Large Scale Central

How you named your Railroad

General Discussion
#41

OK, My Bluestone Southern Railroad’s name was of my own design… I had always liked the lettering style of Southern Pacific on their ““Bloody Nose”” paint scheme, so my lettering design was basically a copy of that…

The name itself started with my favorite color, ““Blue””… One of my logo design is an elongated diamond shape and diamonds are sometimes called stones, hence the ““Stone”” part of Bluestone… Southern was taken from Southern Pacific’s name…

The road name is one that I have used/had for many years… It is on my N-scale loco’s and freightcars that are currently on shelves on the basement wall… When I went to G-scale, I just carried the logo to this scale…

The coloring came about basically from the ““Rock”” Blue and white paint scheme, however, I didn’t like the lighter blue, so I changed it to a darker Blue…

Some folks don’t care for my railroad’s abbreviation (BS), however it does hold a 2-fold meaning… When running good, it stands for Bluestone Southern, but when running bad, it means… Well, guess… (http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-cool.gif)

#42

There was a pond, named after my brother, Peter, who built it; then there was an old Ironwood tree; then we were heading West on the property; so the name came together rather quickly, way back in 1982…the “Ironwood Peter’s Pond, & Western Railroad”. I have a framed piece of paper, which is the charter, signed and sealed; September 10th, 1982.

The best move, for me, that I ever made, was to make it a freelance style railroad; not modeling any particular prototype railroad. This left me free to model a railroad that could include many of the things I liked from a lot of different real railroads.

#43

Mine is simply named after the real RR from which it is being protolanced.

#44

Our Shade Gap Railway was named partly from our affinity for the East Broad Top (thanks Kevin) and the large maple tree which created a gap in the center of the railway between the east and west loops. When I went totally live steam (thanks again, Kevin) I strayed from the EBT in a more eclectic and slightly whimsical direction. Today you might see SGR trains plying the rails but also those from the G. B. Andrews Wild Animal Park, Brockport Sand and Gravel, Foley Fine Beers and Ales, McDavid Milling Company, The Paradise East Railway, Newark Valley Mineral Co, Bowdler Brothers Lumber, Wizelman Pulp and Paper and some other as yet unnamed companies. Our soon-to-be new location (FL) may provide inspiration for more new and exciting fictitious railway enterprises.

Stay tuned,

Tom

#45

My On3 when I was in S. Ca was the; Lagunatic and West Urn, serving of course the Golden Urn mine.

Now older yet no wiser, I moved into the frying pan … and have explored too many dangerous abandoned mines. There’s a cluster in the Greaterville area and across the valley in the next mountain range was my favorite, at the end of a true 4x4 track. I earned my Desert Pin stripping, leaning into shrubs to avoid crumbling embankments on the way to the Total Wreck. 6 ways in and only 2 out…

Research:

John Vail, a local rancher and a hired hand were out counting feet and dividing by 4, when Jerry looked up and said; lookie there! John did and soon a mine opened. It was said that the hill side looked like ‘a total wreck with quartz boulders of ore’…

Wulfenite, kinda pretty orangish yellow flakes in crystal form …

If you like lead. Yet lead is known to have a sister metal found in Galena, Silver. While at a lower percentage, more valuable than the lead! Silver and Gold were also mined along with copper. Later they mined MolyB and finally the mine caught fire by a fool trying to mine magnesium!

True fact; First railroad to Tucson was the El Paso and Southwestern. In this section of Az are lines of mountain ranges and valleys, The EP and SW was one valley over from ‘my’ mine, so my railroad is a ‘what if’ line built from mine to Vail, the Town between the tracks. When the SP built east from Tucson they paralleled the EPSW until just past Vail at Marsh Station. The SP continued east, while the EPSW went south towards Tombstone and Douglas.

Vail is still known as the town between the tracks …

Notice the Ore Loading Platforms in the lower right hand corner … that’s where our wagons dumped their goodies… and now our tracks deliver to Tucson.

That’s my story and I’m stuck with it.

The Vail and Total Wreck RR

John

edit; an in was out

#46

Nice napkin drawing, John. A Masterpiece.

#47

Forrest Scott Wood said:

Hmm, now I wonder what a lug rig vacuum would look like.

#48

Not allowed to go home; forbidden contact with my children; seeing counselors, doctors and law enforcement officials; I realized I was no longer under my raging wife’s thumb, so I called my apartment, “My Asylum.”

When I managed to start making a living again, I set aside $40 every time I made my income goal for the month. I bought an Aristo 0-4-0 on ebay, some track, a transformer, some cars and a train set the seller no longer had room for because he too found himself out of his house and living in an apartment.

Since the rolling stock was “Pennsylvania,” it must have been an eastern railroad. “Asylum Valley” sounded like a valley in the Appalachians, so I named my railroad the “Asylum Valley Nickle & Dime.”

Ralph Brades thought that was funny and designed me a coat of arms according to the old rules of heraldry, which favor puns an jokes. Thus began a long-distance friendship that continues to this day.

#49

I’ve always had an affection for the Bangor and Aroostook. Spent a lot of time hanging out in around the yards in the early 90’s when I modeled in HO scale. For my garden RR, I borrowed the tri color scheme and named it the Nipmuc and Shetucket. Has a similar ring to it, and represents the area in New England where I live.

#50

Steve Featherkile said:

Nice napkin drawing, John. A Masterpiece.

You don’t think it’s too fussy?(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

#51

John Caughey said:

Steve Featherkile said:

Nice napkin drawing, John. A Masterpiece.

You don’t think it’s too fussy?(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Nah, it’s just right.

#52

Steve Featherkile said:

John Caughey said:

Steve Featherkile said:

Nice napkin drawing, John. A Masterpiece.

You don’t think it’s too fussy?(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)

Nah, it’s just right.

“Hush and allow the thread to flow”…staying on topic after re-reading twice

#53

Mine was named after the large regional railroad that occupied the area between Memphis and New Orleans in the Mississippi delta. The Yazoo & MS. Valley Railroad was incorporated into the Illinois Central Railroad in the early 1900"s.

#54

My In-ko-pah Railroad is named for one of my favorite desert regions, an area in southeast San Diego County and part of Imperial County. Some of the geographic features there are the In-ko-pah Gorge and In-ko-pah Mountains. The word “In-ko-pah” is derived from an Indian word meaning “east people” and was originally used to describe the tribe that lived in the region.

My railroad is set in a fictionalized version of that region, as I imagine it might be if there had been rich ore discovered there.

#55

Named after the housing development in Prescott when we moved here in 2000… Prescott Canyon Estates… Hence, Prescott Canyon Southern Garden RR…

#56

Years ago, my wife collected frogs. Had a birthday party for our Grandson, and one of the questions on the Scavenger Hunt was “How many frogs can you count in the yard?” Nobody got them all, including us. So it became “The Froggy Bottom Short Line”.

#57

My RR was named for the fictional town of North Where. North Where was where a few buildings were on the upper level of the RR. South Where was kinda envisioned but never built directly below it on the lower level. And I’ve always liked names that had “ & Southern” and “& Western”. But since my RR was roundy-round, words like Southern and Western didn’t seem to fit, and are a bit restrictive. So the line became the “North Where & Beyond,” which those smart-alecy locals shortened to Nowhere & Beyond.

#58

Mine is named after the mountains that run through my area. The Kittatinny Mountains, a long Ridge goes from PA to NY, its native American for Endless Mountains.

#59

Where did the Dirty and Dusty Railway come from?

Basically, it is dirty and dusty here on the desert! With all the dust devils damaging the layout, i should have named it Dust Devil!

The town is named Silver Onyx. I am a second generation rockhound and Silver Onyx is found near a ghost town about 100 miles from us. The rock is actually silver ore and was mined for a number of years. So the layout has a mining theme.It all ties together!

#60

Lou Luczu said:

Years ago, my wife collected frogs. Had a birthday party for our Grandson, and one of the questions on the Scavenger Hunt was “How many frogs can you count in the yard?” Nobody got them all, including us. So it became “The Froggy Bottom Short Line”.

Froggy Bottom? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy-c4TjoVL8