Could anyone here help me come up with a name for my model railroad? I’m new to this and im getting ready to build my very first layout but i can’t think of a good name to get started with.
How about giving us at least a tiny hint about what type of railroad, what type of location and what era you are trying to model?
Smile,
Stein
How about the No Name & Y Knot R.R. ? [(-D]
i was thinking about modeling anywhere between the 40s 50s and 60s the location, somewhere in the midwest and its a little town here is the plan: http://www.google.com/imgres?um=1&hl=en&sa=N&biw=1600&bih=813&tbm=isch&tbnid=xA9c7S6q4YhWwM:&imgrefurl=http://www.jnsforum.com/index.php%3Ftopic%3D2156.0&docid=3r-Th78rHpDtgM&imgurl=http://i.imgur.com/Vag3C.png&w=800&h=560&ei=0vFMUP21Cuj1ygHIlYFY&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=177&vpy=154&dur=1669&hovh=188&hovw=268&tx=177&ty=154&sig=105526772579882122015&page=1&tbnh=127&tbnw=181&start=0&ndsp=28&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0,i:76
What kind of name would you like?
You could: name it after the towns/area it serves…for example the Owego Harford Railroad {Real 1:1 RR}serves the towns of Owego at interconnect up to the town of Harford in Upstate New York {The OH RR}, or the “Rubber Lake and Western Railroad” {The RL& W RR} .
You could: name it after yoursef and your wife, or your two children’s names, or the like…such as “the Gracie and Allen Classic Railroad” {G&AC RR}, or the “Mary and Harry Rail lines”{M&H RL}.
You COUld: name it something “cute”…such as the “Gorre and Dephetid” {G&D RR}{pronounced Gorry and defeated}, or a steam run named the “Grimey Black and Sooty Railroad” {The GB&S RR}, Or even the "Diesel Fumes Will Choke’em RailRoad{DFWCRR}.
Or you create some other “backstory” to why your RR exists and name it from there…Like " John Smith traveled from England in 1878 to the Mid west where he took posession of a large tract of 200000 acres of land West of the small town of PrairieVille, Kansas. He decided that as the major railroad expanded through PrairieVille, they would need an area to service their locomotives, so he petitioned the RR to consider his tract of land for a roundhouse. He was granted charter to do so, and the Junction at Smithville Flats was constructed. The connecting rail line between PrairieVille and the ROundhouse area became known as the “PrairieVille, Smithville Flats and Western RR” { THe P,SF& W RR}
[8-|]
Is this the plan you are talking about?
In July I think you were talking about an HO 4X8. If built in roughly 4X6 to 4X8, this plan looks like N scale based on a quick “eyeball” of the radii, grades, and clearances – and I think the original may have been an N scale plan representing Japan. The structures and streets as shown are pretty small for the US Midwest in HO (if you are looking at roughly 4X8), so you may not be able to fit all that is illustrated.
Not to mention that the track configuration, with significant station platforms and a lot of elevation change, does not look much like the stereotypical US Midwest (although of course there are hilly areas also) .
It’s usually not optimal to take a plan designed for a very different concept (and perhaps even a different scale) and apply it directly to something else. These might be issues to clarify before starting the project (or naming it).
Good luck.
yes its an n scale layout, i thought it might fit in somewhere in the US the way everything is made up and it is a 4x6 may just have to think of a name based on surroundings and other railroads.
Perhaps a few of us can explain how we named our model railroads.
Example: (the free-lanced) CR&T = Conemaugh Road & Traction. Thus, knowing your geographic locale, but also the year(s) to be modeled is quite helpful. CR&T layout’s 2 major industries are coal, and passenger service. Know what you can do in your available layout space (why CR&T is N Scale).
CR&T answers 2 questions: What if the Pennsylvania had completed electrification from Harrisburg to Pittsburgh, and; what if the traction in the Conemaugh Valley was more than PCCs (for passenger service).
* Conemaugh: Inspired by the actual Conemaugh River Valley (in Western PA).
* Traction: Primarily interurban + short-haul freight.
* Road: Expansion to use small diesel, and perhaps a subway division.
* Circa 1956: Provides maximum flexibility of motive power (PCC, box motor, diesel switcher, etc.), and use of shorter 40’/50’ freight cars. 1956 also lends itself for CR&T to interchange with the Pennsy (using GG1, diesel, Broadway Limited, steam, etc.). Note that 1957 was PRR’s steam to diesel conversion year.
Me? The Barclay, Towanda & Susquehanna. Mainly the influence was from it’s location. The railroad runs by Barclay Mt. and it’s ghost town as it goes south to Forksville in Sullivan County. Towanda is it’s central location, and follows the Susquehanna river to Wyalusing,which is to the southeast of Towanda in Bradford County, Pennsylvania.
The line then goes northeast, and was once aiming to build to Binghamton, New York, but was abandoned when the railroad came under the power of the Lehigh Valley Railroad. It’s northeastern leg now only goes to Friendsville in Susquehanna County (when the Valley took full control of the railroad, most of the original system’s track went back to nature).
The western leg of the line went as far west as Troy, with plans to continue to Mansfield in Tioga County (these plans died with the system). A western leg went to Canton to provide more interchange income for the railroad.
Trackage rights were granted to the BT&S over the LVRR to Sayre so the line can service it’s locomotives.
The system’s main source of income? Lumber and interchange traffic between the LVRR, Wabash and PB&E (Pittsburgh, Binghamton and Eastern. In real life, it failed, but I revived it to get more traffic for my railroad).
Era? 1963
As the others have said or implied, the “type” of railroad might be most import part of the name. If your layout is pretending to be part of a great big railroad then it will have a very different name than if it is pretending to be a short-line or regional railroad. From the track plan I would guess it is not a mining/logging/or industrial railroad.
In the time period you specified prototype class 1 railroads are things with noble sounding names or far away places in them:
Atlantic & Pacific
Union Pacific
Northern Pacific
Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe (Santa Fe was on the edge of forever at the time).
St. Louis & San Francisco (Mississippi to the coast)
Short Lines are often named by the end points or major towns they serve:
Louisville & Wadley
Bellfast & Moosehead
Regionals go in between those two extremes:
Colorado & Wyoming
Wisconsin Central
So if we got a flavor for what type of railroad you are going for, we could be much more help
FYI
My club’s transcon is Platte Valley & Western
My regional railroad is Pine Ridge & North River
My short line/industiral is Pikes Peak, Fossil Creek & Tesla
My final “real” model railroad is going to be the Pueblo and Arkansas River Valley. A subsidiary of the AT&SF.
Elmwood, Olatha & Cleveland?
A handy tool kit for assembling reasonably believable railroad names:
- Someplace and someplace else - end points, names can come from a map, a family history or an overactive imagination: Pittsburgh and Lake Erie, Smith Corners and Johnson City, Gorre and Daphetid, Moonlight and Violins (no lie!!!)
- Someplace direction, with or without and: Norfolk and Western, Norfolk Southern, Elgin, Joliet and Eastern, (Name) Northern…
- Geographic feature, singular or plural: Hudson River, Green Mountain, Chesapeake (Bay) and Ohio (River). My freelance coal hauler translates as Wealth River Valley Iron Road, while one narrow gauge feeder is the Spring Mountain Electric Railway.
- Names honoring family members. Mobyston, Cedsville and Nicksburg could have been named in honor of the male children of a DDG blonde science fiction character of my acquaintance. My Kashimoto Forest Railway (a logger) bears my wife’s maiden name.
Just a few ideas, off the top of my head.
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Railroads have always tried to follow the path of least resistance, so they stick to the shores of lakes and rivers whenever possible to have the most level possible route. So, rivers, lakes and other bodies of water are appropriate. I named my town Moose Bay. I run Milwaukee equipment, but the trolleys are painted with the Moose Bay Transit Authority scheme.
I’ve always been partial to Native American names, too. I would look for one from the area where you are modeling. Use either a tribal name, or perhaps a “heritage” name for some geographical feature or place.
Keep in mind that the latest fad in naming one’s model railroad is to add the word subdivison at the end. Evidently, you’re not a “really serious” model railroader until you do so.
I don’t find that to be “a fad” at all. “Subdivision” was used on many real-life railroads, so often it’s just following the real thing. I’m puzzled – why would you denigrate modelers following the real world?
It was really very simple to name my railroad. I was driving on the West Shore Expressway of Staten Island when I noticed a string of orange refuse cars waiting to pick up New York City trash and haul it to landfills in south carolina. So the Staten Island West hauls among other things lot of trash out and brings coal in to a local power plant also off the expressway. There is no real railroad with the SIW name but it is loosly based on real operations.
I went a conventional route - end points and the place between. LK&O RR is the Lapeer, Kitzmiller, and Ohio railroad. Lapeer MI is the northern end point, Kitzmiller MD is the southern end point. The entire state of Ohio lay in between. Hence, LK&O. Three prototype locations, one from each state, condensed into one freelanced model railroad.
That, “Fad,” was common on the Santa Fe long before it was devoured by that mountain goat on steroids. If your prototype had, Subs,' it's easy to add a fictional sub’ to the route map of your 1:1 scale prototype. Just don’t name it the Back Bedroom Sub…
As far as being a, “Really serious model railroader,” the Moonlight and Violins referenced above was owned by George Allen. It was the subject of a Model Railroader series, `50,000 Spikes.’ His later Tuxedo Junction filled a barn.
Since I model a secondary mainline (Chuo-Nishi Hon-Sen) under a fictional name, I guess I’m not a serious model railroader, even with very close to 75 years’ seniority in the hobby. [The JNR has Sen (routes,) not Subs.]
Chuck (Modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
I’m operating a branch of the atsf between Rincon and Silver City, NM which the ATSF railroad labelled the “Deming Subdivision”. What should I call it if not the Deming subdivision?
See, this isn’t a fad, it’s prototypical modeling. An example of a fad would be to add a third rail where the actual railroad never had one just because everyone else is doing it.
Mine is the Maricopa & Gila River RR set in 1950’s Arizona south of Phoenix in Pinal County. There is a real Maricopa and the Gila River runs near the place. However, there is no yard in Maricopa, the M&GR has the Maricopa yard. There is also no meat packing plant in Maricopa, there is one in Tolleson, but Butterfield Station on the M&GR boasts of a packing plant and a freight house. There was a real Butterfield which was a watering stop on the Butterfield stage line back in the day. There is also a food cannery in S. Maricopa. To my knowledge there was never a S. Maricopa. Hey, but I am having fun.
I think the issue is that it’s not really the name of a railroad. That is, what people seem to do now is they say their layout is the Freeport & Northern. OK, why do all the engines say “Union Pacific” and not “Freeport & Northern”?? Oh, well, it’s really the Freeport & Northern division (or subdivision) of the UP. The F&N was bought by the UP in 1947, and my layout is set in 1990.
Which is fine, but what you’re doing is modelling a free-lanced branchline or section of a real railroad, the U.P. It’s not the same as creating your own railroad, with a unique name, paint scheme, etc.