I was thinking up some fiction for my own fantasy railroad as I am planning an laying out track and would like to read others stories of “fictional” lines.
My layout is a model of a fictional RR museum. the layout depicts one end of their demonstration line, a location known locally as “South Side Yard”. I hope to expand it to depict the freight terminals that the line still serves (CSX locos make appearences on freight runs, though occasionally one of the museum’s fleet is used). Passenger runs are made to connect with a ferry service across the nearby river (The extension will probably have an old carfloat bridge in the process of restoration).
still in the planning stages right now. i’ll try and work on it a little tonight and post. so far the place is a made up town called Loneview, Wisconsin. there are 3 industries in the area. Loneview Grains, Croix Brewing, and i think as of right now its going to be County Concrete (actual place about 10 minutes away from where i live). started out as a little poll shed type thing now its huge, i mean huge. like the size of a shopping mall if not bigger.
[:p]
East Coast Railways is the story of a new rail line , less than a decade in business,
coming to compete in a class 1 world. My E C R competes with CSX, AMTRAK, NS
(all are on eastern coast rail lines, hence the name) by offering customers lower
fares and being on time more often. Only problem is that they share the mainlines
with the class 1’s. THE FIGHT IS ON. Amtrak dominates the passenger world, but
E C R is one step ahead to offer better amenities ( too bad the equipment is still
from 1970’s) whereas Amtrak has the ACELA now and drives a hard bargain.
CSX wants the E C R to stay off it’s lines so they jack the fees up way high for rail
usage by the E C R. As for NS, the partnership is working since Conrail is out.
It is the present day, 2025, E C R and AMTRAK are planning a merge, the govt’ is
failing the citizens on AMTRAK and E C R wants to take over. If the plan goes through, East Coast Amtrak will have the market on premiere passenger service.
This new combination will eliminate rail accidents and safely get passengers to
a destination on time, everytime.
The freight business (2025) E C R leases out locomotive power to the class 1’s
and has shipping boxes. In the end … it’s a cutthroat world…[}:)]
[;)]
I model the present day, but sometimes will change the equipment to reflect
a different decade, and operate 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, etc.
[:p] p.s. my roadname is copyrighted.
You trademarked your name? locally, regionally, nationaly or internationaly?
WAIT, WAIT, WAIT !!!
Trademark ??? or do you mean copy writed ???
Why do this anyway? What’s the purpose of doing this anyway?
If you have a product, where do you sell it ??? Can I get your
roadname anywhere ??? Seriously. How long have you offered your
name on the market. Who produces your name ??? What scale ???
[:0]
I was getting ready for work and realized I used the wrong term.
You guys are quick!!! Good catch. I had my roadname copyrighted,
NOT put a trademark on it. I did this because my models and roadname
travel on a club layout to shows and I felt that in case a manufacturer puts
out this name, I have legal rights to it. [;)]
Sorry for the confusion.
ken_ecr
Well…yall asked…LOL
The Commonwealth Transportation Railways is the backbone of the Commonwealth Industries Group (made up of the Commonwealth Steel{CS}, the Commonwealth Mining{CM}, and the Commonwealth Transportation{CT} which is both rail and trucking). The CI Group as it is known is a “It could have really happend” deal. It is based in British Colombia and Alberta Canada. The CI Group runs its own coal, ore, limestone and other aggregate mines…and its own steel mills…raw materials and finished products are shipped by the CT…with connections along the line at several points with the BC Rail and the Canadian National…as well as a “Shared” rail yard in South Vancouver BC with a close friend of mines P-F Railroad the Sunset Coast Line.
The CT’s primary tonnage is Lumber products, steel, coal, ore, general freight, and chemicles. We have 173 locomotives, and are also owner of the Utah Railway in Utah (so those locomotives are rostered under the CT…but still in URY paint).
What i like best about Proto Freelancing is i can do my railroad the way i want to…see the CT standardizes on a lot of things…for example…our Dash-9s were derated to 4300hp to match out SD75s and our SD9043ACs…so they were reclassified as C43-9MWL (due to the canadian 4 window cabs). We have rebuilt C30-7s which are now C36-8s to match our SD45-3s and our M636Is. Most of our equipmet has been purchased new…but some are remanufactures, and home road rebuilds…such as our SD65s (rebuilt SD50s). God there is so much more i can say…but i think ill just let it go for now…you can ask questions and ill answer them LOL
Johnny Dash 9
Rabbidgerbal:
My story is long-winded and I won’t go into it right away. Instead, I had an idea that may be of help to you, since it helped me to dream up my own backstory. Get yourself a copy of “The Historical Guide to North American Railroads” compiled by George H Drury. This (or any other similar handbook) contains lots of Reader’s Digest-sized histories, and reading them can give you a feel for what a plausible history might be. You may be surprised by some of the case studies, and find an aspect or two that you’d like to work into your own line.
Of course, once you start, you’ll not want to stop, and soon you’ll have a noticeable library. Just read, more and more! I know, that was exactly your purpose for starting this thread, but do you know the saying that truth is stranger than fiction? You’ll find that it is true.
There is something to be said for the prototypical, in that many times truth is stranger than fiction… I have a great book called “hear that lonesome whistle blow” that talks about the general insanity to get a transcontenental line going accross America a long time ago. although I should try to find that other book you mentioned.
THis is what I have so far (a work in progress)
I’m new to the “club” (so to speak) and am currently in the mist of working up an inglenook style switcher on a 1’ x 3’ layout in HO. I’m really trying to pu***he limits of the space while remaining in HO standard scale.
THE SCENE: FIrstly I’m pushing the scene in having a main line that branches up into a mine and down into a tiny dockside rail seaport. Plans for a tiny beach, a moonshine still area near the mine a couple of tiny houses and a train station…phew the space might call for some creative kitbashing in the end perhaps even more as the room allows… I got my eye on a nice bi-plane to sit on the beach.
THE CARS: people don’t seem to be talking much about their rolling stock. I think this is the key to my tiny layout. Thus far I scored a bobber caboose that’s just over 25’ in scale, a 22’ ore car, and a 34’ passenger car… with a 30’ gondola car, 30’ blacksmith car and 30’ sleeper car just ordered. moreover my tiny 0-4-0 switcher measures in at a mighty 4.5 inches. The reason I say this all is key is in trying to maintain the inglenook game with nearly the same amount of cars as a much larger set up.
THE LAYOUT: I’m currently leaning toward the main line cutting the board in half with a branch going off toward the top and one to the bottom slightly beyond that.
MOREOVER ABOUT CARS: also the design may be used on a table or perhaps plug into a larger set up for a staging yard. the key here is in the “BIG” event of a mainline train coming through. Having these tiny cars will make the event of seeing something like the Howarts special rolling throu
Dalreada is the ancient name for Scotland. The people were known as Picts and they were so ferocious, the Romans had to build a wall across Britain to keep them north. Along came the Scots who were even tougher than the Picts and they disappeared from history. My new layout is a large island continent and is where the Picts went. They were joined by other races needing a new home. I have written exploits of these people in the new land of Dalreada. The capital city is Marcstadt, the main port is Melmatt and the main Pict area is Royston. I don’t know what is the most fun, building the layout or writing about the country and the people who live there.
My HO layout was to be around a town, Winter’s Glen, set in a mountain valley. I decided to go N scale and most of my ideas are still included.
My layout is on a 5’ x 6’ + 10’ x 1.5’ (think of it as a T-shirt). The top (sleeves) runs along the back wall and has the “distant” main line loop (with the HO set up I was going to use N-scale track+loco running back and forth to show distance… not happening now). Off of it is the oval that runs around the town plus a mountain on the 5x6 section (no room for the mountain in the HO layout). Around the town is another oval and where the local locomotive runs rolling stock to industries, which have yet to be decided (nearly certain is a modern grain elevator for one). I want an “old time” steam engine (4-6-0) that is “refurbished” and now runs tourists through the tunnel under the mountain, stops on the bridge to let pictures be taken of a valley, and then it backs up into the mountain spur to an old mine for more pictures (that reminds me, got to find an old mining camp building or some such; not the new “modern” ones). The mine will have a “ghost” story, something about the “lone long-lost miner” and if you listen carefully you can hear him still working after all these years looking for that elusive “mother lode”. The mountain has a spire, which is yet to be carved (plastering now) and named. I haven’t yet decided what to put in the valley; I thought about wild horses but if I can find some N-scale American bison then that might be a good possibility. The “Dragon Cave” will probably not have a dragon in it (me being a fantasy gamer makes that hard to resist [:)] ).
Still a lot of work in progress, and the fiction may change.
Glen
Not sure if this fits–my layout includes both real and non-real elements.
First, the real-world version:
The Pacific Gas & Electric Company operated trolley and bus lines in downtown Sacramento, CA until 1944. At that point, due to an anti-trust decision preventing utility companies from owning trolley lines, they had to sell their trolley route to National City Lines, a national conglomerate owned by a bus manufacturer, an oil company and a tire manufacturer. At the same time, they also purchased the single trolley lines operated by Sacramento Northern and Central California Traction. Shortly after the end of World War II, they got rid of the “obsolete” trolleys and replaced them with buses, and the trolley tracks were paved over. This same scenario played itself out in many cities, with NCL’s deception not being revealed until years later, when they were given some nominal fine to pay.
Now, the fantasy version:
In 1943, PG&E applied for a variance on the law ordering them to sell their trolley line, based on wartime necessity as well as the fact that, since there were two other trolley lines operating successfully in Sacramento at the time, they were not engaging in unfair competition. While PG&E had started running buses several years earlier and eliminated lower-ridership trolley routes, they maintained their last four trolley lines in downtown Sacramento, running their aging fleet of homebuilt converted California cars and Birney.
During the same era, Central California Traction divested their electric holdings in 1946, switching entirely to diesel, and sold their trolleys to Pacific Electric along with their newer electric freight motors. Sacramento Northern took over the single CCT trolley line, since it ran contiguous with the existing SN line, and was subsidized in part by PG&E selling electricity to CCT at the same rate they sold it to their own trolley line, thus encouraging SN to remain in the trolley-line business until the end of electric operation
This was previously posted on the Garden RR forum, as I am doing large scale indoors.
Every freelanced RR should have a good backstory, it helps to clarify details and give direction. Heres mine.
The Borracho Srings Railroad, a small 42" gauge shortline set in the desert southwest straddling the Mexican border.
The back story:
It was originally built in the early 1900’s to service two mines, the Ferrous Underground Boring And Reclaimation Company, a.k.a. F.U.B.A. R. (an Iron mining co. trying trying their hand at Gold mining) and the Silver King, another competing mine who when they say the FUBAR sign posted over above the new mine, jokingly renamed thiers SNAFU just to egg them. But mines only last so long and can only dig so far, so by 1937 it looked like the end for the mines and the little town of Purgitory that served the miners.
That was until a shady character came to town with a couple of very odd looking plants, and stating that the climate was “perfect”, he set up a farm growing and cultivating and spreading the odd yucca like plants, they were Blue Agave’s smuggled out of Mexico. Within a couple of years he bought an old warehouse, brought in a lot of distillery equipment and announced plans to open a tequila distillery, the only one in the US. When he asked for name suggestions an old man in the crowd said the town was already full of “borracho’s”, the name stuck and the Borracho Distillery went into business July 4, 1940. The business grew, and within a short time the railroad built a spur to the distillery. Dec. 7, 1941 saw the business change to making medical alcohol for medical use and the mines picking up work.
During the post WWII years (the current setting) , The town renamed itself after the distillery, Borracho Springs, which also took over controling interest in the RR, and the distillery went back into full production, so did the mines thanks to new WWII vein discoverys, and the little trains keep chugging alo
My layout is based on a childhood fantasy, to have a “hotrod” and cruise Route 66.
Although mostly freelance, the basic theme I have chosen to model is the Santa Fe line which parallels Route 66 in Northern Arizona, hence the name Double Six Northern. My layout is set in the transistion era, early 50s so I can run both steam (4-8-4 “Northern” of course) and diesel.
The industries I have chosen come from my hobbies and background. As an ex-trucker (late 60s) I have put a truck stop on the layout which is scratch built from memories of a truck stop I frequented in Fresno CA. One of my hobbies is woodworking so I have a lumber yard and a furniture manufacting company. My brother and I do a little weekend recreational gold panning so I have included a stream with a couple gold panners which empties into a small lake with fishermen. I love to go fishin’ when I’m not RRin’.
On the highway (Route 66) that goes throught the layout I have a motel, gas station and hamburger joint. The cars in the parking lots are all custom cars and hotrods. [:)]
Other than the locos and rolling stock, everything is scratch built including the electronic circuitry. I find the most relaxing and rewarding part of this hobby is creating my fantasy world from memories, photos and/or drawings.
The Allegheny railroad is a wholly owned but independent subsidiary of the PRR connecting the Virginian and N&W in West Virginia to the PRR in Washington DC. It has catenary and runs non PRR electrics, steam and diesels that are either being retired or scrapped by other railroads. It has trackage rights on the PRR and follows PRR practice. You will often see ARR and PRR engines intermixed. Freight color scheme is Pullman green cabs and SP lettering gray hoods with silver trucks. Passenger scheme is Amtrak Blue and SP lettering gray similar to Mopac colors with silver trucks. The crack pasenger train runs to New York and is called “The Flyer”
ndbprr-
What is your route? Because it sounds as if your mainline would intersect mine as it works its way east-northeast. My fictional railroad (now just a branch of the N&W following a merger) runs from WInchester VA westward and south-westward as it follows the South Branch of the Potomac (the modern day South Branch Valley is my “prototype”), and then turns west again and a bit north to meet the Western Maryland outside of Elkins and then trundle along up to Grafton, WV.
What scale do you model in? If you’re an N-scaler, it might be neat to trade equipment or decals so that we could run each other’s lines as interchange traffic. I already have an active PRR interchange at Winchester, VA, so I’m working on increasing my PRR rolling stock. I like the concept of your Allegheny RR.
My layout doesn’t have a name yet, I’m working on it. It’ only 4’X9’ but I’ve managed to have a heavy mainline with switching on an upper layer. It would have an extension but my wife won’t let me cutt a hole in the wall. The short line is the SCD Ry. It’s the first letters of the names of my children. It services the town(which also doesn’t have a name yet). The main line is now owned by the Route Rock after the UP(of which I live next to the main line through Iowa) went bankrupt. The Route Rock has repainted all of the main road engines but there are still some UP paint running around, but now with new numbers and a big R on the sides. The CNW has some trackage rights so they can be seen there also. The interchange outside of town basically allows me to run any road from the SP to BNSF to the CNW.
Thanks for letting me share my layout.
Go Packers