Okay, I Need A New Name For My Fictional Railroad That I Will Model In HO Scale. The Original Name Was Georgia Central Railroad, But Upon Doing Research, I Discovered That The Georgia Central Is A Real Company, So Now I Need A New Name For The Company.
GCX RR
Alton Junction
TheP725Okay, I Need A New Name For My Fictional Railroad That I Will Model In HO Scale.
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My railroad is the STRATTON AND GILLETTE. This is a name that has many advantages.
1) It does not represent any specific area, there is a Gillette, Wyoming, but it is not all that well known. Names like WASHINGTON AND OREGON or NEBRASKA PACIFIC suggest a specific area. This is important if you ever want to change the location that you model.
2) It is just cities in the name, so it could be a tiny railroad like the ATLANTA AND SAVANNAH, or a huge railroad like the CHICAGO BURLINGTON AND QUINCY. Using city names does not dictate the size of the railroad.
3) It does not even sound completely American. Who knows, maybe someday the STRATTON AND GILLETTE could become an English Railway...
So my suggestion, just because it has worked for me, would be to use two made it city names. Be as generic as possible.
-Kevin
Living the dream.
Not sure that a long name equals a long railroad? I grew up along the Minneapolis, Northfield & Southern, a shortline that ran about 40 miles north to south around the western side of Minneapolis. They connected with Great Northern and Northern Pacific, two huge railroads.
Part of the charm of small railroads is they often had grandiose names. In the last half of the 1800's many railroads were chartered with "and Pacific" tacked onto the end of their names...even though they often never left the state were chartered in, if they ever got built at all.
One thing some folks have done is taken a real railroad that was merged or bought or just went belly-up years ago, and imagine what it would be like now. My "St.Paul Route" is based on two real railroads that coincidentally each were bought by larger railroads in 1900, so I have a foundation to build upon for a mid-late twentieth century line.
to the forum.
Not to be rude, but you can't come up with a fictional name? This is a hobby of imagination.
I don't know much about Georgia, Athens and Eastern, or one of the river names Conasauga RR, Chatahoochee RR
Henry
COB Potomac & Northern
Shenandoah Valley
A friend in Atlanta named his layout the Napanoch Lackawack and Kerhonkson Railroad. Which I thought was ridiculous. But as it turns out, those are actual towns and/or counties in upstate New York. Go figure. Has a nice ring to it . . .
Robert
LINK to SNSR Blog
A lot of it depends on what the concept of the railroad is. If its meant to be a shortline, then a couple towns or cities are always good. If you want to include the state of Georgia, then add a direction (Georgia North Eastern). If was intended to be something larger or the original builders had aspirations (whether or not they were realistic), Georgia and distant geographic name, Georgia and Pacific, Georgia and El Paso, Georgia and Colorado, Georgia and Atlantic.
I would not add the letter "X' after the name, because in railroad initials, the X indicates a private (non-railroad) owner, so its confusing to name the railroad a name that says its not a railroad. That's why the CSX has to initial its equipment "CSXT" because it can't use CSX since its a railroad.
Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com
ROBERT PETRICK A friend in Atlanta named his layout the Napanoch Lackawack and Kerhonkson Railroad. Which I thought was ridiculous. But as it turns out, those are actual towns and/or counties in upstate New York. Go figure. Has a nice ring to it . . . Robert
Rich
I had a layout that was a ficticious branch of the Reading Co. I combined the names of an actual branch that inspired me (The Cattasuaga and Fogelsville Branch) and the name of a large industrial area near me (Conshohocken) to come up with a new name, the the Cattahocken Branch.
Word of advice, never pick a name that sounds like your pet puking.
TARR
Trans America Rail Road
Go big or go home.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
dehusman I would not add the letter "X' after the name, because in railroad initials, the X indicates a private (non-railroad) owner, so its confusing to name the railroad a name that says its not a railroad. That's why the CSX has to initial its equipment "CSXT" because it can't use CSX since its a railroad.
The Parsley, Sage & Rosemary.
Shock Control The Parsley, Sage & Rosemary.
Fictional? How 'bout "The Orlon & Wah-Watusi"...
Tom
https://tstage9.wixsite.com/nyc-modeling
Time...It marches on...without ever turning around to see if anyone is even keeping in step.
richhotrain Shock Control The Parsley, Sage & Rosemary. But not Thyme?
But not Thyme?
If Georgia Central won't work, you could do Central Georgia & Eastern or other. The only thing I would suggest would be to resist cutesy names like Itsy Bitsy Lines, etc. because you will most likely grow tired of it quickly.
Jim (with a nod to Mies Van Der Rohe)
My railroad is named the "Atlantic Pacific Railroad" and named that way since I like the railroads on both side of the US... Now I can run any engines from those areas. Since I am east coast based, my railroad can lease engines from the UP, BNSF, KCS, and CSX!
up831The only thing I would suggest would be to resist cutesy names
Absolutely, cutesey names are a bad idea. So are naming the railroad after family members like the SHARONVILLE AND DAVIDTON.
The Georgia Gnat Line. Runs smack dab across the center of the state.
I seriously like railroad names with Native American names and names of rivers, lakes, canyons and ridges. The tribes that lived where railroads were built and the geography of the lands they crossed are part of their history and their heritage.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
TheP725 Okay, I Need A New Name For My Fictional Railroad That I Will Model In HO Scale. The Original Name Was Georgia Central Railroad, But Upon Doing Research, I Discovered That The Georgia Central Is A Real Company, So Now I Need A New Name For The Company.
You make it sound like a bad thing. But if you do fictional, you'll have to paint and decal a lot of models; but if that's your thing ...
Rio Grande. The Action Road - Focus 1977-1983
Heart of Georgia (with a heart replacing the 'O' in the acronym; I acknowledge some potential conflict with Arkansas Razorback fans...)
Or a peach perhaps: "It's a Peach of a Line"
First of all "welcome". How about Chattahoochee and Southern? If you have to paint your own locomotives, you can use C&S from Colorado and Southern railroad and RR or RW for railroad or railway decals which means you only have to put two sets of cut outs together, ie: C&SRR or C&SRY. Also if you wanted to use locomotives that were aquired from another railroad you could just sub letter your reporting marks under the cab road numbers like many start up railroads do. Since C&S was owned by Burlindton Northern, the small sub-lettering decals are already available as are lots of decals that have RR or RY. Makes it really simple.
Good luck and let us know what name you decide to go with.
Ralph
Overmod Heart of Georgia (with a heart replacing the 'O' in the acronym; I acknowledge some potential conflict with Arkansas Razorback fans...) Or a peach perhaps: "It's a Peach of a Line"
There is a real HOG. They're part of the G&W family now and instead of the G&W couplers logo, they have a hog that looks curiously like the Arkansas razorback.
Rats! It was too good not to be taken, I guess.
How about 'Georgia Midland' (with paint taken from the English Midland after the fashion Southern followed with the Ps-4s)...
Yea, well, years ago, I named my fictional shortline the Great Lakes Central. But in March, 2006, the Tuscola & Saginaw Bay RR., (TSBY) was bought by Federated Railways, Inc., and they changed the name to the Great Lakes Central!
Where is the justice!!
I still call mine the GLC.
Mike.
My You Tube
MisterBeasleyI seriously like railroad names with Native American names and names of rivers, lakes, canyons and ridges. The tribes that lived where railroads were built and the geography of the lands they crossed are part of their history and their heritage.
I have painted a few of those for ficticious railroads.
I like them too.
I live in Georgia and was having the same issue. All the good Georgia names for railroads are taken.
How about Chattahoochie Eastern. Would apply to most of the State, as long as the railroad was somewhere close to the Chattahoochie.
Theres a shortline in NW GA, Chattooga and Chickamauga. That's a dandy.
Courtesy of rrpictures archive:
- Douglas
Or if you're less serious, you could do a whimsical play on words, like that standing joke name about a law firm:
Dewey, Cheetum, & Howe
mbinsewiYea, well, years ago, I named my fictional shortline the Great Lakes Central. But in March, 2006, the Tuscola & Saginaw Bay RR., (TSBY) was bought by Federated Railways, Inc., and they changed the name to the Great Lakes Central! Where is the justice!! I still call mine the GLC. Mike.
If I'm not mistaken the Paducah and Louisville railroad which took over rail lines from the IC was someone's name for their model railroad. I believe the guy even offered the P&L his paint scheme if I remember correctly. So in that case that makes the model railroad the actual prototype.
MARTIN STATIONI believe the guy even offered the P&L his paint scheme if I remember correctly. So in that case that makes the model railroad the actual prototype.
An interesting detail is that the NYC 'lightning stripe' was preferred but the shop had none in stock. One was found ASAP but ... the board had already approved the original.
I suspect at this point the fake paint has survived longer than any other paint scheme applied to a Baldwin Shark!