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Jesus answered Martha "I AM the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies;
and whoever lives and believes in me will never die."
John 25-26



Welcome aboard the Mesquite Belt

and to the Great State of TEXAS !

 

Howdy !

The Concept of the RR

History

Go Railfan

The Layout

Operations

RR Customers

RR Towns

Layout Construction

The Depot

The CEO

Management Staff

Our M-9G Speeder

Speeder Restoration

The Other Side of the Tracks

Links

Website Updated:
April 17th, 2009

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Mesquite Belt Railroad is based on the Katy Railroad's Houston to Ft. Worth line. The MB also purchased the Katy's Oklahoma, Kansas, Texas also known as the OKT route northward. The modeled portion is the MKT's Houston to Ft. Worth route, with operational considerations of South of Houston, North of Ft. Worth, Georgetown Sub-Division and LCRA coal traffic. These considerations allow trains from "outside" the modeled portion to influence traffic flows and train movements. The Mesquite Belt's HO layout is housed in a 20'x40' depot. The layout's plan has over 800 linear feet of trackage, including a 14' curve and a 32' classification yard. The Mesquite Belt also has a M-9 Fairmont speeder!

The depot was built from the M-K-T (KATY) Standard Plans Book, available from the Colorado State Railroad Museum.
I could not have built the depot without help from my wife Melanie & kids Aaron, Caryn & Matthew, father-in-law John Walther, Geary Johnson, and Mike Ellis. The modeled railroad was designed with a lot of help from my good friend Jeff Ford, and built primarily by myself and Steve Gohman, with help from Mike Ellis and Geary Johnson. The layout is controlled by Digitrax DCC, with radio throttles maximizing the linear walk-around design of the layout. Train movement is controlled by the dispatcher, and CTC is planned, with computer controlled signal logic.

There are 6 Sub-Divisions on the Mesquite Belt:
The Houston Sub
Houston - Smithville
The Texas Sub Smithville - Waco
The Ft. Worth Sub Waco - Ft. Worth
The Duncan Sub Ft. Worth - Points North of Tower 55 (Staging)
The Georgetown Sub Granger - Georgetown (Staging)
The GH&H Sub Houston - Port of Houston / Galveston (Staging)

This model railroad is THAT dream layout most modelers always dream of, but seldom build. This depot and layout have been possible by a lot of fellow modelers, who where always willing to answer a question, letter, phone call or email. To all who have helped me become the modeler I am, Thank You! Those modelers and their layouts who have influenced me are: David Barrow's Cat Mountain & Santa Fe; Eric Brooman's Utah Belt; Bruce Carpenter's BNSF Chili Sub Division; Ken Caulking's Casey Lines; Doyle Davis' South Western Pacific; Mike Ellis' Teague, Mexia, Rock Island & Gulf; Jeff Ford's Texas, Oklahoma & Gulf; Gil Frietag's Stoney Creek & Western; Steve Gohman's Chicago, Omaha & St. Louis; Gary Hoover's Missouri, Kansas & Quincy; Bryan Kanis' Utah Western; Tony Koester's Allegheny Midland; Allen McClelland's Virginian & Ohio; & Stephen Priest's Santa Fe Emporia Sub Division.

The Mesquite Belt Model Railroad is based in Palestine, Texas, home of the The Texas State Railroad now under American Heritage Railroads operational control, and is running a full schedule of trains!
This historic train travels through the scenic piney woods and hardwood creek bottoms of East Texas where rolling hills, nature and wildlife abound.
The Mesquite Belt can handle group outings and hosting other model railroad clubs for guest operating sessions, as well as active involvement with the Piney Woods Model RR Club, NMRA & Katy Railroad Historical Society.

 

Webmaster: Devin M. Jackson

Send  updates, information, and comments to:

  Mesquite Belt Railroad

Contact:

Devin M. Jackson 903-724-3976

Dispatch Center 1-800-SHIP-MBT

 

Photos by: Mike Murray

 

Copyright © 1987-2009  Mesquite Belt Railroad
A Mesquite Belt Transportation Company


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