~G4
19 Years old, modeling the Cowlitz, Chehalis, and Cascade Railroad of Western Washington in 1927 in 6X6 feet.
Saint Barbara comes to mind. The railways/roads were found via military engineers, and explosives were used in abundance to derive the rights of way.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Barbara
-Crandell
St Judas Thaddeus, the patron saint of lost causes.
The Dixie D Short Line "Lux Lucet In Tenebris Nihil Igitur Mors Est Ad Nos 2001"
It may be a little bit of a stretch, but you might consider St. Philip. Historically, the Church used to invoke his name in the blessing of all sorts of vehicles, since he was associated with the conversion of a certain Ethiopian eunuch, who gave Philip a ride in the chariot he was driving. Since standard gauge is associated with the distance between wheels of the Roman chariot (I may be wrong on this) it would seem that there is a least a somewhat loose connection between Philip, chariots, and standard gauge track! You might just consider him anyway as a terrific example of sharing the faith wherever and with whomever you find yourself. Good luck and have fun with this!
Blessings....
You could select Murphy, If your model isn't prototype, blame Murphy. If you glue your fingers together, blame MurphyAny time something goes wrong, blame Murphy!
Murphy seems more like a demon than a saint...
-Ken in Maryland (B&O modeler, former CSX modeler)
selectorSaint Barbara comes to mind. The railways/roads were found via military engineers, and explosives were used in abundance to derive the rights of way. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Barbara -Crandell
Crandell,
When I was in the Army I was inducted into the Honorable Order of St Barbara by the Field Artillery School, (I was an Infantryman for most of my career) and I never thought of St Barbara being railroad related. The big framed certificate I have from the Field Artillery School welcomes me into the traditional brotherhood of Stonehurlers, Archers, Catapulters, Rocketeers, and Gunners. So I associate St Barbara throwing of large projectiles at an enemy.
A google search brought up this site:
http://www.luckymojo.com/patronsaints.html
and I can find no Patron Saint for Railroaders, however, St Joseph is the patron saint of engineers, the kind that design and build the railroad, not the ones who drive locomotives. Perhaps St joseph would be a better fit for railroaders?
Jeff
Tom, St. Barbara is the patron saint for both branches of the armed forces, and the term "military engineer" means that branch of civil engineering that specializes in applications to the military effort.
In the case of Maj Rogers, after whom the Rogers Pass is named in the Canadian Rockies on the CPR right of way, he was an American Military Engineer hired to do the locating, so his patron saint would seem to me to be the appropriate one. I am not familiar with St. Joseph, but it must be the civilian sector that would pertain, and you could make a case for his suitability.
for all the whiners in this hobby it could be St. Francis of a sissy.
grizlump
Saint Caseyjones of Altoona
grizlump9 for all the whiners in this hobby it could be St. Francis of a sissy. grizlump
Actually, despite your somewhat Paleolithic attempt at humor, that might not be a bad idea. St. Francis admonished his followers to "Go out into the world"--which meant travel. Trains travel. And the Franciscans established the chain of missions on the Pacific coast that became both the El Camino Real and the eventual Coast Route of the Southern Pacific "Daylight" trains.
Nosir, St. Francis isn't a bad idea at all, come to think of it. As a Franciscan myself, I"m all for it.
Tom
Tom View my layout photos! http://s299.photobucket.com/albums/mm310/TWhite-014/Rio%20Grande%20Yuba%20River%20Sub One can NEVER have too many Articulateds!
Saint William K Walthers?
Saint Christopher, the Patron Saint of Travelers and Transport Providers.
Nick
Take a Ride on the Reading with the: Reading Company Technical & Historical Society http://www.readingrailroad.org/
How about Saint Thomas, Patron Saint of all tank engines
Very Odd. There is NO listing for any railroad term, except for a few very obscure references.
I would think St. Christopher would be a good choice.
3,089 topics / 6,446 saints, beati and venerables
ok, i know this is not a religious forum but didn't the Vatican hold a fair and impartial investigation back around 1969 and take St Christopher out of service?
grizlump (heathen Lutheran)
Saint Arlo of New Orleans.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Yes, it's true. Saint Christopher was decommissioned by the Vatican. Many people still have "Mr. Christopher" on their dashboards, though!
If you're of the Anglican persuasion, Harriet Tubman is considered a saint... Of course, she was the conductor of the Underground Railroad, and was a native of my home county.
Lee
Route of the Alpha Jets www.wmrywesternlines.net
I would think the church would prefer that you choose a patron saint who has some deeper meaning to you than a connection with toy trains.
alco_fanI would think the church would prefer that you choose a patron saint who has some deeper meaning to you than a connection with toy trains.
alco_fan I would think the church would prefer that you choose a patron saint who has some deeper meaning to you than a connection with toy trains.
Actually if finding a patron saint made you feel closer to the church and/or God, I'm sure they're fine with it. That was kinda the point of saints in many cases, easing people into religion thru icons and people they were familiar with. If they came on some pagans who thought wells were sacred, they found a saint who had been martyred by being thrown in a well and make her their patron saint. If they worshipped a god or goddess, they came up with a saint with the same or a similar name, or similar attributes.
p.s. Wrong time of year to bring this up, but St. Nicholas was removed as a saint too. (Well actually, it was discovered he'd never formally been made a Catholic saint, although the Eastern Orthodox church still recognizes him.)
Looking for a name for my model railroad and for the name of the big city I wanted to model. My favorite prototype is Santa Fe from the time I got my Lionel warbonnet streamliner set in 1950-something. The Lionel catalog had an artist's painting of the train going through what looked like Monument Valley. Romanticized Southwest.... hmmm... Southwest.... A mission station like Albuquerque or San Diego or like SP's in San Antonio. So many Santa Fe stations and towns had names in Spanish with some kind of a religious connotation. Santa Fe = holy faith. San Diego = Saint James. Santa Cruz = holy cross. And so on. I thought of a real Santa Fe town in California-- Victorville in the desert. And that reminded me of Vacaville, where there was some kind of prison disturbance.
My railroading got started with a train around the Christmas tree, and after a while, I thought of a way the name Santa Vaca relates to Christmas. I will tell you in advance it is entirely made up.
Leighhant:
Now that is FUNNY!!!
Yes, St. Christopher's feast day was removed from the Catholic calendar, but his cult was never suppressed like some others. So, St. Christopher is still a recognized saint. He also still has an Eastern Orthodox feast day.
IVRWThank you everyone for all your help. I have a Saint Report due in Jan and I will do it on two Saints, St. Christopher, who will be my "official" Saint, and St. Allen, who will be my real Saint. Never let go of a chance to teach others about Model Railroading. Again, thanks.
When looking at making someone a saint, it's usually required that they not only led an exemplary life, but that they helped others after their death. Essentially a trial is held, with one priest supporting the case for the potential saint and the "Devil's Advocate" arguing against. If it's proven that someone meets all the criteria, then they can become a saint. I suppose it's possible model railroaders in a bind designing a track plan might have prayed to John Allen and gotten an answer from on high.
Course I don't know if he was Catholic...seems to me his family was from Missouri so more likely a Baptist or something....??