How Long it Took to Build the BNSF Model Railway
Bruce CarpenterDescription
If you’re planning a layout, then setting realistic goals is usually a must in order not to suffer (too much) frustration and anxiety along the way! However, everyone’s expectations and work ethic are different. And so it was when Bruce Carpenter planned to have his huge 25′ x 62′ HO layout operational in just six months.
In his continuing interview with Bruce, MRA’s Allen Keller is incredulous that he would set what seems to be such an un-realistic goal—and then meet it! We hear how Bruce had been dreaming of building a layout since he read his first Model Railroader magazine as a youth, and years later started designing his layout two years before he had a house to put it in.
But designing the house and layout continued in tandem; even some modules like his highly detailed Chillicothe River bridge crossing were finished a year before the house was built.
Puttering with the footprint and carefully planning the design over that time to accommodate the type of operations he envisioned obviously paid off, so that when the basement was finished Bruce and his friends could move into the layout construction phase quickly and efficiently. Starting operations on such a large scale within half a year would not normally be recommended, but Bruce’s BNSF layout is a reminder that there’s an exception to every rule—providing you plan carefully and proceed efficiently.
When you started the layout in 1997 and here it is 2002, you planned it to be operational in six months. You were able to do that. Why did you set such a, I would say, to me, an unrealistic goal? But you met the goal! Yes, we did. Jimini. I'm sort of an impatient person and I'm a real pusher. When we built the house, when we came down in the basement, it just looked so empty, with two 100 watt light bulbs in this huge basement. That's all it was here. It just cried out for a model railroad. Exactly. And the layout was actually designed two years prior to the house being built. We'd settled on a house design. We tinkered around with its floor plan and the layout with my friends help. The Chillicothe River bridge was actually built, that module was built one year prior to moving also. It was just, this was something I always wanted to do from the time I read the first Model Railroader and I just couldn't wait to get started. Just couldn't wait.
Share tips, start a discussion or ask other students a question. If you have a question for the instructor, please click here.
Already a member? Sign in
No Responses to “How Long it Took to Build the BNSF Model Railway”