We’re beginning on my Texas railroad just like my Michigan railroad, with a “catch”-update! This railroad started because I wanted to share the hobby with my grandson. He saw my trains when he visited us in Michigan, and he really seemed engaged. When my son-in-law asked about getting him his own train set I encouraged it. He found a small Bachmann Santa Fe freight train set in n scale and our grandson was hooked!

The family had built a new home when they relocated to Texas and invited us to spend our winters with them, an offer we couldn’t refuse! A couple of years later, when my daughter and son-in-law graciously offered me a 6×18 foot storage room for hobby space, that sealed the deal, and the story of the BNSF Hollister Subdivision began.

During our first winter and before the storage room was available, we started to expand on E’s train set with three single T-Trak modules; one each for the two grandkids and me. It was a challenge with an almost six year old and a seven and a half year old, but I taught them how to glue, assemble, and paint each of the modules, then I installed the Kato Unitrack on the three modules. I then built five more modules, a single, a double, two corners, and an endcap. By the end of that first winter we had a working double track oval, and I had joined two area model railroad clubs! Here’s how the BNSF looked that first year: