Hey all!
So I've been layout-less for the past couple years (no room in a dorm - sigh) but now that I'm in an apartment on campus I've got a bit of room to start at least working on some modeling, and I've decided I want to finally get a start on the equipment for my eventual-freelance-road.
It's going to be set in the early-to-mid fifties in the Northern Rockies - kind of going for a Milwaukee Road type feel without the electrification, thinking 4-8-4s and Challengers along with PAs and E-Units.
Trouble is I can't come up with a name! I've got a few ideas, thought I'd pitch them at you all and see if anything sounds appealing!
So far I've got:
Cascade & Pacific
Dakota & Pacific (My current favorite)
Imperial Pacific
Chicago, Sioux Falls and Western
Overland & Pacific Lines
Any of that sound reasonable? Let me know what you guys think!
Your choice of railroad name may influence how easy it is to get rolling stock pre-decorated for your line. For example, Jerry Walterreit's freelanced road is called the Caribou & Ohio. You won't find that name on any pre-decorated rolling stock, but it's easy to find cars, engines, and decals labeled "C&O." Likewise, David Barrow's famous Cat Mountain & Santa Fe. It's a lot easier to brand cars and locomotives for your railroad if you only have to change the first two letters of the reporting mark.
Also keep in mind that there are many degrees of freelancing. Freelancing doesn't mean you have to make up everything out of whole cloth. Some people (myself included) model an actual portion of a prototype railroad, but freelance track arrangements, industries, and stations – pretty much everything but the town names. Others invent a completely fictional route, but proclaim it a branch of a well-known prototype, giving them a "home road" that it's easy to find cars and locomotives for. Some create an independent line with its own identity, but call it a subsidiary of a well-known prototype or a bridge route between two prototypes, thus justifying running pre-decorated cars and engines as well as those in a freelanced scheme. Then there are those who freelance everything.
What I'm basically saying is, think about how much rolling stock repainting you're going to want to do before you choose your layout's name. If you don't think you'd enjoy repainting and lettering every locomotive you buy, pick a name similar enough to a prototype that you can substitute factory-painted rolling stock, or imagine your pike as a branch line or subsidiary of your favorite prototype. But if repainting diesels is your thing, name it anything you like.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com
Lots of helpful ideas there from Steve.
Steven OtteOthers invent a completely fictional route, but proclaim it a branch of a well-known prototype, giving them a "home road" that it's easy to find cars and locomotives for.
This example is the category mine falls into. I'm a Rio Grande modeler, so that means lots of narrowgauge. The primary focus is the Silverton line, familiar to many. Except mine is much busier and relies on industray more than tourists. Why? because I assume the thre Mears lines (Silverton RR, Silverton, Gladstone & Northerly, and the Silverton Northern RR) that ran north out of Silverton survived and were joined together as the Silverton Union RR.
Down in Durango, the Rio Grande actually built a standard gauge line south to block a potential Southern Pacific intrusion that only connected to the rest of the narrowgauge. It was all hauled in a reassembled. In the 1920s, it was actually converted to narrowgauge, but I postulate that it stayed standard gauge and continued south from Farmington, NM, where it did stop and connected up with the Santa Fe at Grants. From Durango, after WWII it continued along the RGS for a ways, then reached Moab, where it followed the branch there up to the Rio Grande Utah main line. I call the standard gauge operations the Four Corners Division of the D&RGW. In Durango itself, the dual gauge operations resemble how Alamosa was before 1967, but on a smaller scale.
Both "inventions" allow me to run mostly predecorated equipment, while giving me the freedom to do things different as it please me. Even though largely freelance, I have a prototype to turn to for guidance and inspiration. It's the best of both prototype and freelancing with few of the pitfalls of either.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
HI Joe,
Welcome to the Forums.
Mr. Otte's advice is spot on. So to give you an example of that is look at the Railroad "Duluth Missabe & Iron Range" Their reporting marks are "DMIR"
Now, you can buy rolling stock with those reporting marks, but on your Railroad they might stand for "Dakota Missoula & Idaho Railroad".
For the name on your list "Overland Pacific" There is a Oregon Pacific Railroad, with the reporting marks of "OPR" the trouble with that is , you won't find much if anything premade for them.
Go to Google and look up Railroad names, you will be surprised at the list you get, and that is not including the fallen flags, so if you pick one of the larger more popular railroads there is bound to be lots of stock available with those reporting marks. See if the reporting marks match what you want or change your name to suit a chosen set of reporting marks.
GO for it and have fun. Let us know what you decide upon.
Johnboy out.............................
from Saskatchewan, in the Great White North..
We have met the enemy, and he is us............ (Pogo)
Mine is the Maricopa & Gila River RR located in the Sonoran Desert south of Phoenix. It is a subsidiary of the ATSF, with a minority ownership by the Vekol Valley Water Users Association. Maricopa is a town in Pinal County AZ and the Gila River drains virtually the entire state.
Bear "It's all about having fun."
Scale? Relettering and custom paint in smaller scales can be more challenging than in larger scales.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
LION's first railroad since becomming a monk was the Eastern Southwest North Dakota Central Railroad (Serving the Middle of Nowhere). With equipment from the BNSF and the Eire Lackawanna... go figure, and yes, it did have a major passenger operation.
When the old basement hobby room was to be converted into a meeting room, I moved the railroad to a classroom above the Library, and Called it the Eregion Railroad, after Tolkein's Middle Earth. That was most elaborate, and hard to maintain, and as the LION grew fatter (wildebeests will do that to you) him nowonger could go under the table to maintain things. (BTW: I am viewing the Hobbit Trillogy this week)
Now him builded the Route of the Broadway LION, a model after the New York City Transit Authority It was supposed to be a simple layout, and actually it is very simple to operate, but you might not guess this from looking at my web page.
Speaking of web pages, it is time to update much of it, and maybe even do another video from the 'Rail Fan Window" (You do know what a rail fan window is, don't you?)
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
My railroad is named 'Atlantic Pacific Railroad'. I model railroads that span the US and the ones I like, so I can have many different types of freight cars as well as my own engines and cabeese. There are companies out there who will make decals for your railroad in small quantities.
Most important is for YOU to enjoy your railroad and have fun.
Neal
Steven OtteWhat I'm basically saying is, think about how much rolling stock repainting you're going to want to do before you choose your layout's name. If you don't think you'd enjoy repainting and lettering every locomotive you buy, pick a name similar enough to a prototype that you can substitute factory-painted rolling stock, or imagine your pike as a branch line or subsidiary of your favorite prototype. But if repainting diesels is your thing, name it anything you like.
Or do like I do.. My Summerset Ry doesn't own any cars.. We use Railbox,Railgon TTX bulkheads and UTLX. tank cars. We also use IPD boxcars as needed.
I never favored using a prototype railroad as a freelance railroad. A paper railroad perhaps but,not as a part unless the railroads initials is under the cab number like Southern did.
Larry
Conductor.
Summerset Ry.
"Stay Alert, Don't get hurt Safety First!"
Wow, thanks for all the quick responses, gents!
To kind of elaborate on my thinking, first off the layout's going to be in HO - figure it's easiest to get my hands on suitable equipment, plus I'm too much of a klutz to work in N.
As far as my willingness to repaint and modify the equipment, honestly that's my favorite part of the hobby - my main steam power's gonna be a fleet of IHC 4-8-2s kitbashed into Northerns so I've got a lot of mod-work to do, so I don't really mind painting. Plus all the road diesels are gonna need custom jobs too... Lettering may be tedious but I don't mind putting that work in!
I've got one of my uncle's old copies of MR where Bill Darnaby explained how he put the Maumee's roster together so I'm trying to use that as a guide to make my fleet semi-realistic.
At least for now the layout itself is gonna be fairly small - pretty much a small passing station in the rockies with maybe one or two industries, looping back into a little staging yard. I have dreams to model a whole division of this road, but I've got to start somewhere! (:
Great advice people have given you. What about model railroading is of interest? You looking to have trains run, replacte switching, operations, a combination, or all the above.
The name is far less important than grounding the layout than considering the space, time, and cost limitations. Most important of all is to ensure the layout table is only used for trains (you prob know what game you kids tend to play )
JoeFerrito...pretty much a small passing station in the rockies with maybe one or two industries...
Hello All,
Welcome to the forums and congratulations on moving out of the dorm!
More of a suggestion rather than an affirmation of the names you have suggested.
When I was considering names for my railroad; a coal branch set in the Colorado Rockies, I looked at the names of rivers, passes, mountains and mountain ranges. I also wanted to interject a sense of humor in my reporting marks.
The creek that runs through my town is named Buckskin Creek, it is a tributary of the Middle-Fork of the South Platte River.
My first inclination was the BS&PR (Buckskin & Platte River). That was a little too blatant for my taste. Then I though of the PC&BS (Platte Canyon & Buckskin). Again, a little too "ice pick in the forehead" subtle.
I finally decided on the BS&P (Buckskin & Platte).
Because of my budget I decided to make many of the elements of my pike from found objects: coffee stirrers, PVC pipe, ice cream sticks, various types of packaging, wooden matches, etc. For that reason the owner of the railroad is the CMG (Consolidated Materials Group).
The name of your pike can also reflect the industries it serves: lumber, mining, agriculture, manufacturing etc. Something like the Montana Bentonite Short Line (MBSL).
Hope this helps.
"Uhh...I didn’t know it was 'impossible' I just made it work...sorry"
Here's what I did, might not fit in any category-
I live 1/2 mile from a small Creek called "San Francisquito Creek" and my house is actually in the flood zone by 5 inches. The layout in the basement in an attempt to make the creek happy, is called "Francisquito Valley Railyway" ...
It is in Northern California -- somewhere North of San Francisco and so it has a port, a several medium inland cities, some mountains, some farms ...
Nothing resembles anything. The railway has heavy passenger traffic compared to a US railroad, so 2-3 passenger tracks at the said cities but I don't actually have that much equipment yet.
Barring a couple of compromises related to "Givens", all track layouts are designed with operations in mind. E.g., how will we sort cars? How will a freight train operate this route?
But! This all falls into place as a Union Pacific division. So I run UP and Amtrak equipment ... some SP stuff as well (West Coast!).
NP
NP01Here's what I did, might not fit in any category- I live 1/2 mile from a small Creek called "San Francisquito Creek" and my house is actually in the flood zone by 5 inches. The layout in the basement in an attempt to make the creek happy, is called "Francisquito Valley Railyway" ...
That is a mouthful, plus think of putting letters together and getting them straight in lieu of custom decals....
Lazy old me probably would've gone with Cisco Creek Central
Steven Otte If you don't think you'd enjoy repainting and lettering every locomotive you buy...
If you don't think you'd enjoy repainting and lettering every locomotive you buy...
The other idea I've played around with is modeling the Pacific Midland from James McCague's Fiddle Hill novel. From the road's description (Gas Turbines, Challengers and Elephant-Eared Northerns) it strikes me as a UP-type road but crossing the rockies in what seems to be Colorado rather than Wyoming. If I end up modeling it I'd probably model the line's crossing of the Sierras to San Francisco, which is alluded to in the book but never actually described - in my mind it's a Donner-style crossing, snowsheds and the like. Probably going to change some things if I do that though - namely I like my freelance diesels red rather than the blue described in the book, and I'm not exactly a fan on deflectors on steam, but maybe it's a starting point.
Plus PM should let me use Pere Marquette decals for reporting marks on the freight cars.
JoeFerritoNorthern Rockies
I like the name "Northern Rockies"
Cascade & Pacific sounds like it's in Portland. Imperial Pacific sounds like San Diego.
Lone Wolf and Santa Fe JoeFerrito Northern Rockies I like the name "Northern Rockies" Cascade & Pacific sounds like it's in Portland. Imperial Pacific sounds like San Diego.
JoeFerrito Northern Rockies
I go back and forth between wanting to do a Northern type road or a central-US type of transcontinental. My gut tells me that a Sierra Crossing's what I really want to model - I think I just stick to the Northern concept because I feel like I won't have to be as crazy with my scenicking... But snowsheds and all of that just sound so... right.
Anyway, incoherent rambling aside. With "Imperial Pacific" sounding San-Diego-ish, does it fit a Chicago-West Coast type of transcon?
My other thoughts in that general vacinity are the Chicago, Missouri & Western and the Chicago, Sierra & Pacific, calling it The Sierra Road kind of like the Milwaukee. Nothing really has the right ring to it yet. Sierra Pacific (which is another idea) works but then there's the inevitable comparison to the SP, which geographically would literally be like 50 miles north of where I envision my road crossing the Sierras - plus if I'm doing a Sierra Crossing I want snowsheds which means Cab Forwards and ugh.
Perhaps I'm too into this backstory type stuff but I like the idea of a freelance road being "believable" in the real world and just randomly picking something is hard. It's also hard to figure out a name that would be plausible in this fictional version of history.
Thanks for humoring me, fellas.