northfield & wichita

Welcome to my N scale layout. I've always had a fondness for trains and especially a fondness of railroads that hauled the grain that was harvested on the many farms across the country. With farming as the occupation of my ancestry, it was always delightful to see the fruits of their labor being transported to the various markets by rail.

My goal for this layout is to chronicle the planning and construction of the Northfield & Wichita. Hopefully along the way, readers will be able to enjoy the progress and maybe gather some ideas for their own projects.

I sincerely hope you will enjoy this site as much as I anticipate the construction of my layout and running trains on it.

All railroads have a rich history and mine is no exception. The NFW is a ficitonal railroad and I think that it is an important aspect of planning a model railroad layout to have a history behind it to help define your purpose of the layout. The following is a brief synopsis as I would have imagined it.

The Northfield & Wichita was founded in 1914 by Peter Noorden (pictured to the right with his young bride), a very successful farm owner, businessman and entrepeneur. He had witnessed firsthand the hardships of local farmers getting their grain to the markets. Being a successful landowner and businessman, he acquired 110 miles of land and embarked on the venture of establishing a railroad that would service the farm owners in the surrounding area. He established several distribution points throughout the local farming communities with the vision of providing easier and reliable service for local farmers to get their products to market.

During The Great Depression, Peter Noorden held steadfast to his vision, often sacrificing his own wealth in order that others would survive. The NFW emerged from that era as strong as ever due to the cohesive spirit of Mr. Noorden and the steadfastness of his vision of how the line should run.

During the next several years, the climate of the nation was changing and being an innovator, he saw the need for changes in the operation of the NFW if he was going to remain successful. He moved the company's service away from an agricultural dependence on grain and cotton and centered its efforts on diversifying traffic and industrial development.

Upon his death in 1956, the operations of the line continued under the direction of his wife, Charlotte. The NFW continued to flourish and when she passed away in 1988, the line was acquired by an asset management company. The NFW continues today and now has trackage rights over the BNSF and interchanges with the BNSF to the north and west. Customer service and personal attention to detail by NFW employees continue to be the hallmark of its founder, Peter Noorden.