After reading the editorial in the oct. issue I was reminded of a rather unique name a friend had named his railroad. It was the Kent Avon & York line. When I first questione him about it I never put two and two together that the abreviation was also his wifes name. He took each letter from her name and used them for the starting letters of the road name. Does anyone else have anything similar to this to share?
Dan Pikulski
My railroad is called the Mokena Railroad. i lived in the town of Mokena and named my railroad after it… There are 3 towns on the layout, Sandi Springs after my wife, Lori Bend and Eric Junction after my kids. I also named industries after people , Like Karney Coal and Bruggeman Beef. Its fun and thats the way its supoose to be
The sign on the train room door reads.
WELCOME TO THE CPR RAILROAD.
B.A.S. DIVISION
B.A.S. stands for Brent, Aidan,Samantha. Me and my two kids.
They came up with the name one night in a restaurant when I mentioned that I thought I would get started building the thing.
Brent
Naming my primary railroad was a no-brainer. When it’s a government-owned monopoly, do you really have a choice?
There are a few ‘niche’ railway companies in Japan, mostly doing things the National Railway Company was happy to avoid. I actively model one, and have three waiting in the wings (non-operating background, pending future development.)
Tomikawa-san was the reason I requested assignment to Japan from Korea very early in my Air Force career. Other names are family ‘in’ jokes (the two main stations along the Kashimoto Forest Railway are named for my son and daughter - Japanese-language nicknames.) Fortunately, a lot of Japanese surnames can do double duty as place names. Even more fortunately, those people are very unlikely to find out that their names have been pre-empted.
Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)
Mine will be the PRF&W(Pine River Falls and Western). My wife and I like pine trees and waterfalls so there it is. I also plan on naming industries after people we know and those in our family. The first one I have is Katie’s Cafe and Wine House after my Wife. Now all that is left is to start building things.
Mike
The sign on my door reads ‘Kansas City Southern southern division’.
The name of my railroad is “Grain Belt”. It was going to be “Anchor Valley Central”, but I wanted a name that sounded rural.
Then come to find out that there really IS a “Grainbelt RR”. But it is spelled as one word and mine is two words.
The main town is still Anchor Valley, and there will be three other towns on the layout (construction starts after the Christmas Holidays), one at each end of the route that are named Bedford Falls and Rock river, and one small township called Emerald.
My layout is the fictitious town of Moose Bay, which came about just because I liked the name when it showed up in my head one day. The two principle streets in town, Penny Lane and Saint Anne Street, are named after my wife and daughter, with a bit of homage to the Beatles thrown in for additional merriment. Those two streets are also the names of the subway stations below them, so there’s lots of signage to announce them. The Scollay Square station is from the old “Charlie on the MTA” song, and it’s also a now-defunct station in the Boston system. A number of businesses in town are named in honor of some of my daughter’s friends.
My railroad has been the Grande Valley railroad (now railway) since september of 1978.The main reason being that I live in Grand Rapids,MI. in the Grand River valley.
My San Joaquin & Sierra Nevada Railway did exist until it was absorbed into the SP system at the turn of 20th century. Orginally a narrow guage operation, no effort was wasted converting the profitable segements to standard guage with the remainder being abandoned. During their fight to fend off the SP, studies were done to standard guage and electrify the line to tap important feeders that were independent and also under wire. My pike represents a compromise with the SP, it electrified and standard guaged while remaining independent with the SP/SF as important interchange partners. My main drag in Lockwood is named Lorraine Blvd. after my wife, she also has a steeple cab electric named for her!
Dave
My nod to friends and family include:
Carrie’s Berrys. An industry named after my wife, Carrie.
Colby Cut. A rocky pass named after my godson, Colby.
Mosier Magnets. An industry named after fellow firefighter, friend and modeler Al Mosier.
Sentinel Colliery Railway is the name of the small spur railway run by the Company by that name. They lease equipment from several railways, and pay for servicing under contract. The mine is near Seneca Falls, NW (No Where), a bit bigger than a village, with an important sub and an interchange between as many railroads as my loco roster can stand. That would be eight railroads so far. Wow, what a hub! The local kids love seeing who can spot the unique engine that runs through Seneca Falls, or better yet, stops for some servicing.
I just made up the names. I was fairly certain I wouldn’t end up being original with Seneca Falls, and it turns out I am correct. In fact, I expected that it would be up-state, and it is in NY if I am correct.
Geez, Chuck you really do like mountain-climbin’ lines! I didn’t realise you were a fan of the Hakone Tozan - good choice. Ever been tempted to include some dual-gauge track and run an Odakyu LSE?
All the best,
Mark.
I named a live steam model boat after my wife (now ex); she got mad, because the boat was cute but not exactly streamilined - it looks sort of like Kate and Bogie’s African Queen. I learned not to name stuff after real people; their reactions are hard to predict.
My railroad is the Blackwater & Butte Creek Railroad. Blackwater came from the Doobie Brothers song, and Butte Creek is a real stream in Oregon where my father and I often fished (the fishing was great, the catching was a little iffy).
I’ve really been struggling with this one for the past couple years. I’ve been thinking about a play on a name and going with The Stetsburg Sub. Or maybe The Stetsburg and Walish.
I don’t know if I like them or not. Maybe I could call it Mayoville…:-^
Folks:
I’ve done this. On my current RR, I’m trying to use the names in ways that sound authentic. So far, all I have is Edwards Mill, named after our son. I don’t have too many buildings yet.
The two towns were named in a different way. One was near the electrical panel, and the other was near the Johnson furnace, so they were named “Wattsburg” and … “Johnson Furnace”.
If I see a piece of rolling stock that is on clearance or an otherwise great deal I’ll buy it regardless of the roadname. After a trip through paint and some trim film these pieces of rolling stock emerge as assets of GRLX (Garrett Railcar Leasing) which is named after my son.
Now that the time is here for me to actually build a RR I have NO idea what the line will be. Other than a division of Union Pacific as I have a ton of U.P. power.
“The Malpaso & Saccara Railroad”
Pretty sure I misspelled the second word. The first is the name of a creek near where I grew up (and also the name of Clint Eastwood’s prodution company) and the second comes from a town in Egypt where they discovered a small model of a bird that when blown up to human size, could fly reasonably well. Scientists believe that it illustrates that the ancient Egyptians understood flight. Or they got lucky with a tiny wooden bird.
Basically I liked the words and how they sounded together. Malpaso is a bigger grity city (translated, the word means “Bad Step”), and Saccara will be a desert outpost styled city.
Mine has a ring to it Russell Rail, my town is Russellville fictious name but on my door to my train room there is a big R&R on it.
