Individualized Train Crews

[METRO]

This year I've started a new tradition on my layout. As I've gotten more regular operators and they all choose their favourite trains to run, my operators have begun to refer to the locomotives they run as their train.

This gave me an idea, I told my operators that since they had their engines they should think about who their crew was. I thought it would be more of an immersive setting if they created characters for who ran their trains. The result was, really amazing.

Maybe it was because most of my operators are visual art and creative writing college students, but my friends jumped into it head first. In the next few days most of them wanted the stock figures replaced with ones they had bought and painted, Probably the most beautiful of these was done by a friend of mine who is a metalurgical arts major, she made a custom brass casting of herself and had another friend of mine paint it with a two-hair brush. Just incredible, although I do feel bad that the locomotive looks less detailed than the figure.

The other change came in running, the operators began to run their trains as they think their crews really would. Older train crews would use more experienced and smooth moves while the crews with younger people would be rougher, and make mistakes that were quite prototypical (such as an engine crew overshooting a platform and such)

My friends really love the new depth that this has brought, and I was wondering if anyone else has tried anything along the same levels?

~METRO

[MisterBeasley]

I was thinking of making up a "phone book" of my layout's citizens. Mostly, it would be an excuse to come up with funny names, like Lulu Lionel or Mike Trainhouse (which I would paint on a tombstone if I had a graveyard.) If I ran out of names, I'd start using people from Model Railroader forums...

[davekelly]

Mister Beasley,

Given our earlier discussion, perhaps a few attorneys in a pauper's grave? Or perhaps, more accurate to your situation, a certain contractor? [:)][(-D]

[cwclark]

if you want prototype then most train crews in days of old were made up of 5 to 7 individuals..there used to be one engineer, one fireman, two brakemen, a conductor, and a real long time ago, two flagmen....now-a-days it's down to one engineer, and one or two brakemen that also take on the roll as the conductor...Chuck