I have had my layout in various stages of working order for 3 years now. In the grand scheme of my layout plans, there exists a short line railroad that services a coal fired power plant and several small business via an interchange with the Norfolk Southern. The layout is set anywhere in the area of PA/WV/VA/MD/KY, in the late 1990's. The 4 locos are all painted and ready for a name...But I don't have one! For the life of me, I cannot come up with a name for the short line that I am happy with. I have posed this question once or twice on other sites with little success. I have very few good prospects for a name. Call me picky but I think that the model of one's personal railroad should have a name that conveys something about one's self. Whether it be campy or serious, it should have more to it that 2 or three town names with the word "Central" at the end of it. I do have one name in mind but I will hold it back until some others chime in on their ideas. Let's put our heads together gang... (Clunk... Clunk, clunk OWWWCCCHHHH!!!)
Hmmmmm......... We have: Cumberland Gap Potomac, Cumberland & Western Potomac & Ohio Blue Ridge & Western Those would be my suggestions
If you run your layout from point to point, maybe the Luisville & Pittsburg or vice-versa : Pittsburg & Luisville. Others: Columbus Southern Blue Ridge & Northern Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia,Maryland, & Kentucky Railroad Company (PWVVM&K) or HERMANzGERMAN Central.
Here are some I've thought of. Three Letter & an Ampersand A traditional regional naming pattern My favorite of these: C&SW Ry. Chesapeake & Southwestern It's suitably broad & vague to fit anywhere except a line feeding to the west. But since most coal was moving to the tidewater, that's the most likely alignment anyway. Others: A&NV Ry Albemarle & Northern Virginia RL&N Ry. Richmond, Louisville & Nashville Two Letter Shortlines More traditional for smaller roads My favorite of these: VV Ry Virginia Valley Railroad I like the symmetry. I think it'd look cool to have two intertwined Vs in a Pennsy Keystone herald. Others: AW RR Appomattox Western VN RR Virginia Northern NV RR Northern Virginia CW RR Cumberland Western MO RR Maryland Overland Named Carriers A little more colorful, but still authentic for short lines. Keep the letter conservative and it'll be convincing. "The Powhatten" Powhatten Railway "The Shenandoah Line" Shenandoah Railway I like both of these. They give the flavor of the Appalachians in the area south of Cumberland, Md. Would look nice on a steamer tender. If you're in diesel times it'll still work tho. The Southern RR was just like this pattern. So is the Susqehanna, (even tho it has a longer name i.e. NYS&W) Hope these helped!
Wow Ken! You are so close to what I had come up with! I came up with, the MANCHILD & ELATED RAIL LINK or the MANCHILD & SO. HAPPY RAIL CONNECTION Julie (my wife) uses the manchild comment occasionally (meant in fun) to our friends, in reference to my trains. I saw this as a dig back at her. But now I wonder if your mahobbie isn't better Ken. Let's see : MAHOBBIE, BACKOV & GIMMESOMESLACK R.R. or, MAHOBBIE & NO. REGRETS R.R. or, NO. STEAM & SO. HAPPY R.R.
Elated and Southern Happiness. Merry Elsbourgh and Southern Happiness (Think of it as three different Counties) breaks down to MESH or ME&SH Finally The Passion Pigspen Pennsylvania Paific (4Ps=For peace) I only used Pigspen becasue I cannot think of anything better that starts with a P and has the ring of Cowspen. [ 19. January 2003, 06:51: Message edited by: Benny ]
Houston, Atlantic, Palmdale, Pacific & Yosemite..HAPPY South Texas Route Under Tulsa ...STRUT Denver, Ogden & Georgia....DOG Tennesee, Illinois, Nebraska, Kansas & Louisiana...TINKL Ohio, Hudson, Ophur & Houston....OHOH Pacific Palasades.....PP Slip, Slide, Stumble, Squish & Smell...SSSS&S [ 07. February 2003, 05:54: Message edited by: watash ]
The Manchild, Warren and Julmick Railway. (Julemick?) The Ohio, Germantown and Warren. The Hermanville, Warrentown and Mickville.
So it's silly you want, eh? How about: Meinalmein (pronounced mine all mine) Fort Union & Northern (the FUN Line) Myroad & Sowhatt ANd your General Manager's name could be: Luvitt R. Leavitt P.U. Nethgil (that's "lighten up" spelled backwards, and the name of my railroad's GM)
Thanks Herm. I thought about our visit and the times here on the board. This is what I came up with. You do get all of them?
I gotta absorb all this for a while and see what I come up with. HzG would look good on the side of my locos. I can't figure otu what would go with that though.
Herman, can you stand another one? How about ST&PR =Seed Tick & Pidgeon Roost RR or the Sit tight And Play right RR Rusty B.
It took me forever to find a name for my railroad too. First I knew that I had to name my town first, so I thought and thought and could not think of anything. So I thought a name for a town newspaper. The first thing that popped into my head was The Victorian Times. I liked the ring to it. So the name of the town was deamed Victoria. I name my railroad the Victorian Central Railway(VCR) because the yard is in the center of the town. Well hope this helps; David O'Brien
Hey again, here is another thought. What if you named it after a landmark? Like maybe a mountain, river, lake, valley, ect. For an example: The Blue Mountains Rail Link or The Blue Mines Railroad. Hope I could help: David O'Brien
You might try working over the letters in the states to see what you could come up with - maybe something clever. My friend and I that modeled together named ours "The Iamoka Lines" - pronounced eye-uh-moe-kuh. Iamoka meaning "Iowa, Missouri & Kansas." Charlie
