Welcome (Back) to Fransen

Farmrail isn’t an easy railroad to model faithfully, especially when you’re space starved and move often. The rolling hills and grain elevators are a challenge. Thankfully, there’s also plenty of industrial switching, especially around Clinton, OK.

Sometimes, we have to put the layout we WANT to build on hold, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t build models. So, in that spirit, I decided to revisit a little industrial park on the south side of Clinton, a place called “Fransen” on the railroad. I’m not sure where the name comes from, but I would venture to guess it goes back to the Frisco days. Its just a cluster of industrial buildings in red dirt, surrounded by scrubby trees, wheat fields, and pastures. But what it lacks in appeal, it makes up for in switching.

The track layout is reminiscent of Lance Mindheim’s East Rail layout. I opted to model the busier of the two main leads. There’s a nice variety of car types, with pressurized differential hoppers and tank cars dominating, but with box cars and regular covered hoppers making appearances as well.

Thankfully, I’ve been blessed with several opportunities to take a close look at operations here firsthand. While I wish I had the space for grain elevators and long runs, a small, contained, completely modular switching layout is just what the doctor ordered for this season of life.

I actually modeled this industrial park about 8 years ago. I think returning to this prototype was the right decision. So, follow along and welcome back to Fransen. Its good to be modeling home again.