I was wondering how some of you come up with names for your layout and fictional railroads that serve it. I am having a problem coming up with one for mine, and was looking for imput. Scott
I like country music I love my wife Shannan The line name will be Shannan-doah complete with pink and blue paint scheme
Where is the railroad going to be? I have the INDIANA RAILWAY. It is in Indiana, this gives me a little leeway on where it goes, and I can have run-throughs from other railroads via trackage rights. From south to the north, L & N, Southern. From east to west PRR, NYC. Do you want to model a certain railrod? ATSF, UP, SP, IC, PRR, NYC etc? Maybe make a division of one of these railroads. Just remember, it's your layout, do it however you want to!
I've recently done research on the Northeast Oklahoma Railroad, a line that started out as an interurban serving the lead & zinc mines in Ottawa County, OK and Cherokee County, KS. It was purchased by Frisco in 1964, and part of it became the Miami Branch of the Afton Subdivison of Frisco's Northern Division. In the realm of Imagined History, I have it as an independent line once again, with an all-Alco motive power roster and a new name, the Oklahoma and North Eastern (which also includes a Frisco branch from Baxter Srings, KS to Joplin and Carthage, MO). The nickname of the NEO was "The Ore Line", while the O&NE is "The Chat Pile Line" (chat is the tailings left after mining lead & zinc). I can run Frisco power (and do), as well as some UP and Santa Fe runthrough power (as Frisco did back then).
When I started my layout 2 years ago, in Minot, ND. I realized me goals: long runs, long trains, wide curves, continous operations. My layout looked like a flat/rolling prairie int he middle of North Dakota. The area I'm modeling is climibing in elevation, towards BN's Steven's Pass. Since I am not modeling the whole Pass, and only portions of the Funnel line, I couldn't really give it a prototypical name. The name I had chosen would carry along with the layout for a while, and still remain loose enough that I could model nearly any scenery in Washington state. BN, the railroad I model, and the High Prairies it is based in, and there you have the BN High Prairie Subdivision. My wife liked the new name, and insisted on being the scenicking CEO. Which is really cool, we can spend time together, be in the train room, get the layout worked on, and I can teach her new things! I love it!
My layout is named K R & T after my 3 kids. (Kathie, Rick & Terry) Terry is a girl and she has been after my skin almost since birth. Got put in the boys PE in high school and took an act of God to get her transfered to the girls PE.
My layouts have always been called Andersley. Many years ago, my wife had been watching a programme on TV the location of which was a village called Andersley. She came outside to me and said it would make a good name for a model railway! Andersley has been used for American HO, British O scale, O scale Narrow Gauge, and now American N scale. The only times I have not used the name is for Swiss and Belgian layouts I made a few years ago.
"Far Corner" is a reference to the upper right corner of the US, that is, Oregon and Washington. Came from my brother-in-law who got it from some literary source. I am stockpiling undecorated cars in the hope of some day running the BS&C. No, not a reference to human excretion or senseless talk, but the first initials of myself and my two sons.
Mine is an attempt to logically fit into what had actually been in the area. A couple of companies that were either absorbed by, or interchanged with the prototype. The Milwaukee Road. One was the Seattle, Port Angeles & Western. A Milw predecessor. Later came the Port Angeles Western. An almost all logging traffic outfit that ran on their own rails, plus some Milw track they'd leased. I have imagineered a line connecting two seperated Milw branch lines. Featuring Port Angeles as a major deepwater port. As I run the opposite direction from the two prototypes mentioned above, I have the Port Angeles Eastern Railway. Boxcab E50
I have a regional road that interchanges with the Great Northern, Monon, ATSF. I have no clue where to go with it.
Scott- The GN east end as you know was Minneapolis/St.Paul. The closest Monon and AT&SF came to those cities was Chicago. So, get a good map showing the area between those two cities. Then imagine a route not already occupied between those points. Write down a few different name combinations, and play with them a while. It will come to you! Boxcab E50
My layout name comes from a feeble attempt at humor, relating my vocation as a Lutheran pastor to my railroad. The two main writings that make up what are called the "Lutheran Confessions" are the "Augsburg Confession" and the "Formula of Concord." So my railroad (which originally shared space with my office) is called "The Augsburg and Concord Railroad Company." If you are interested, the whole story is found on my website, under the heading "Concept". Jeff Augsburg & Concord R.R. (a fictional shortline in Central Illinois) Come see us on the web: http://www.pegnsean.net/~revnjeff
Thanks Boxcab. I choose this idea because of the size area I can model. By the way, I am modeling the mid 50's. I will sit down and come up with something. Scott
My railroad and layout are called the Grande Valley mostly because I live in the Grand River valley in West Michigan. There was a Grand Valley prototype railroad built in Michigan(or so I have been told),but it was sold before it ever turned a revenue mile. It also was not in West Michigan or the Grand River valley One last thing,my Grande Valley RR began in 1978 ,has gone through three scales,and still exists in three scales.
When I started figure out a possible location for my railroad I searched MapQuest for Sandy River, because my first station building kit was named Sandy River. I found three Sandy River in the US. When I also found places in the SR area like West End, and Iron Hill, which already existed on my layout, then the choice was simple. It become the SR in Virginia. It´s interesting to notice that a railroad has never existed in the real ST The fictitious history of SR&WF RR you will find by the link below: SR&WF history
My railroad is named after my late best friend Balou, a Chow dog. Other than a "where" and a broad time era, there is nothing is really definate, thus The Arizona Central and the NON-SPECIFIC has kind of stuck on it. Ultimately I aspire to unite the shortlines of Arizona.
I got the name for the Agate Basin and Cahokia from my studies in college. My degree is in archaeology, with an emphasis on projectile points (AKA spear points & arrow heads). The Agate Basin points and the Cahokia points were among my favorites. I even used the basic shape of the Cahokia Point as a part of my logo. My town names are also named after some of the key projectile point types in here the Midwest. Since I no longer do anything related to archaeology, I use this as a way to stay connected with it (other than living vicariously through some of my friends who still work in the field).
My RR is the "North Texas Central" reporting marks NTCR. It is a regional line which operates (someday) in north and east Texas. This lets me operate older power, RS3s and GP-9s but also allows me to operate newer power from its class 1 connections, UP, BNSF and KCS. My paint scheme is basically the Mopac scheme with red replacing the blue.
