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Best railroad slogans?

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Posted by maxman on Wednesday, January 31, 2024 3:47 PM

I always thought that "the route of the dashing commuter" was interesting.

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Posted by Wolf359 on Wednesday, January 31, 2024 3:37 PM

I have several favorites, among them are: "The trip that bankrupts the English language" from the long gone Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek District Railway, AKA, The Short Line, "The Pikes Peak Route" from the Colorado Midland Railway, "Cripple Creek Scenic Line" and Ute Indian Trail Route" from the Midland Terminal Railway, and "America's Scenic Line" from my layout, the Colorado Midland, Midland Terminal, and Short Line, (CM, MT, & SL) my fictional merger of all three of these roads.

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Posted by UnionPacific8444 on Sunday, January 28, 2024 4:51 AM

mine is "as long as there's a U.S.A, Espee will haul the freight"

Don't know if it's an official slogan or not, I guess it's just a line from the "roll on" song

sad it didn't age well tho

i visited Eugene station back in 2016, saw a cascades train and some UP freight trains, but i should really have paid a visit to the Oregon Rail Heritage Center to see the 4449 Daylight. I'm also from Corvallis, OR, near Albany, so it just feels right to root for a railroad that goes (went) through your neighboring county.

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Posted by P&Slocal on Friday, January 26, 2024 5:37 PM

The Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern was known as the "Pretty Slow and Noisy."

The Pittsburg & Shawmut was known as the "Push and Shove". They hostled hundreds of 100 ton hoppers every evening and the bang, bang, bang,bang.....of them taking up the slack could be heard all over town.

Robert H. Shilling II

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Posted by pike-62 on Wednesday, January 24, 2024 5:36 AM

I always got a kick out of this one A&SS Allegheny & South Side 

 

slogan... Always Satisfactory Service

 

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Posted by MisterBeasley on Sunday, January 21, 2024 4:45 PM

Weather or no, Go New Haven.  In the unpredictable weather of New England, it's hard to argue with that logic.

It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse. 

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Posted by JimL on Thursday, January 18, 2024 8:26 PM

Central Railroad of New Jersey .... the "Big Little Railroad"

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Posted by hardcoalcase on Thursday, January 18, 2024 3:28 PM

Little Timmy
  My own railroad, the Demons Hollow & Pacific , has the following slogan...  "If it's got paint on it... it ain't ours 

The slogan for my freelanced anthracite hauler, The Grey Mountain & Dalton RR, is "the Stone Coal Line" - intended to imply a sense of longevity.  Disgruntled employees call it "the Stone-Cold Line."

Jim

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Posted by wjstix on Thursday, January 18, 2024 1:22 PM

Well the Baltimore and Ohio used the image of the US capitol in it's logo/herald. It was designed by Otto Kuhler. They also used a version of it for one of their trains, the Capitol Limited.

https://i.etsystatic.com/14437858/r/il/451fb9/4284168622/il_794xN.4284168622_du9u.jpg

https://borailroad.blogspot.com/2009/03/capitol-dome-logo.html

 

Stix
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Posted by OHNOMr.Bill on Monday, January 15, 2024 2:37 PM

Does anyone know what railroad used the slogan on some boxcars

"The Capital Line" ? 

I got a quick glimpse of one on a you tube video about a restored Southern Mike #4105. The Video is called    "And then there was one"

It is shown at about 9 minutes 40 seconds following an A-B-A lashup of Southern Cab diesels. I have never seen this slogan / logo before.  Please help with a response if you know.

Thanks Mr. Bill

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Posted by BRAKIE on Saturday, February 22, 2020 5:05 PM

Ed,That is one sharp looking caboose. Atlas did D&TSL GP7s and  I almost bought two but,decided not to.Bang Head  As late as 2010 I seen D&TSL 2 bay coveed hoppers on the NS always running in threes.. I notice they came through Bucyrus on Saturdays heading East. These was the same three cars so,I suspect it was a short haul with a quick turn around.

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt  Safety First!"

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Posted by gmpullman on Friday, February 21, 2020 9:49 PM

BRAKIE
Detroit & Toledo Shore Line Expressway For Industry.

 DTSL_120cab by Edmund, on Flickr

Cheers, Ed

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Posted by BRAKIE on Friday, February 21, 2020 9:38 PM

SCL Service Customers Like.

Detroit & Toledo Shore Line Expressway For Industry.

Wabash Follow The Flag.

A & W   The West Point Route.

Columbus & Greenville  Through The Heart Of Dixie.

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt  Safety First!"

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Posted by wjstix on Friday, February 21, 2020 3:28 PM

shawnee
I never got Tony Koester's slogan for his much-publicized Allegheny Midland, "The Midland Road". Doesn't conjure much of anything.

That wasn't a slogan, it was a nickname...similar to how the Minneapolis, St.Paul & Sault Ste. Marie RR was nicknamed "The Soo Line" ("Sault" is pronounced like the name "Sue") or the Missouri-Kansas-Texas was called "The Katy" or "Miss Katy" (for it's "M-K-T" freight car markings).

IIRC, the New York Chicago and St.Louis RR was nicknamed "The Nickel Plate" based on articles and promises to potential investors about how well it would be built. In the 19th century, saying something was "nickel plated" was a way of saying something was the best, the 'top of the line'. Kinda like saying something is "the gold standard" of whatever.

I'm sure many people seeing freight cars on my layout with my freelance St Paul Route's "Route of the Famous Lake Superior Limited" slogan think it is adapted it from Northern Pacific's "Route of the Vista-Dome North Coast Limited" slogan of the 1950's-60's...but it isn't.

My free-lance railroad is based on two real railroads that merged out of existence in 1900. (In my world they merged with each other instead of being taken over by two larger railroads, NP and CN.) The one that was taken over by NP, the St Paul & Duluth, had as it's flagship passenger train the Lake Superior Limited, and used the "Route of the Famous Lake Superior Limited" slogan on stationary and advertising in the 1890's.

As it happens, NP didn't introduce the North Coast Limited until a few months after buying the St.P & D. Who knows, maybe in reality NP's later slogan was inspired by the old St.Paul & Duluth slogan?  Wink

 
Stix
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Posted by BN7150 on Friday, February 21, 2020 11:36 AM

Some slogans from the 1960s are also interesting.

ACL, Another Cushioned Load
ACL

SCL, Smooth Cushiond Load
SCL

CRR, Clinchfield Cushion Car
CRR

FGE, For Greatest Efficiency
FGE

MEC, Modern Efficient Cushioning
MEC

MEC, Prime Mover for Maine Industry
     MEC

GM&O, Cushioned for a Soft Ride ....Inside
MEC

RI, cushion car- A Soft Touch for freight
RI

SAL, Cushion Underframe for Perfect Product Protection
SAL

Soo, Custom Equipped for Custom Service
SOO

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Posted by BRAKIE on Sunday, February 16, 2020 7:18 AM

SeeYou190

 

 
Water Level Route
Surprised nobody mentioned Pennsylvania's "Standard Railroad of the World" slogan.

 

.

Was that ever their slogan? I do not remember ever seeing it painted on anything or in print.

.

-Kevin

.

 

That self proclaimed  slogan was real but,I think it was used on business cards.. PRR did use "Don't Stand Me Still" slogan on some 40'  boxcars.

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt  Safety First!"

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Posted by SeeYou190 on Sunday, February 16, 2020 5:40 AM

Water Level Route
Surprised nobody mentioned Pennsylvania's "Standard Railroad of the World" slogan.

.

Was that ever their slogan? I do not remember ever seeing it painted on anything or in print.

.

-Kevin

.

Living the dream.

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Posted by gmpullman on Saturday, February 15, 2020 10:54 PM

A pretty corny one, but the public would remember:

 CSSnSB_111 by Edmund, on Flickr

Chicago, South Shore and South Bend, 1972.

Regards, Ed

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Posted by BNSF UP and others modeler on Saturday, February 15, 2020 7:09 PM

I like practically all of UP's slogans...

I'm beginning to realize that Windows 10 and sound decoders have a lot in common. There are so many things you have to change in order to get them to work the way you want.

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Posted by ROBERT PETRICK on Saturday, February 15, 2020 5:24 PM

"We may be slow and incompetent, but we make up for it by being overpriced."

LINK to SNSR Blog


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Posted by BATMAN on Saturday, February 15, 2020 5:10 PM

How many other railroads had their own airforce and navy and hotel chain?Laugh

Image result for canadian pacific spans the world

 

Image result for canadian pacific spans the world

Image result for canadian pacific spans the world

Image result for canadian pacific spans the world

Brent

"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."

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Posted by Water Level Route on Saturday, February 15, 2020 5:05 PM

Surprised nobody mentioned Pennsylvania's "Standard Railroad of the World" slogan.  I always loved that one.

Mike

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Posted by doctorwayne on Saturday, February 15, 2020 1:00 PM

My favourite prototype and hometown railroad was the Toronto, Hamilton & Buffalo, but the TH&B never had a slogan.
It was, however, also known colloquially as both the "To Hell & Back" and as the "Tramps, Hoboes & Bums.

Wayne

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Posted by Canalligators on Saturday, February 15, 2020 9:03 AM

That would be Dashing Dottie.  (My FIL was a lifetime employee, retiring in '73.)

Those are cool, but I'm partial to "The Water Level Route".

A few years ago during the great Texas freight meltdown, this one floated: "You can't spell stupid without UP".  I'm not a UP hater, but this was just too funny.

Genesee Terminal, freelanced HO in Upstate NY
  ...hosting Loon Bay Transit Authority and CSX Intermodal.  Interchange with CSX (CR)(NYC).

CP/D&H, N scale, somewhere on the Canadian Shield

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Posted by softail86mark on Saturday, February 15, 2020 1:23 AM

Stockton, Terminal and Eastern

The slow, tired and easy

 

WP Lives

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Posted by jeffhergert on Friday, February 14, 2020 10:52 PM

wgnrr

Chicago & North Western = Cheap and Nothing Wasted

I don't care if it wasn't an official slogan, but it did fit the road perfectly well. They gave their tired GP7's a new life by rebuilding them with new prime movers, a low nose, and new electrical components. The ties on their track were in place until they absolutly had to be replaced. That would be the reason why I see so many '58 C&NW date nails in northern Wisconsin.

Depots can be placed in this category too. They didn't tear down all of their depots. They did interior renevations (Well, at least the Oxford depot was rebuilt) and they were given a new coat of grey paint and used as M-O-W offices.

Most of the lines in Wisconsin still had Semaphore siginals and ancient crossing protection well into the late 80's (not to say others didn't too, but these were well maintained). Wig-Wags could be found at Baraboo, and other towns.

And I am sure I am missing a ton of things, but the Cheap and Nothing Wasted will always be a true feature of the once mighty Chicago and North Western.

Phil

 

 

Missed this back when it first appeared.  Any C & NW employee I ever met said it stood for Cheap and Nothing Works.

Jeff 

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Posted by BRAKIE on Friday, February 14, 2020 5:23 AM

NP: Main street of the Northwest and Route of the North Coast Limited.

RF&P Linking North and South.

A&R Road of personalized service.

 

Larry

Conductor.

Summerset Ry.


"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt  Safety First!"

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Posted by gmpullman on Friday, February 14, 2020 5:03 AM

A few I came across recently:

 Cotton_Belt by Edmund, on Flickr

 DTnI_logo by Edmund, on Flickr

 TPnW_621 by Edmund, on Flickr

And the ever-popular Wellsville, Addison and Galeton slogan:

 WAG_6075 by Edmund, on Flickr

I remember seeing quite a few of these cars still running in the early 1970s. I believe they leased them to the Penn-Central.

 WAG_OB by Edmund, on Flickr

WAG served a few tanneries on the line, hence the "Sole-Leather-Line".

Cheers, Ed

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Posted by doctorwayne on Thursday, February 13, 2020 10:18 PM

Here are a few....

When I back-dated my layout's era, many of the above cars had lettering which was too modern, and I either stripped and re-painted them, using older-style lettering, or sold or gave them away.

Wayne

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