Nicknames and Usernames, how did you come by your's?

[CNCharlie]

 Mine came from 2 sources, the first being that I model largely CNR and my second name is Charles and the second and perhaps most important is that my grandfather worked for CNR and his name was Charlie to all who knew him. I sort of remember him taking me to the very large shops CN maintained in Winnipeg when I was about 3 or 4. I found the engines, all steam, a little frightening but exciting nonetheless. Perhaps that was when I was bitten by the RR bug.

[retsignalmtr]

i worked as a signal maintainer for the NYC transit for 31 years. when i retired i changed from sigmtr to retsignalmtr.

[on30francisco]

I chose my screen name from On30 - the scale I was modeling at the time. The Francisco part came from my middle name and the city and county of San Francisco.

[njtaxland]

hi, i live in NJ the land of the taxed and the poor. so that is how i came up with my nickname

[Anonymous]

Well.......um..... I was trying to find something I could remember.

[TheK4Kid]

My  Dad and my Uncle both worked on the Pennsylvania Railroad years ago, my Uncle was a steam engine engineer during world war two, my dad came home from the Navy after WW2 and got a job as a brakeman.
My Uncle ran a lot of K4's and Many of them pulled the trains my Dad worked on, and my first HO steam engines were K4's, thus the name "TheK4Kid".
My avatar came from a picture I bought several years ago, of the legendary races between the Pennsy's "Broadway Limited" and the New York Central's "20th Century Limited" coming out of Inglewood Illinois, headed  east on parallel tracks, headed for Indiana.

The picture is named "Steel, Steam and Thunder"
Dad and my Uncle both said that the races betweeen these trains sometimes got above 100 miles per hour.
On occasion they both came out of the Inglewood area about the same time of day, and both railraods were very competitive for good PR, and the "occasional races" were good for this.

 

 

 

[Anonymous]

Mine is the license plate on my streetrod. It's very low, in fact it's  "in the weeds". Marty

[Arjay1969]

Well, "Arjay1969" comes from a username I've used forever, "Arjay", and my year of birth.  As for where "arjay" comes from, it's my first and middle initials, made into a word.

 

As for the Laughing Hippie, well....

 

See, back in 1999, a bunch of my friends got together and chartered the caboose on the Cumbres and Toltec.  One of them bought the cab ride, and was in the cab when the engineer spotted me climbing aboard with my long hair.  The engineer immediately asked "Did you see that G-D-M-F'in HIPPIE climbing on the caboose???"  Well, from that day forward, my nickname was "F'in Hippie", or just "Hippie".  Of course, most forums won't allow me to use the TRUE form of the nickname, so "Laughing Hippie" it is.

[luvadj]

I got mine from my radio station disc jockey days....boy were they fun at time and the people i met..:)

 

[rs2mike]

I love the alco rs-series locos 1-4/5 + I have probable 16 rs-2 right now in various stages of being done.

[claymore1977]

Claymore - My Family has its roots in Scotland and I am a big fan of Medieval weaponry.
1977 - First Apple Computer, First Star Wars debut and I was born ;)

[Phoebe Vet]

Guess!! 

How many guesses do we get?

[Eriediamond]

Guess!! 

[myred02]

  Brandon, post some pics of the 69. 

Here you go!

Would you believe that they actually trust me, a 17 year-old, with this beauty? Yep!

[Printer]

Printer that brings back some memories.  That same year I had a chopped 52 Harley.  Unfortunately it was also the bike I learned to ride on.  It had a hand shifter on the left side of the tank that I'm not sure whether it was original, or if it was somebody's idea of a sick joke.  It ruined me for bikes, and after I sold it, I've never been on one.  I do enjoy a well built bike, and yours looks sharp.

Thanx. My Scoot was a '48, first year for Panheads. I always ran a "jockey shift". just an arm welded to the top shift gate on the tranny and a foot clutch. When my third child was born, I realized that children were really time consuming and expensive so I parted with it suffering much sobbing and wailing as she was loaded on a trailer and faded out of sight.
damn I miss that bike. and those days of my youth.

Scoot

[travon]

Mine is in honor of my first Grandson who is five years old now, who loves trains. No. 2 grandson has his named honored on a large train site.

[Dustin]

No explanation needed!

[spidge]

Spidge=Southern Pacific in Dads Garage. I am the dad.

[Occams Razor]

My user name here comes from the Occam's Razor theory, which essentially when boiled down is, the most logical cause for something is the factual cause.  You see it used a lot in cryptozoology as a supporting argument.  I first came across the term when writing a school paper some years ago about sasquatch (the class was a Pacific Northwest history course), and they used it in the sense of so many people see SOMETHING over such a wide range, that there must be SOMETHING there.  I thought the theory (Occam's Razor, not sasquatch) made a lot of sense, so when it came time to register for a forum name here I thought why not?

[dragonriversteel]

 

  Mine is rather complicated.....or not so. You see my wife is an avid dragon collector,heck any kind ,color,shape or size for that matter. So while I was trying to think of a name for my steel mill....ding the light went off in my head.

 1. I get the wife into my hobby by naming my steel mill after her hobby. By the way this didn't work.

2. She gets into my hobby and doesn't nag me about all the money I spend on my hobby.This didn't work either.

3. I get a cool name for my steel mill and the wife still doesn't have anything to do with my hobby.

 So this is how I got my MR forum name. Dragon River Steel Corp......................

 

 Patrick

 Beaufort,SC

 DRSC

[PB&J RR]

As far as nicknames are concerned, I am named after my father and when I grew up we lived in the south- So everyone here now knows I spent my early years called junior, which implies that you're a smaller version of someone else. My father and I were nothing alike ... More on that story later...

 As far as my user name... ( One of my favorite subjects ) My railroad, The Penneburgh, Briarwood, and Jameson Railroad or the P.B. & J. This is simple and complex all at once which makes for a great story, and all railroaders real, imagined, or modeled should be good storytellers.

The P. B. & J. first these are classic letters, but my railroad should not be confused with the sandwich of the same name. My kids love this, and I think that the letters of the railroad on some of their clothes and the fact that I make it a family affair for them is one reason I am allowed to budget as much money to the railroad as I am. ... More on that too.

Penneburgh's five and dime was the store that soldtrains in our little town, owner's long deceased. Some of the kindest people you ever met. Briarwood is the stock from which some of the finest pipes are made, and I am James' Son.

I hope this cleares the smoke so to speak.

[CP5415]

CP5415

CP = Canadian Pacific

5415 = the # of the first locomotive I bought after getting back into the hobby which happens to be an Athearn CP Rail SD40-2

Gordon

[carknocker1]

I am a Carnocker   Supervisor so it only seemed proper . I am lucky ,I get to play withith Real trains by day and model trains by night . So I get the best of both worlds .

[Anonymous]

Printer that brings back some memories.  That same year I had a chopped 52 Harley.  Unfortunately it was also the bike I learned to ride on.  It had a hand shifter on the left side of the tank that I'm not sure whether it was original, or if it was somebody's idea of a sick joke.  It ruined me for bikes, and after I sold it, I've never been on one.  I do enjoy a well built bike, and yours looks sharp.

[Printer]

i've done the reason for my screen name but as for my nickname...
scooter...
these may help explain it.
from 1969, just before i was drafted.


from 1972, after getting out of the army.


so that's how i got called scooter.

scoot

[ArtOfRuin]

I use this screenname (sometimes with extra numbers) on all the other forums I frequent. I also use it as a screenname on the rare occasions I play online video games. It's a lyric from one of my favorite songs, "Ruin," by one of my favorite metal bands, Lamb of God.

[fireman216]

Easy..I'm a fireman....badge #216...

[Anonymous]

It's been almost a year since I've been here, so this looks likes as good of a place as any to reintroduce myself.  My handle is actually Otto Ray Sing which is a play off of a hobby I was into years ago.  I drove dirt track stock car in the 70's at Oskaloosa and Eldon speedways in Iowa.  At that time I lived in Oskaloosa.  I now live in Kodiak Alaska.  On some other forums there were changes in their operation which caused me to have to change my handle, and on them I'm known as Kodiak Island Modeler.

[ho modern modeler]

I was looking for something that would never go out of style...

[Loco]

Loco... LoL, well, I am!!!

With a slight obsessive - compulsive disorder tossed in for good measure.

(but it's all an act.... that way no one thinks twice when I get lost going to three different hobby shops in two different states, spend $100's of bucks, and then lock myself in the basment all week long - BWaahahahaaaaa)

 

[Hudson]

'tis easy!!!

 

[claycts]

Nice!!!  Do you feel like Schumaker sometimes when your out driving her?  I had the chance to drive a 308 GTS once, its something I will never forget. 

Not realy we did track the car once just to see what it coud due but that was realy not a good idea. I raced many years ago and know that you need the safety equipment to survive. The car does have a sort of roll cage as part of the frame so I pused it to 165 and had plentry to go. That was at Road Atlanta.

If I want a nice ride then we use this:

It is a 1978 Shadow II which we may be selling, I have 16 cars so need to get a few off the books.

Krysti, the wife, Bought this one:

Picture was taken as she was paying the person for the car.

Well, back to the trains. If you are car folks visit us

www.leatherique.com

 

 

[claycts]

George, nice Vette.  Of all the C3 Vettes I prefer the 80-82 body, it just looks sexy.  My wife and I are looking for a 78 Indy Pace Car, its something she has wanted for a long time.  Brandon, post some pics of the 69. 

Our other TOY:

And you think trains get expensive!!!

THe BOSS bought herself a 2003 50th Anniv. Vette. Flop Top Automatic.

Got to run!!

[myred02]

Nice American Mussel. Had A T/A  LONG time ago get this now for my Aerican car fix:

I am mostley Exotics. I need to get away from the trains and get my cars done, YEA RIGHT!!

Again, nice cars!!!!

That there is a right-purty 'Vette! (Redneck for "wow I think your corvette looks nice" lol) 

 You guys have classics, but I have "New Muscle" i guess you call it... However, my mom's first car was a 1969 Chevy Camaro with a 350. "LeMans Blue" with a black vinyl top. Yep, a BASE model with a 350! I guess the origional owner who bought it in Princeton, KY wanted a "sleeper" or something...

The best part is, she held on to it and it's sitting in our driveway right now! I'll have to show yall a picture sometime.

Thanks for the compliments!

-Brandon, playing Jimi Hendrix, CCR, Led Zeppelin, Rush and Aerosmith in my Camaro when all  the other high school kids are listening to "five cent" or whatever in their rice burners...

[Milwhiawatha]

1. I'm a  Milwaukee Road Fan

2. After seeing pictures, drawings and models of the Hiawatha it became my favorite Passanger train

 

MilwHiawatha

[claycts]

Nice American Mussel. Had A T/A  LONG time ago get this now for my Aerican car fix:

I am mostley Exotics. I need to get away from the trains and get my cars done, YEA RIGHT!!

Again, nice cars!!!!

[myred02]

Well, mine is a little different. I'm named after my car! You see, I have a red 2002 Chevrolet Camaro. It's mine, it's red, and it's "02" for short. I got my first screename on a car website, and I figured I'd keep it for other sites.

Here's a picture.

Pretty good for a 17 year old, eh? And hey, if you want to race me sometime, meet me on the Hopkinsville dragstrip, *ahem* I mean "Ft. Campbell Boulevard"  here in Kentucky.

-Ricola (otherwise known as Brandon, my inner circle just calls me that sometimes cause I look Sweedish with my blonde hair lol)

Hey me too.  Trans Am's back in the day use to have T/A 6.6 on their hood scoop.  I put a 462 cubic inch motor into mine and had decals made up that now say T/A 462.  Here is mine, I'll race you but I only race for money and I very seldom lose.  Not bad for a 42 year old eh?

Wow! Nice car! Another railfan buddy of mine got a red '78 Firebird 440 Big Block (not a T/A) over the summer, and he almost whipped me good with it. Luckily, My LS1-powered Camaro had quite a bit more giddy-up-go at the start and I got ahead early. By the time we got to the next stoplight (finishline for you non-racers out there) about a 1/2 mile down the road he had come from about 6 car-lengths back to a mere 1 1/2.

That being said, I don't want to race you because I think two F-bodies racing against each other is kinda wrong. Heck, I'll just come out with it. You would probably definately mop the asphalt with me!

** On another note, I do not condone nor encourage street racing of any variety.

Do as I say, not as I do, children...

-Brandon, eating rice burners alive every Friday and Saturday night in Hopkinsville, KY

 

[tomikawaTT]

Our "dream" home's back yard is like a "woodland garden". I love steam locomotives which "toot" so combining "woodland and toot" you get "Woodlandtoots".

And here all along I thought you were a whistle punk.

Before you take offense, be aware that "Whistle Punk" was the job title of the highly skilled logger who coordinated the operation of a high line crew by blowing the little steam whistle on the donkey engine.  If he didn't get it right, or if someone else wasn't paying attention, serious bodily injury or death could result.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[woodlandtoots]

Our "dream" home's back yard is like a "woodland garden". I love steam locomotives which "toot" so combining "woodland and toot" you get "Woodlandtoots".

 

 

[bogp40]

The B&O (Chessie) GP40 is my absolute favorite of any diesel- hence.....bogp40

[Anonymous]

Was listening to 50 cents G Unit so it was in my head and I decided Geep Unit was similar and hot!b  Of course Geep was GP units!

[atticn]

The attic is where my n scale trains are.

[CPRail modeler]

Modeling CPRail.

Switch it around and hence: CPRailModeler (some say CPRail for short and I'm fine with that)

 

CPRailmodeler

[NNeil]

I model N scale.

My name is Neil.

Neil

[canoncityxp]

For nearly forty years I've been drawn to the trackage from Pueblo, Co to Minturn. Twice in N and 4 times in HO, I attempted to recreate the days of heavy traffic in that corridor.  The last endeavor was to be a multi-level run from Pueblo connections up a nearly constant grade to a balloon staging at Tennessee Pass.  When I stumbled upon the logo of truckline CCX, finally a name for the corporation(s) was settled upon.  The freight handling entity is the Canon City Express,  the sightseeing equipment is managed by Canon City Experience, and the river float trip group that leases a Budd RDC and a gondola full of rafts is the Canon City Expedition...................thus my handle.

 recent developments will probably change the CCX to mean "Chopped, Consolidated & Expunged"

[GUB]

Simply stated Great Uncle Bruce. My neice started addressing emails to GUB when she had her first little one. For the longest time I did not catch on and then when I did I liked it. Now I use here.

GUB

[galaxy]

I was born Geoffrey Galaxy Louis Andrew Thorvald Kesser. (remember Star Jones, Solie Moon Frye, Daisy Rogers, and its Lou-ie not Lou-is, and its Keys-sir)  I could not pronounce "s" right while a child so it came out "keeper".

Not really. When I first got on AOL I was on my brother's computer. I didn't have one then. I adopted a pet name-number combo popular then. I also had screen names on two friends computers, with one digit changed. Anyone who knew me could tell whose house I was at by the name.

When I got my own computer I wanted a new name. Any name I tried that meant something to me was taken. I had been at it awhile, trying new names, when I looked at my watch. AH! ‘timekeeper"! TAKEN . SO I looked at the speakers for the computer. They said "Galaxy" on them. Tried it. TAKEN

AH!!!!  OH!!!! But combine the two....galaxytimekeeper was NOT taken and a new moniker was born. It also was easy to understand and for anyone to spell (unless they do not know how to spell "galaxy". BINGO!!!!!!!!

I have been asked  if I really do keep the time for the galaxy. I, indeed, always respond ‘of course I do'.

 

 

-g

galaxy

[Ted Marshall]

I was named after my dad, Albert Theodore Marshall. ever since I was a kid, my mom and dad called me "Teddy"; It stuck. When I joined this group, the thought of taking on an alias in the form of a username made me feel as if I was hiding my true identity. I'm proud of my name and I am happy to share who I really am with everyone. 

I use "Ted Marshall" as my username in several other places online also, such as UltimateBet.net and PartyPoker.net. In Yahoogroups where I'm a member of the Digitrax and FEC forums, I'm teddymarshall2003 and on ebay I'm therealtedmarshall. Apparently there's another Ted Marshall somewhere in California who beat me to it.

[colvinbackshop]

Well...

The user name was explained some time ago. But now, I see, we are looking at nicknames too and that is a different story all together!

At one point, I was "Redfox"; young, blond hair, red bread and foxy as a  fox!

I am now "Greyfox"; old, grayish blond hair, gray bread and foxy as a fox!

Remember....You are the one who asked!

[SD60M]

" border="0" />This pic is why i call myself SD60M, it was the best looking loco on the BN and my favorite!

[twhite]

No big secret--my first name is Tom and my last name is White.  Not the most adventurous tag on a forum, but at least I can remember it, LOL! 

Actually, I've never had a nickname until last year, and it's become "Doc" from my choir guys at Jesuit High School because I 'fix' things with their singing.  One of the priests thought it up, when he came in and listened to me working with the guys and said, "Listen to the Doc, gentlemen, he's 'fixing' you."  Now, if I only had a real Doctorate to go with the nickname, LOL!

Tom

[garyla]

not all that it implies, just my first name, middle initial, and last initial.

[choochoobuff]

ChooChoobuff was a couple of things.  I am a buff of the railroad industry, and last year I was in Chattanooga and saw the Chattanooga Choo Choo.

[ezielinski]

My username was inspired by my mom!  It's not very original (first initial, last name), but my ideas are.

As for my nickname, it's RocketMan, inspired by my previous "moth-balled" hobby of high-power rocketry.

[Hawks05]

My high schools mascot was the Blackhawks, but everything was shortened on uniforms, and due to potential lawsuits by Native American tribes we went by Hawks for most everything. I graduated in 2005.

I also have the nicknames of "Rev" and "Ching Chong". My buddies in baseball couldn't pronounce my lastname so they called me "Ching Chong". "Rev" came a few summers ago when I was playing amateur baseball. I didn't drink, don't smoke, don't chew so the guys said I was pure like a reverend. So they shortened that to just "Rev". Those are my nicknames and such.

[dinwitty]

I did the who's on first routine in High School, 1974, Abbott and Costello, but used their Naughty Ninties movie names, Sebastion Dinwitty (Costello) and Dextur Broadhurst (Abbott). I found PLATO, an interterminal system in 1977 and it had TALKOMATIC. Looking for a nick I used "dinwitty" honoring A&C. I stick with that nick everywhere. Internet came, so did I. History.

 

[medic_149]

Mine is my profession. I work for the ambulance service. and 149 is my call number.

[Jake1210]

Well, Jake came from my nickname, which is oviously a shortened version of "Jacob" and the 1210 is just a random sequence of numbers I came up with a while ago for use when a screename was taken. In this case, the username "Jake" was already taken, so I added my 1210 to make the name valid. So chances are, if you see a name with 1210 in it, it could be me, but not all of my names have it.

[hohon3]

As the only narrow gauger in an all HO modular group, I got a lot of questions on why some of my tracks were so close together and small.  Throw in a new truck (1:1 scale) and the desire for some customized plates . . . HOHOn3 came to be in a way to destinguish myself as the narrow gauger in the club.

And those plates were hard to get . . . It took several appeals with the State DMV licensing Board to get them approved.  Seems like they didn't like the reference to "HO" and they didn't understand the meaing behind "HOn3".  I finally got the plates when I explained to them that I'm a big white guy, driving a big white truck, who plays with trains, and there is nothing that could connect me or my truck to that kind of conclusion.  Although I must say, in several distance communities, the reactions to those plates have been great.

HOHOn3

Modeling the DK & Pacific Mountain Railway in HO and HOn3

   

[SqueakyWheels]

Mine kind of gives me away:

 

Grumpy old TROLL- ER I mean MAN!

[on30francisco]

I decided on mine because I modeled On30 and live in San Francisco, hence, On30francisco.

[SteamFreak]

I suppose it's self-explanatory, because I've always been nuts about steam locos. I'd seen plenty of trains as a young kid, but the bug didn't bite until I rode the Durango & Silverton at the age of six.

I came up with it 3 or 4 years ago when I was trying to sign up with Trains.com to read some of their articles, but all of my better choices were already taken. I wish I'd rethought it when I signed up for the forum, but I can't change iron horses in midstream now. I'll leave it up to all of you to decide if the 'freak' part fits.

[0-6-0]

Hello  my dads first train was a mdc 0-6-0 and he gave the same train to me and it was my first train. So I took the 0-6-0 for my user name.Thanks frank

[Walter Clot]

I ran this thread in the spring of 06.  I'm glad its back.  I found it interesting.  My name came from my name.  When I was signing up, I didn't realize I could use something else.  The last name is pronounced "Clo" which rhmes with "depot." 

[loathar]

Loather , Really ? I thought it was Loath her . Like in Loath her ex wife . You just never know.

That's hysterical!! I never thought of it that way! (that works too I guess!)

I spell it Loath A r

 

[ShadowNix]

Nix = nothing, so my name is the "shadow of nothing"... basically an ol' hacker handle I have had since the 80's...

Brian

[Anonymous]

I took my user name from a road that I pass rather often- Foul Rift
Rd. It's unusual and the more I thought about the more I liked it. It
is also the name of my under construction switching district.

There
is another  road with an unusual name but it is way too long to be
used-Shades of Death Road. No joke this name is for real. It is so
unusual that the street sign has been stolen more than a dozen times.
That event even made it to our local newspaper. Bob

[inch53]

Inch was a nickname I got in Boy Scout's, when a guy from another troop couldn't remember my name [Myles] and it stuck for a long time. The 53, the year I was hatched.

My CB handle is, pinball, hung on me because I use to bounce from one project to another.

[CAZEPHYR]

 

The California Zephyr inspired my User name.

 

I am not a cowboy, I just found the hat!!

 

Cheers

[Gandy Dancer]

Mrs. Beasley, by the way, was the name of the little girl's doll in some old sit-com that I didn't watch.

Yup, that is what I think of every time I see your name on a post.  That sitcom would be "Family Affair". 

[SOU Fan]

Now I question the wisdom of using this name, given the widespread hatred of CSX [which I was unaware of until ~6 months ago.]

I am still unaware, who hates it and why?  Is this like the 1800's Granger's hate of railroads?

I don't know why people hate it but here is the site.  csx-sucks.com  check out the top bar for some photos.

-Smoke

[Gandy Dancer]

Now I question the wisdom of using this name, given the widespread hatred of CSX [which I was unaware of until ~6 months ago.]

I am still unaware, who hates it and why?  Is this like the 1800's Granger's hate of railroads?

[claycts]

Mine was simple CLAYCTS was a business my wife and I had a long time ago. Clay County Technical Services.

[Anonymous]

Hello all,

I find it pretty cool how people's nicknames, etc. come about.  I find it most of the time that you, yourself don't come up with your nickname, etc.  For instance, mine.  LilBeckett.  I'm the youngest of three brothers, and the people that met my oldest brother would just call him Beckett, then the middle brother middle beckett, and then when they learned that there was another one, they just nicknamed me Little Beckett, but that has since be shortened to "Lil".  That's my .50 cents of the story (Have to adjust for inflation)

LilBeckett

[egmurphy]

Interesting stuff.  Thanks for posting.  While I know this has come up before, it's always interesting to hear some of these stories.

I joined the forum back when I was still working (pre-retirement) and was used to using my initials and last name in documents and emails.  Without really thinking about it I just automatically typed it in when registering.  I have a similar username on Yahoo groups related to trains, and Ed M on another RR site.

By the time I thought about choosing a catchy moniker, it seemed like too much trouble to reregister.

Regards

Ed Murphy (who really lacks enough imagination to come up with a catchy nickname....)

[loathar]

Loathar (of the Hill People) A Steve Martin character from the old Saturday Night Live. (re-done by Mike Meyers) He was the smart caveman that walked up right, possessed language and had opposable thumbs.

I always wondered if it was related to Lothar and the Hand People, a 60's band that most people have forgotten.  They never achieved much success, but some credit them with being the first band to tour using synthesizers and a weird electronic instrument called a Theramin, which was played by moving your hand around a central wire.  The electronics converted the changes in capacitance to audio tones.

Interesting. I've never heard of them. It's been my E-mail name for over 15 years. I spell it different so I don't have to add any #'s after it. Lothar is already taken on most ISP's.

[Virginian]

I am one, and rather proud of it.  And, my Great Grandad helped build the railroad of the same name, and my Grandad worked for the N&W.  I am glad I got to see, and even remember, some of the finest steam locomotives that ever were.

[yougottawanta]

Loather , Really ? I thought it was Loath her . Like in Loath her ex wife . You just never know.

[Hoople]

Hoople wasn't my idea. My grandad made it up for all somewhat "silly" and/or train enthusiasts. Of course he always called me that when I was younger... but in 2002 we found out he had lung cancer and he passed away in july of 04.

I decided to keep the name to remind me of him.

[whywaites]

I got my username by just adding "why" to my surname but my nick name in the RAF was Terry. I got this name from Terry Waite who was one of the Beiruit hostages back in the 1980's (along with John McCarthy and American hostages Terry Anderson and Tom Sutherland). I served 17 years with the RAF and some of the guys who I worked with didn't realise that Terry wasn't my real name until a few months before my discharge.

 

Shaun

[yougottawanta]

That is a riot , aloco , CCR "a-loco !a-loco ! I love it  ! 

[dr.bones]

well it's kinda work related,

I'm an Orthopaedic Surgeon south of the border.

[steamage]

"steamage" is short for Steam Age Equipment Company. A resource for older steam power plant equipment. So if you need a 70 ton Corliss stationary steam engine to generate a megawatt or two.

[CSX_road_slug]

  I thought your's was cool and did not know of the CSX hatred myself.

It's out there for sure - there's even a web site called "CSXsucks.com" or something like that.  Apparently many Western Maryland fans also hate it because one of its ancestor railroads, Chessie System, acquired and liquidated the WM.  (As a B&O fan I've never been too fond of 'Cheesie' myself actually...!)

[secondhandmodeler]

The equipment I started with came form my uncle when I was younger.  It sat in storage for eighteen years.  I had to try and make something out of second hand equipment.  I also kind of copied Spacemouse's old layout.  Once again, second hand.  Secondhandmodeler.

Moving forward,  I've ended up using only a few hoppers, and a few buildings.  The diesels and 50' boxcars are too new to have in my era.  I did end up using the brass sectional track, atlas flex track, and the old MRC power pack.  They work fine for me right now.

[Dave Vollmer]

Mine was the result of days of careful creative thought and diliberation...!

[MisterBeasley]

Loathar (of the Hill People) A Steve Martin character from the old Saturday Night Live. (re-done by Mike Meyers) He was the smart caveman that walked up right, possessed language and had opposable thumbs.

I always wondered if it was related to Lothar and the Hand People, a 60's band that most people have forgotten.  They never achieved much success, but some credit them with being the first band to tour using synthesizers and a weird electronic instrument called a Theramin, which was played by moving your hand around a central wire.  The electronics converted the changes in capacitance to audio tones.

[johncolley]

I love big broad curves and use my initials plus the radius of a one degree railroad curve in feet (5,729'). The radius of any railroad curve can be found by dividing it by the degree of curvature (i.e.: transit offset for a chord length (surveyor's chain) of 100 feet.)                                  jc5729 John Colley, Port townsend, WA

[loathar]

Loathar (of the Hill People) A Steve Martin character from the old Saturday Night Live. (re-done by Mike Meyers) He was the smart caveman that walked up right, possessed language and had opposable thumbs.

[gear-jammer]

Ours is pretty simple.  Truck drivers are sometimes called gearjammers.  My husband, Larry, is a truck driver.  Since I drive too, it was fitting.

Sue  

[Greg H.]

My first name and the first letter of my last

[Gryphon]

Now I question the wisdom of using this name, given the widespread hatred of CSX [which I was unaware of until ~6 months ago.]  It might be time for yet another name change... 

I thought your's was cool and did not know of the CSX hatred myself.

[Gryphon]

Gryphon, I like your signature with the prayer from the Red Green show!

Rick

 

Hey I thought other's besides myself would enjoy it. 

[GAPPLEG]

Mines the first and last part of my real name. Jeffrey Scott Reneau-Wimberly. My grandparents, being hardcore Native American (Cherokee) called me Running Bear.

My Jeff, we have connections, My grandmother is(or should I say was) full blood Cherokee, other sides had trickles. Had relatives over in Greenwood Miss.

Anyway my screen name is just my first intial , G , and the first 6 letters of my last name APPLEG .

Cherokee brave  Jerry   

[CSX_road_slug]

When I first joined this forum back in 2003, I simply strung my first + lastname together.  Then I read an article warning against divulging my full name on high-traffic internet locations because of security concerns, identity theft etc.  So I nuked the old account and rejoined under my current moniker, which I chose because I had just finished kitbashing an ex-GP35 road slug from an RPP shell.

Now I question the wisdom of using this name, given the widespread hatred of CSX [which I was unaware of until ~6 months ago.]  It might be time for yet another name change... 

[SilverSpike]

Piedsou is a short version of my freelanced model railroad, the Piedmont Southern.

You will be able to see the Piedmont Southern in Great Model Railroads 2008.

 

Dale Latham

Hey Dale, I like your nickname! Looking forward to seeing your layout in the GMR2008 issue.

Cheers,

Ryan

[SSW9389]

My username reflects several facts of my life. I like the Cotton Belt, tunnel motors, am patriotic and was born on the national holiday in July.  

[Piedsou]

Piedsou is a short version of my freelanced model railroad, the Piedmont Southern.

You will be able to see the Piedmont Southern in Great Model Railroads 2008.

 

Dale Latham

[jesrr]

 I just used the initials of my full name and added rr to it.

[IRONROOSTER]

From the book title "Riding the Iron Rooster" and I was active in the Episcopal Cursillo movement at the time which uses the rooster as one of it's symbols.  It's all caps because I don't see as well as I used to and hit the <caps lock> key instead of the <shift> key when I was typing it in.

Enjoy

Paul 

 

 

[SilverSpike]

I tried GoldenSpike first in honor of the famous ceremony at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory, but it was taken already so I tried SilverSpike next and it took!

Golden Spike National Historic Site

 

[RedGrey62]

Mine was inspired from the colors of my favorite RR, the Burlington Route, whose locos were painted Red and Grey.  The 62 is simply the year I was born.

Gryphon, I like your signature with the prayer from the Red Green show!

Rick

[Tracklayer]

I was in the middle of building my present layout, and was just beginning to lay the track when I climbed aboard the forum, so I called myself Tracklayer...

 

[cordon]

It's a combination of my wife's name and mine.  Rhymes with "Gordon."  If we ever go into business together we will call it Cordon Enterprises.  Or Cordon Model Railroads or Cordon Computers or, you get the idea.

 

 

[Pathfinder]

Mine is from the vehicle I drive, a Nissan Pathfinder.  It is my work truck.

On other forums, I am known as Trainman.  Hope I do not have to explain why here 

 

[Cederstrand]

"Cederstrand" was my mothers maiden name. Following her death, I changed my professional Wildlife Artist name from R.B.Scott to Cederstrand as a tribute. She was my early mentor, an inspiration and a fine portrait artist in her own right. I would like to think she is still represented today in the best of my work.

Rob

[aloco]

My user name was inspired by the Creedence Clearwater Revival song 'Porterville'.  In the chorus John Fogerty sings the words 'I don't care! I don't care!'  When I first heard the song I thought he was singing 'A-loco! A-loco!'.   And having trains on my mind at the time, well, the words couldn't have sounded like anything else.

[BATMAN]

Born in 1957 I have been Batman as long as that. My last name is quite similar to that cave dwelling hero. As soon as people hear my last name they start calling me Batman, even if they have just met me. I learned early in life to just accept the moniker. I use to love it in my single days when the girls would ask me to show them around my Batcave. My friends also say lets go watch the big game in the Batcave on the Batscreen and drink all of his Batbeer. I just wish there had been a Battrain and then I could run it on the layout when the Batfriends are over.

[pcarrell]

Mrs. Beasley, by the way, was the name of the little girl's doll in some old sit-com that I didn't watch. 

Family Affair......ahh yes, Mr. French, Buffy, and was it....Jody?

[larak]

The name of one of my first RPG characters. I first thought of it while looking in a mirror.

Karl (spelled backwards sounds like ...)

 

[selector]

In my latter military career, I was a Personnel Selection Officer (PSO).  The specialty was part of the wider work done by the branch of Military Psychologists, which included applied psych research, teaching, recruiting policy, departure programs (for those leaving/retiring), and selection*.  When I was considering joining the forum, I had learned a bit about DC ops and found that there is such a thing as a selector.  Personnel Selection, selector.  What are the odds?

*This process involved several facets of military psychology, but under the auspices of the greater Industrial/Organizational Psych.  We would do the research to validate selection tests, and then use them to predict success in primary or basic training, or for specialized employment, such as on submarines, for the Joint Task Force (special ops...the secret squirrels), Search and Rescue, and so on.  So, a person comes to me, with permission from his CO, and wants an occupation transfer.  He has served in the Combat Arms for a minimum of three years, and wants to be a transport driver, a Medical Assistant, a Search and Rescue Tech, whatever.  I was the selecting officer who would rate the person's candidacy in terms of potential, but mostly his chance of not wasting a training space and have him//her fail partway through only because of a lack of aptitude.  The other factors that might contribute to failure are not often foreseeable, so not measured.  Also, they are poor predictors of success anyway.  As is the MBTI, for those who know what that is.  And FWIW, the grad entrance exams in most cases are not strong predictors of success.

[UP2CSX]

I'm from California and my favorite railroad was the (old) UP. Left California a few years ago when my wife died. I was lucky enough to find the second love on my life here in Alabama. No UP down here but the CSX runs through town. Hence, UP to CSX.

[wm3798]

See the picture at the bottom of this post.

3798 was re-numbered by the henchmen at CSX in 1983, and as 6573 was the last locomotive on the CSX roster to still wear her original Western Maryland heraldry (except for the sloppy numbering....)  At a WMRHS convention, the good guys applied the new number in the proper WM script, and touched up the nose herald, as well.   I believe that's when the tag "The Last Western Maryland Diesel" was put on the battery boxes as well.  Anyway, a short time later, Chessie's goons patched out the original looking numbers again, and slapped their far less authentic version back on.  Anyhoo, 6573 - nee 3798 soldiered on into the 1990's, being retired without ever having to endure wearing the Cat Leisure Suit, or any CSX paint scheme.  She was sold to some shortline in the midwest, which gave her a thorough overhaul, and finally a fresh coat of their paint scheme.

I think of myself as something of a hold-out, so I chose to use this venerable number as my handle.

 

Lee 

[MisterBeasley]

When I was a Boy Scout, I achieved the lofty title of Junior Assistant Scoutmaster.  That entitled me to a name tag, which was first-initial-last-name: B. Leslie.  My train buddy, who had the nickname "fungus," did some scrambling and started calling me L. Beasley.  This name, acquired in middle school (The School Formerly Known as Junior High) has followed me until as many people know me as "Beasley" as do my real name, Bruce.  I've had this nickname for 45 years now.

Mrs. Beasley, by the way, was the name of the little girl's doll in some old sit-com that I didn't watch.  The most obscure Beasley was Mrs. Drysdale's chauffer on The Beverly Hillbillies.

[conrail92]

Conrail92 aka Conrailv92

Let's break them down.

Conrail-92

   Conrail: A railroad company I like.

   92: My favorite Number
 

Conrail-V-92 

   Conrail: A railroad company I like.

   V: My intitial of my last name. Also Favorite Letter. 

   92: Favorite Number.

[leighant]

My last name is Anthony, not a terribly unusual name, chances are there are other people who would use same name as part of username.  Not unique.  However, my middle name is "Leigh".  Sounds like "Lee" but less common spelling.  Vivian Leigh was popular star when I born...  SoI use leighant for a username not so likely to be duplicated.

[tomikawaTT]

My handle is actually the short form of the name of my original, freelance Japanese prototype model railroad.  The Tomikawa Tani Tetsudo (Tomikawa Valley Railway) dates from my birthday in 1960, and a gift of a Japanese prototype steam loco from the young lady who would become my wife later that year.  (I still have both the wife and the locomotive.)  The discovery of my favored prototype, railroad (Japan National Railways) and location (upper Kiso Valley) had to wait for a second dour of duty in Japan, as the date indicates.

Chuck (modeling Central Japan in September, 1964)

[railroadyoshi]

railroad...well, err...well, you see, I thought of the word "railroad" after many weeks at a covert underground lab deep in the White Mountains...

Yoshi, that's my alias. Back in the day (the day being a few years ago), I had an obsession for a puffy green video game dinosaur named Yoshi. 

[csmith9474]

I will give everybody one guess why many call me Smitty. The csmith9474 is just some generic garbage that I started with because I didn't plan on being on this board that much. Oh well.

 

 

[mathman47]

I use to use just "mathman", but I had a hard drive starting to go and had to set-up a lot of user names new.  Unfortunately, my son got there first and started calling me "mathman47," instead of just mathman.  I use mathman because I have a B.S. in math and a M.B.A in Quantitative Methods and Analysis, which used to be called Operations Research.  Needless to say, this requires a lot of math.  My university doesn't even off this major anymore!  The 47 comes from my year of birth, 1947.  Whenever I sign-up for something new, I usually find that mathman is already taken.  Guess people like the moniker.  P.S.:  I am a retired manager from EMD, and if you have to ask what EMD stands for, you have the wrong hobby!

[ouengr]

OUENGR 

OU = The University of Oklahoma

ENGR = Engineer

I graduated with a BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Oklahoma 

[tgindy]

The last name is Swiss heritage with thirteen letters, Gindlesperger, and I learned early-on that many high school scholars couldn't pronounce it correctly let alone spell a name including 1/3 of the alphabet.  So, it became Gindy.

There are two other ways we describe it...

1st, what is Gindlesperger spelled backwards?  Answer:  "Ridiculous."

2nd, when asked if the last name is German...  the answer is...  we heard our ancestors were Irish, and they were told by Customs to take off the O' because our last name was way too long. 

[myred02]

Well, mine is a little different. I'm named after my car! You see, I have a red 2002 Chevrolet Camaro. It's mine, it's red, and it's "02" for short. I got my first screename on a car website, and I figured I'd keep it for other sites.

Here's a picture.

Pretty good for a 17 year old, eh? And hey, if you want to race me sometime, meet me on the Hopkinsville dragstrip, *ahem* I mean "Ft. Campbell Boulevard"  here in Kentucky.

-Ricola (otherwise known as Brandon, my inner circle just calls me that sometimes cause I look Sweedish with my blonde hair lol)

 

 

[Printer]

I have to chuckle about this.
I guess I've explained this in another post but a Printer is what I am.

My born name is Scott and friends have called me Scooter for more than 35 years. Scooter was already in use here. We have a Scott running around here somewhere too, but I really don't care for using that name. I was 22 years old before I ran into anyone else with the name of Scott. I hated it. When a teacher would walk into the class room and call SCOTT, I knew it was me. We had 25 BOB's but only one Scott.

So to sign this with a name...
Scooter (Scoot)

[Gandy Dancer]

This thread runs quite often.   I can't find a screen name I like.  I keep trying different things at every opportunity but no luck yet.  All my D&D character names don't seem appropriate.  Maybe it is because I like my real name so well and can't use that.  Someday Gandy Dancer will give way to something way cool.  Maybe it will take a game or two of Railyard Wars to find a good name to use.

http://www.trains.com/trccs/forums/689176/ShowPost.aspx

[WCfan]

I came up with my name beacuse I model, and rail fan the Wisconsin Central (WC). But don't be fooled by the name, I also like Soo Line.

[Anonymous]

First is Fred last starts with a K.  Go by FredK almost everywhere except Altas somehow that got messed up years ago when the first computer blew up.

[Darth Santa Fe]

I get my name from a combonation of one of my favorite Star Wars characters (Darth Vader), and the railroad that made one of my favorite paint schemes for diesels (Santa Fe). A lot of times it gets shortened to "Darth" or "DSF," I guess mostly because it's so long, so the shortened names would be easier to type.

[howmus]

howmus, came out of my business: Howard's Music Services.  Couldn't think of anything catchy so I just used that.

[pcarrell]

It kinda started with my parents.

They named me Philip Carrell, and I shortened it to pcarrell.

Pretty unbelievable story, huh?

[Robby P.]

Mine is not that hard to figure out.  First name is Robby last name Putnam.  Now, my yahoo name for messanger and email is rich handsome.  HAHAHAHAHAHa.

Jeff, I use to live like 2 hours from the Cherokee in NC.  I went there alot as a kid and took my wife a few times before we moved to Pa.  Great people and VERY nice.  You have some good blood in you.  They say if you can prove you are cherokee, they will give you some land up there.

[Anonymous]

Always blowing off steam or hot air, your choice. Ive been told constantly to watch that temper when I was younger. Now I feel too old to care. =) But if you didnt hear it from me, I doubt anyone would.

[ChessieFan13]

welll lets see...................my home town is Huntington wv so there is csx main line that was chessie system b4 that it was thc c&o i model thoes 3 roads.

 

!13 well that is my lucky number!

[MOJAX]

Mine came about as a shortcut of sorts. MO are my initials and the JAX is the designation for my home airport. After I quit flying the name just sort of stuck and my pilot buddies still call me by MOJAX.

[jeffrey-wimberly]

Mines the first and last part of my real name. Jeffrey Scott Reneau-Wimberly. My grandparents, being hardcore Native American (Cherokee) called me Running Bear.

[Fortkentdad]

My children went to college and we discovered it was fun to chat on line via MSN, so I needed to create a Hotmail Account and an on-line name,  since I figured my only use would be communicating with my children at college.  I was Dad, and I live in the tiny hamlet of Fort Kent, hence I became Fort Kent Dad, fortkentdad.  I discovered the on line model railway community and often found my name abbreviated to FKD and it has stuck, and works for me just fine. 

 

FKD  aka Fort Kent Dad, aka David

[jalajoie]

My first name is Jacques, middle name is Wilbrod and last name Lajoie

It is the combination of the first two letters of JAcques and LAJOIE thus jalajoie and I sign

Jack W. 

[SOU Fan]

I'm a big fan of NASCAR, and Tony Stewart is my favorite driver. He has the nickname "Smoke".   He also has his wn barbeque sauce named "Smoke"

-Smoke