The BNSF Railway Headquarters in Fort Worth sat a short drive away from where we were in Dallas, Texas for the American Shortline and Regional Railroad Association convention. So it was a perfect excuse to visit and get a little behind the scenes look at what's going on at headquarters!

BNSF Museum = AMAZING!

There are railroad museums, and there are national treasures. This is both.

As you roll up to the visitor's center, you have to notice the stainless steel railcars with the fluted siding with the midday sun glinting off them. They're more than just show. Remade into meeting spaces, these cars still function and can still ride the rails.

Of course, they have an astounding collection of railroad artifacts from the entire western United States. That's because the company is the result of a merger between the Burlington Northern and the Santa Fe Railroads as well as several other railroads.

The Burlington Northern covered primarily the northern part of the western US running from from Chicago, Illinois through La Crosse, Wisconsin. And Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota to Grand Forks, North Dakota. The historic rail line continued through North Dakota, Montana, and Idaho to Spokane, Washington even connecting up British Columbia and Portland, Oregon, and Seattle.

PHOTO COURTESY OF BNSF

The ATSF (Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway) - the SF in BNSF - contributed more southwestern markets to the merger. The ATSF served many small towns and large cities across the south and southwestern U.S. Cities in Texas like Houston, Dallas, and San Antonio; Phoenix, Arizona; Los Angeles and San Francisco, California; Portland, Oregon; Kansas City and St. Louis, Missouri; New Orleans, Louisiana; Memphis, Tennessee; and where else...hmmm. Oh, yeah...Tempe and Santa Fe, New Mexico.

BNSF Western Art Collection

The ATSF amassed quite a collection of Western Art that became part of the assets of the combined BNSF entity. Today the BNSF archives include countless pieces of classic Western American Art from noted artists like Joseph G. Chenoweth and Edith Hamlin just to name a couple.

The subject matter includes Native American themes, Old West themes and of course lots and lots of trains and locomotives. You can see some of the works in this small slideshow of the BNSF Western Art Collection here.

The art rotates, and there are quarterly tours of the collection for those lucky enough to be on staff at the BNSF. There are several on display in the visitor center, and if you get behind the scenes, these fabulous works adorn the hallways of the offices throughout the corporate campus.

BNSF Railroad Artifacts

An original wooden pushcart tickled at our love for bicycles, but it operates more like a rowing machine, and it stood out as one of our favorite pieces from the tour.

Of course, they had a great collection of artifacts showing the evolution of railroading over the years and capturing the history of the lines that make up the modern BNSF Railway.

Love model trains? They've got them in serious detail. Some fantastic antique replicas of their more beloved locomotives have a permanent spot at the front of the room.

The kid in even the toughest CEO must come out in this place when they arrive here for meetings with the BNSF staff!

If you are a watch collector or just love being on time, be sure to catch the Seth Thomas clock. Its presence underscores the importance of time to the railroad. You can read more about the importance of telling time and the railroad's leading role in standardizing timekeeping in one of our previous blogs.

Suffice to say, if you are a railfan or just have an appreciation for history and seeing it preserved, add the BNSF headquarters to your list of things to do when you are in the area.

BNSF Behind the Scenes

The BNSF Command Center controls all of the operations for the railroad. Think of it as NASA Mission Control except for trains.

BNSF CONTROL CENTER IN FORT WORTH, TEXAS

Just because the railroad has well over a century and a half of history doesn't mean it stayed in the last century. This is a high-tech modern facility (currently getting an upgrade even) that runs the freight trains of today.