Railfan Road: The Lone Star State

Amarillo to Fort Worth

BNSF Railway’s route from Amarillo to Fort Worth has been twice reinvented — a secondary route rebuilt into a unit coal train conveyor, then repurposed to a primary California-Texas intermodal route.  Broad vistas, interesting topography and about 20 trains per day easily viewable from a closely paralleling U.S. highway makes the line a great choice for railfanning the Lone Star State. 

Born in the 1880s as the low-density mainline of Burlington Route subsidiary Fort Worth & Denver, the Amarillo-Fort Worth route was primarily known for hosting the streamlined Texas Zephyr between Denver and Dallas. Soon after passenger service ceased in 1967, Wyoming’s Powder River Basin started to boom and the line became Burlington Northern’s primary coal conduit to Texas power plants. As coal ramped up, BN invested in the line with improved signaling and sidings. While coal ran heavy through the first decade of the 2000s, the 1995 BNSF merger set the stage for the route’s intermodal third act. Santa Fe built and BNSF expanded a brand-new intermodal terminal at Alliance on Fort Worth’s north side, and the former BN Fort Worth-Amarillo route provided the terminal’s West Coast outlet. Intermodal grew as coal retreated, creating new value from the upgrades and new capacity installed since the BNSF merger. BNSF has continued to invest for intermodal, including full CTC signaling and several strategic siding extensions that allow the route to handle 10,000-foot trains. 

U.S. Route 287 follows BNSF almost the entire way between Amarillo and Fort Worth, usually right next to tracks. And U.S. 287 is fast. A car can cover the 339 miles in about 5 hours, downtown to downtown. Points of interest, railroad and otherwise, will slow you down, but the drive is doable in a day’s time. 

Amarillo is a major hub for BNSF, the junction of six subdivisions converging from all directions. The busiest route is BNSF’s former Santa Fe transcon, an intermodal pipeline between California and Chicago, and part of that traffic from California turns at Amarillo and heads for Alliance down the FW&D. Almost all trains through Amarillo pass through East Tower, where the Santa Fe and FW&D crossed. The junction has been reconfigured to eliminate the diamonds, but volumes are still high. BNSF’s Red River Valley Sub starts here, which U.S. 287 follows to Wichita Falls.

Be sure to see Amarillo’s still-grand Santa Fe station, but don’t bother hunting down the former FW&D depot: the once-handsome station was “beheaded” when the Pierce Street overpass was built over the building and now is an awkward-looking, one-story structure. 

Leave Amarillo on SE 3rd Avenue and BNSF’s Red River Valley Sub will soon appear on the left. Two miles later the connection to the former Santa Fe Boise City Sub is on the left. North of Amarillo, the BNSF Dalhart (ex FW&D) and Boise City subdivisions are used directionally, so look for southbounds joining the Red River Sub here. Navigate the Interstate 40 interchange to US 287 south, which will follow BNSF for more than 300 miles to the Fort Worth area.

Along the Red River Valley Sub en route to Wichita Falls, U.S. 287 varies between two lanes, four lanes, and limited access, but even with the varying highway configuration, the road stays right next to BNSF almost all the way.

BNSF’s Red River Sub generally runs downgrade off the high plains from Amarillo until it reaches its namesake river valley about 100 miles southeast near Estelline (beware the speed trap!), and keeps descending as it follows the Red River Valley toward Wichita Falls. BNSF crosses the broad Red River Valley on a long (almost half-mile), low bridge that runs right next to U.S. 287. If you spot a train, there is a pull-off area from northbound lanes just north of the bridge.

The former railroad shop town of Childress is 20 miles east of the river crossing. While no railroad structures remain except a disused railroad YMCA, FW&D Pacific No. 501 is nicely displayed on Main Street just north of the tracks. BNSF west coast intermodal trains change crews here (districts extend to Clovis, N.M,. to the west and Fort Worth on the east). Other trains change crews at Wichita Falls.

Quanah is the most significant railroad point between Amarillo and Wichita Falls. Quanah was the headquarters of the Quanah, Acme and Pacific Railroad (“The Quanah Route”), an independently-operated subsidiary of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway that served as a fast-freight connection between Frisco and Santa Fe routes. The line’s handsome Spanish Colonial Revival-style depot and headquarters in Quanah is now the Hardeman County Historical Museum, covering diverse subjects ranging from Native Americans to NASA. QA&P’s tracks around Quanah are still used by BNSF to serve local customers, and the route north of Quanah is part of BNSF’s Chickasha Sub to Altus, Okla. Look for BNSF local power near the wye east of the former QA&P depot.

Along U.S. 287 just east of Quanah, shed a tear as you pass the closed Medicine Mound Depot Restaurant, a combination of the Quanah and Chillicothe depots that was a prime stop for chicken-fried steak. Further east in Chillicothe, BNSF has a loop track to serve Hardeman Grain and Seed. Hardeman has several first-generation GP’s on the property and nearby Lone Star Grain also has its own locomotive — a former Santa Fe B40-8W.

U.S. 287 is generally close to the railroad, but deviates to circle around the towns of Vernon, Quanah, and Electra. Turning onto Business 287 at Iowa Park will keep you alongside BNSF into Wichita Falls. 

Wichita Falls (population 102,000) is the largest city on line between Amarillo and Fort Worth, and some BNSF trains still change crews here. FW&D was always the major railroad in town, but the Missouri-Kansas-Texas also served Wichita Falls via a secondary route. Today, the MKT is now Rio Grande Pacific’s Wichita Tilman and Jackson (WT&J), based in Wichita Falls’ former Katy yard. Union Pacific has rights over both BNSF’s Wichita Falls and Red River Valley Subs, but its most reliable appearance is a turn from Fort Worth to Wichita Falls and back to interchange with the WT&J.

Wichita Falls had a railroad museum, but lagging interest led to its closure in 2020. There is some interest in a revival, but for now you can see the museum’s equipment where 9th Street meets BNSF on the site of the city’s Union Depot. FW&D 2-8-0 No. 304 and MKT NW2U No. 1029 represent both of Wichita Falls’ major railroads, and other freight, passenger, and traction equipment rounds out the collection.

Heading east from Wichita Falls, BNSF turned 4 miles of the former MKT into a second main line for the adjacent FW&D. While the MKT line is fairly flat, the legacy FW&D main undulates through small hills and dips, a preview of what’s to come further east. At control point Rhea (adjacent to where Business 287 meets U.S. 287), all traffic shifts back to the FW&D right-of-way. 

The Wichita Falls Sub is short (114 miles), but is a big train-handling challenge due to the numerous “hogbacks” along the route. In less than 15 miles (roughly Bellevue to Bowie), the grade direction changes 25 times — virtually guaranteeing that today’s 10,000-plus-foot trains are always going uphill and downhill at the same time! Distributed power helps, but engineers have to work hard to keep their train in one piece. While BNSF speed limits are up to 60 mph (45 for heavier trains), the line’s sawtooth profile and need to control slack can keep speeds slower.

The engineer’s nightmare is the photographer’s dream, however. U.S. 287 is right next to the Wichita Falls Sub to the outskirts of Bowie, providing ample opportunity to magnify the ups and downs with a telephoto lens.

At Bowie (appropriately, home of the world’s largest Bowie knife, located close to trackside), BNSF crosses Union Pacific’s ex-Rock Island Duncan Subdivision. Both routes head to Fort Worth, initially far separated and then coming together near Hicks. Business 287 follows BNSF and UP to the railroad hot spot of Saginaw, which also hosts BNSF’s Fort Worth Subdivision (former Santa Fe mainline from Oklahoma City) as well as the Wichita Falls Sub and Union Pacific. Intermodals to Alliance use the BNSF-built Trinity Connection (named for a nearby railcar manufacturer) that leaves the FW&D 2 miles north of the Saginaw diamonds at CP 11. 

Saginaw’s railroad attraction comes from the volumes at its diamonds (including Amtrak’s Heartland Flyer on the former Santa Fe) and the industrial scenery includes several of the state’s largest grain elevators and a pair of Trinity railcar manufacturing plants. U.S. 287 follows BNSF’s Fort Worth Sub and UP south of Saginaw, passing between the former Santa Fe Saginaw Yard and Fort Worth’s Meacham Airport (home of the Vintage Flying Museum) before separating from the railroads near the famous Fort Worth Stockyards. 

Fort Worth doesn’t lack railroad attractions — the downtown site of Tower 55 may be the busiest rail spot in the state, UP maintains its large Centennial Yard west of town, and commuter, tourist and Amtrak passenger operations are easy to find. But follow Highway 287 to Amarillo if you’d like to get on the open road for some interesting and easy railroad action. 

Worth stopping for:

• Wichita Falls: This city has the most variety of action along the route (BNSF mainline, WT&J short line, and UP trackage-rights trains). In addition, Eagle Railcar has a large facility along a remnant of the former Wichita Valley railroad southwest of downtown.

• Saginaw: For volume, Saginaw is one of the best train-watching spots in Texas, and the grain elevators add interesting backdrops for photographers. Ardent Mills, Attebury Grain, Trinity Railcar and Viterra grain all have their own industrial units which add to the variety. (See Trains’ July 2004 issue for an in-depth profile of Saginaw’s rail scene).

• Claude and Estelline: Not necessarily worth stopping, but these two towns are notorious speed traps, so you should definitely slow down when passing through. Many of the towns along the route generate revenues from issuing tickets to drivers on U.S. 287, so keep an eye out for sudden drops in speed limits along the entire route. 

If time is short: For railfanning the Lone Star State when time is pressing, make a quick round trip toward Wichita Falls from Fort Worth. The trip is less than 120 miles one way and features the line’s interesting hogbacks. 

Besides the railroad: Amarillo’s Big Texan Steak Ranch features the 72-ounce steak challenge: it’s free if you can eat it all (with sides and salad) in an hour. The list of successful diners numbers over 10,000! If gluttony isn’t your thing, visit the Cadillac Ranch, 6 miles west of Amarillo. It features 10 classic Cadillacs (all built prior to 1964) buried nose-first, and has been featured in numerous movies and videos.

While Wichita Falls’ Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame appears to have closed for good, don’t miss the Newby-McMahon Building near the railroad museum. The “world’s littlest skyscraper” is a product of a con artist who built to a height of 480 inches (40 feet) instead of 480 feet.