done too much with the new, larger version yet as I am still doing structural and electrical work in the room.

The area we live is in called "Ballard". Ever since we moved here my railroad entity has been the Ballard Southern Railroad. It is a mythical layout based on the existence of a line of industrial track running through Ballard down to the marina where we used to live on our boat. This trackage was abandoned for many, many years, and was used for parking by businesses along the line. A few years ago some local folks established the Northwest Terminal Railroad, re-opening the tracks. Subsequently, it became the Ballard Terminal Railroad. They connect to the Burlington Northern - Santa Fe yards just across the river from Ballard. Their run includes a gorgeous historic Bascule bridge. They ran trains one day a week, on Wednesday, and had have to have a trainman walk ahead of the train to go into each business and warn, "Train's coming! Move your cars!" (I don't know if they still do that or not.) This was like my original concept for the Ballard Southern coming alive. The Northwest Terminal Railroad became, in real fact, the Ballard Terminal Railroad. Is that getting close to life imitating imagination, or what?

Origianl Engine of the Northwest Terminal Railroad, which is now the Ballard Terminal Railroad.

I was recently given the chance to make a switching run with the folks on the BTRR, and below you will find a link to a BTRR page, documenting that run, and also providing access to a detailed study of the line and buildings along it, suitable for modeling consideration.

Like all of my railroad projects since we moved to BallardThe BS in the version I am building this time will be modeled on a very similar concept to the NWT, representing a line with locally owned trackage/right of way, leasing service rights to the Great Northern and a few left-over logging companies. The concept got warped a little bit when I traded my foster son out of half a dozen beautifully painted Great Northen engines. (Don't worry... I didn't cheat the poor little lad... He's middle aged now! :o)

The BS's era is approx. mid-50's to mid 60's. This is early enough to have a geared steam logging loco or two still running timber into the Ballard mills and a a nice selection of small deisel locos. A GN doodlebug has been pressed into service for twice a day commuter runs to a downtown connection. The doodlebug leaves at 7:30 am and returns at 12:00 noon. It runs downtown again at 1:00 pm, returning at 6:00 pm. Commuters can go downtown for the day, or shoppers can go for either a morning or afternoon trip. The BS is still reasonably profitable at this time, but will be in abandonment by 1975.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of a barely operational local railroad in it's last days. This is the Skaneateles Short Line, in Upstate New York. Founded in 1866, by 1870 the line was running freight to a variety of industries and 12 passenger trains a day to local resorts. By the mid to late 1930's it was reduced to one mixed train a day, and filed for abandonment. Locals bought it for $25,000 and by 1941 it was back in operation. It served during the war as the local industries went to wartime production. After the war it served a few businesses, and by 1971 was down to one. It filed for abandonment in 1981. It made its last run on July 15th, 1981. Interestingly, the engine derailed on this last run. The Northwest Terminal RR had some trackage about this bad when it started, but has been upgrading to new track with the cement ties.

Since I have been confined to "armchair railroading" for so much of the time, I devoted a lot of effort to "imagineering" a background for my railroad. This led to stationery, business cards, and even a tee shirt, which I had made in bulk and sold to other model railroaders over the internet. The Ballard Southern's motto is "24 Hour Service... The BS Never Stops!" and that is what is on the tee shirts. (Unfortunately, they are no longer available.) I even wrote a "thesis" for a "degree" in Ferro-Equinology, based on the history of the Ballard Southern and Everett and Monte Cristo (my foster son's railroad).

My foster son, Brent, is also a railroader, with a very extensive HO layout in his house (the Everett and Monte Christo, which was a mining and logging road serving the area north and east of Seattle.) He and I have built layouts together since he was in his teens. He's now well into his 50's! Kids show no mercy in that regard. They just keep growing older and reminding us of the fact that we are, too. I get to railroad on his layout from time to time.

Some years ago, I wrote a doctoral thesis in Ferro-Equinology, based on the history of the Ballard Southern, the Port Townsend Railway and Navigation company, and the Everett and Monte Christo. It is available at the link below:

Writing about my past exploits in model railroading apparently served as an inspiration. I cleared off the shelves I had built in my computer room after our last move, which were intended for an HO railroad that never got built. After some analysis, I decided they would work for an O scale railroad if it were in On30, a small narrow guage size. I have just begun the creation of this railroad, and will document its progress in its own set of pages. Here is a link:

Having had a very favorable reactio to On30 as a scale/gauge to work in, I wanted to expand the layout. Unfortunately, this actually meant taking it apart and starting over. I had a furnace room that was not quite 14' x 14'. It was so stuffed with "stuff" you couldn't get into it, but I decided to tackle the project of turning it into a nice little den an railroad room.

Seattle On30 Module Project

Having made an effort at an On30 model railroad, the next logical step seemed to be to promote a module group effort, so that On30 could be shared locally. The title link will take you to the pages covering this project, and subsequent developments.

Pages Relating to the actual Ballard Terminal Railroad

I began modeling abandoned trackage in Ballard back in the early 1970's. In the mid-1990's this track became active again, when the Burlington Northern sold it to the Northwest Terminal Railroad, which subsequently became the Ballard Terminal Railroad. I have been privileged to experience real switching activity on the BT, and have documented that experience, plus a complete walking tour of the right of way, showing all trackage and many of the buildings. This may be of interest to anyone wanting to model a real shortline railroad.