Burlington Gulf Railroad
The Burlington Gulf Railroad (BG) is a product of an alternate history universe, where the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad (CB&Q; also known as the Burlington Route) and the Gulf, Mobile & Ohio Railroad (GM&O), merge in 1976 to form the BG.
This merger does not happen in isolation. In order for this alternate version of history to play out with any degree of plausibility, other events in real-life history have to be altered decades earlier in the fictitious timeline of the BG universe. Likewise, as a result of the BG merger, other real-life events after 1976 are also impacted. This ripple effect of change becomes greater as time goes by.
A work in progress
Many considerations come into play when authoring an alternate timeline. One of the most fundimental questions is, "How much change is too much?" In other words, what is the tipping point where believability suffers to the point that it becomes a distraction?
I have come to the conclusion that the amount of change matters less, compared to making sure that the chain of events leading to the era that I plan to model, is plausable. A lot of change can be palatable if the steps leading to the change are incremental and logical. We may not all be railroad historians, but we tend to recognize common sense cause and effect when we see it.
A lot of thought and research is going into these considerations. The purpose of this site is to capture these considerations, decisions, historical elements, and conclusions. In other words, I am first authoring the world I am modeling, and then this site will serve as my reference as I build and operate my models. I am disciplining myself to stay true to that universe, much as a prototype modeler might do in trying to maintain fidelity to the real railroads they are modeling. (So, no railroad museums, amusement parks, whimsical collections, or other toy-like discordant notes.) Applying these self-imposed restrictions will help me to focus my modeling efforts, and my purchases. At least, that's the plan. ;-)
I have sketched out a number of scenarios with varying degrees of change. Some of them are quite subtle, especially the further back in time you go before the merger. A different decision here, an untimely illness there… well, stuff happens. Downstream after the merger, some of the cause-and-effect ripples may prove to be rather exciting to railroad enthusiasts, especially to the railfans among us who would have loved to see some of our favorite fallen flags have a slightly less-ignoble demise. (I'm looking at you, Milwaukee Road.) I will give you this one hint: The Burlington Gulf, in a modern and robust form, survives to the present day.
Spring 2026 Update
This is a hobby website and as such, is a labor of love. As of May 19, 2026, the site is still under development, but a significant amount of work has already been accomplished behind the scenes; the present page count is 146 and counting! When it is done, the site will contain everything needed to model the BG, as if it were a real railroad documented by it's own historical organization. My spring and summer 2026 plans are focused on finishing the timeline, and wrapping up the 2025 work to update the existing dev site to Bootstrap and HTML5 specifications. Please bookmark this page and check in occasionally to track progress.
Stan Maddox
Columbus, IN, US