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Name For Fictional Railroad

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  • Member since
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  • From: Dearborn Station
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Posted by richhotrain on Monday, November 30, 2020 5:15 PM

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. 

Well, that's a bummer. How about GCXT then?

Rich

Alton Junction

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Posted by BATMAN on Monday, November 30, 2020 5:07 PM

TARR

Trans America Rail Road

Go big or go home.Smile, Wink & Grin

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 dehusman on Monday, November 30, 2020 5:03 PM

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.

Dave H. Painted side goes up. My website : wnbranch.com

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Posted by richhotrain on Monday, November 30, 2020 5:00 PM

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  

LOL, that it does, Robert.   Yes

Rich

Alton Junction

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Posted by dehusman on Monday, November 30, 2020 5:00 PM

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

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Posted by ROBERT PETRICK on Monday, November 30, 2020 4:52 PM

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


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Posted by BigDaddy on Monday, November 30, 2020 4:47 PM

Welcome 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

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Posted by wjstix on Monday, November 30, 2020 4:29 PM

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.

Stix
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Posted by SeeYou190 on Monday, November 30, 2020 4:17 PM

TheP725
Okay, I Need A New Name For My Fictional Railroad That I Will Model In HO Scale.

Welcome To the Model Railroader forums. Your first few posts will be delayed by the moderators, but this ends pretty soon. Please stick around and join in the conversation.

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.

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Posted by richhotrain on Monday, November 30, 2020 4:00 PM

GCX RR

Alton Junction

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Name For Fictional Railroad
Posted by TheP725 on Monday, November 30, 2020 9:51 AM

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. 

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