Contents:
Contributors
The Trains
The Flyover
Cars: David Cooley, Chris Denbow, Dave Howarth, Matt Liverani, Gregg Staley, Nick Wilson, Alfred Woolfolk II
Intermodal: Ed Bindler, Dave Hersrud, Austin MacDougall, Cullen McCormick, James Solakidis, Gregg Staley, Alfred Woolfolk II
Engines: Andrew Barchifowski, Ed Bindler, Chris Denbow, David Epling, David Howarth, Austin MacDougall, Conor Persky, James Solakidis, Nick Wilson, Alfred Woolfolk II
Structures: Dan Learn (roadbed), Dave Hersrud/Tony Hill (flyover structure)
Kansas, Missouri, the municipalities involved, and all the railroads involved, have wrot a miracle in the Kansas City Area, whereby a series of major bridges (flyovers) have routed trains off at-grade crossings and on to not-at-grade bridges/underpasses. The effect on rail traffic in the Kansas City area has been dramatic, and it has also really helped industrial truck and intermodal traffic get thru the area. This scene takes you to an imaginary junction wereby you can see all the action in 2-D (remember, in real life, most of this is an X, not a side-by-side). While most of the trains on the flyover are Union Pacific, and the at-grade trains are BNSF, any railroad's trains can occupy any track at any time.
Remember also, that besides major players UP and BNSF, you will see Kansas City Southern, Norfolk Southern, and Canadian Pacific trains.
BNSF K-Line International Containers Eastbound. This is mostly a train to illustrate the variety of artwork existing for K-Line containers. Containers are by Gary Sereico and James Solakidis.
BNSF Empty Coal Hoppers Westbound. BNSF, like all class 1's, contracts "train sets" of "x" number of hoppers. In this case, the hoppers are gradually wearing out after compiling millions of miles in heavy coal train service. Notice the newer "substitute" hoppers that fill out the train consist -- also, notice that there are more "substitute" hoppers than the original ex-ATSF hoppers! There are only ~50 hoppers in the consist, as I don't want to bore our viewers.
BNSF Loaded Coal Gons Eastbound. Like the previous train, this one consists of quite a few different paint schemes, but all are rotary dump gondolas belonging to BNSF. Alfred Woolfolk II drew and painted all of these hoppers, as well as the locomotives. There is such a variety of hoppers that they actually make a long coal train interesting!
CP Grain Train Eastbound. After buying up some regional railroads north and west of Kansas City, Canadian Pacific is now a player in the Kansas City scene. Here we see a nice loaded grainer coming into the terminal area -- one which might go south to Mexico via KCS. All cars and engines are drawn and painted by Alfred Woolfolk II.
KCS Bellehops Eastbound. Alfred Woolfolk II drew and painted the locomotives and covered hoppers for this very attractive train. These consists mostly ply loaded grain south to Mexico and empties back to the corn belt. This is NAFTA in action.
KCS Intermodal Eastbound. This is a dedicated KCS/CSX Schneider train that originates in Kansas City on KCS, is taken to Rose Lake Yard in East St. Louis, Missouri, and then travels via CSX to Marion, Ohio, where Schneider has a logistics terminal.
KCS Northern Grain Westbound. This train is full of grain from the upper Midwest and Canada. It's moving as a unit train to Mexico. The vast majority of the cars are Canadian National, but there are some oldies but goldies filling out the contracted-for volume of the set. The 3rd and 4th engines are brand new (May, 2009) SD-22ECO units for KCS de Mexico, and we're fortunate to catch them on their way from the builder to south of the border. The distributed power unit on the rear was also a nice catch, as it is doing pay-back hours.
UP International Containers Eastbound -- On Flyover. These are typical mixed bags of international cans, and they're headed for points all throughout the northeast and upper midwest. Of note are the loaded Tropicana reefers at the end of the consist, as they are oranges from California supplementing the Florida harvest this season.
UP Empty Union Electric/Ameren Coal Train Westbound -- On Flyover. The UCEX cars and the three Union Pacific engines are all by Alfred Woolfolk II.
UP Loaded Coal Train Eastbound -- On Flyover. Alfred Wolfolk II drew a set of 5 loaded and empty hopper coal cars for this train. Since it's a loaded train, we see only loaded hoppers. There are 5 of them, with both left and right brake positions yielding 10 varieties. The engines are also by Alfred. The train is limited to just 61 hoppers, as anything longer will cause stupor.
The Flyover Structure: This structure is built from components of an industrial structure originally giffed by Dave Hersrud. Tony Hill took bits and pieces and re-assembled them. Tony also stole the handrails from Alfred Woolfolk II's scene. As is the case with all of Frograil's scenes, the purpose is to showcase the train gif artists' work, not necessarily to display prototypical scenes and structures. The flyover is too spindly, perhaps, but it also doesn't "get in the way" of the trains. It's a decent compromise between prototype and display feature. One thing that really adds to the 3-D effect is the split in the view of the flyover structural members. The left 1/3rd has trains passing behind them, while the right 2/3rd's has trains passing in front of them, implying that the flyover junction is a X and not a +. This clever display feature was shamelessly stolen from Alfred Woolfolk II's scene.