Texas Track Car
Everywhere (South)West?
A far-flung "frontier outpost" of the Burlington, Abilene, Texas is not what most people think of when they consider the roads moniker of "Everywhere West." Like the other Fort Worth and Denver branch line depots at Pampa, Dimmitt, Silverton, and Lubbock, the Abilene depot was at the end of the line. No train order board presided here since nothing passed through. This depot, along with the ones at Lubbock and Pampa, was a "back-in" terminal where the passenger train would do exactly that. Unique architecturally, so far as I know on "The Q," the details and the colors are consistent with the Denver's design ethic. Hiding under the vines on the right, is the baggage room and a decorative arch with a big ball finial - Google can show you better pics of this. You can also see the mark of social history with "separate but equal" waiting rooms on either side of the central bay window-equipped office, bearing silent witness to the era of racial segregation in the Jim Crow South. It's interesting to consider that BN crews called on Abilene into the early 90's, up until the Wichita Valley line was abandoned between there and Wichita Falls. Southern Switching is the keeper of the flame locally these days, serving a handful of customers and storing cars on what's left of the FW&D on the east side of town.
Everywhere (South)West?
A far-flung "frontier outpost" of the Burlington, Abilene, Texas is not what most people think of when they consider the roads moniker of "Everywhere West." Like the other Fort Worth and Denver branch line depots at Pampa, Dimmitt, Silverton, and Lubbock, the Abilene depot was at the end of the line. No train order board presided here since nothing passed through. This depot, along with the ones at Lubbock and Pampa, was a "back-in" terminal where the passenger train would do exactly that. Unique architecturally, so far as I know on "The Q," the details and the colors are consistent with the Denver's design ethic. Hiding under the vines on the right, is the baggage room and a decorative arch with a big ball finial - Google can show you better pics of this. You can also see the mark of social history with "separate but equal" waiting rooms on either side of the central bay window-equipped office, bearing silent witness to the era of racial segregation in the Jim Crow South. It's interesting to consider that BN crews called on Abilene into the early 90's, up until the Wichita Valley line was abandoned between there and Wichita Falls. Southern Switching is the keeper of the flame locally these days, serving a handful of customers and storing cars on what's left of the FW&D on the east side of town.