Who operates their own roadname?

[SpaceMouse]

I've been thinking about this for a while. Who for whatever reason, has developed their own small, regional or multinational railroad? It makes sense if what you want to do is either not available, never happened, or you just wanted to own you own railroad.

I suspect that there are not that many, so if you know of somebody who knows somebody, I'd still like to hear about it.

[Supermicha]

I have my own Columbia Southern Railroad, a small Class 2 Railroad with freight and regional passenger service in Virginia.
Link is below...

[rogerhensley]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SpaceMouse
I suspect that there are not that many, so if you know of somebody who knows somebody, I'd still like to hear about it.

I suspect that you are very wrong in that. There are probably as many Freelanced RRs as those based specifically on a prototype, maybe far more. This topic has been covered before in this and the Layout Forum. You can see my ECI HO Scale RR at: http://cid.railfan.net/eci_new.html

[Fergmiester]

Aye!

Though Regional in scope I am making inroads as far as Texas and the Appalachians and have sights set for Foriegn shores.

Fergie

[Anonymous]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SpaceMouse

I've been thinking about this for a while. Who for whatever reason, has developed their own small, regional or multinational railroad? It makes sense if what you want to do is either not available, never happened, or you just wanted to own you own railroad.

I suspect that there are not that many, so if you know of somebody who knows somebody, I'd still like to hear about it.

I think you'd probably be surprised at how many people do operate their own freelanced railroad. I think freelancing is a great way to go because you can be creative with type of operations, motive power, paint schemes, etc.

I have my own freelanced shortline railroad - the Delaware River & Western, which is currently undergoing construction in the guest room.

Kevin

[tcf511]

My layout will be freelanced based very loosely upon prototype. That way I can run equipment of the two RRs that operated in my modeled area for things like passenger trains. Having my own gives me the luxury of not having people point out that "the N&W didn't use those signals" or whatever. As I got started everyone would remind me that "it is your railroad do what you want" that goes even more so if you made it up. Mine is the Manassas Gap and Front Royal Railroad based loosely upon the Front Royal, VA area in the mid-1950s. I know other people who are freelancing as well.

[cheese3]

i operate a small freelanced HO railroad under the name A.T.lines

[Catt]

My Grande Valley runs from Elkhart,Ind. all the way to Petosky,Mich.It also veers east at Grand Rapids,Mich.and runs to Port Huron/Sarnia where it interchanges with two Canadian railroads and another US one based in Ohio.

All of these railroads are freelanced and are modeled in N scale.I also connect with another road in Elkhart that runs up to Chicago.This railroad interchanges with another road that is based in Wisconsin.Yup these roads are freelanced too.

Personaly I think there are at least as many freelancers as there are prototype modelers.

[SpaceMouse]

Dang! And I thought I was having a semi-original idea. So now I have to come up with a logo and money for a printer that will do decals. Then I have to get an airbrush and study paint schemes.

Oh, what have I done. What have I done.

At least I can stick to PRR at the club.

[ndbprr]

My Allegheny Railroad (ARR) allows me to run non PRR prototype equipment. The Arr is slightly behind the time buying used steam and diesels as well as Vgn and NH electrics. IT has trackage rights on my PRR cooridor being owned in part by the PRR and following PRR pratices. It even has the ARR in a keystone just like its big brother. A fictional line that basically runs from the coalfields in West Virginia northeast to Stroudburg PA. The passenger trains take advantage of the PRR main while freight is rare but does happen when maintenance or wrecks close the ARR.

[Cox 47]

My railroad is the Illinois and Southern runing the old I.C. from Mattoon to Evansville.I had a lot of stuff in I&S on my HO version but a move to an apartment and N scale has me using mostly "2nd hand units" from other roads mostly "fallen flags" but I hope to get some relettered one of there days. Right now I'm using a x rock island GP 18 and a NYC caboose Witth a x S.F. 060 for railfan trips. Cox 47

[Anonymous]

I operate a small, private name, industrail railroad located somewhere in the anthracite (hard coal) mountains of eastern Pennsylvania. It serves an industrial complex that forges and machines large axles, crankshafts, and the like. It also serves a small mining area that supplies fuel for the forge, nearby power generating plants, and some for shipping out of the area.

I've built up my fleet of undecorated 1st generation diesels and a couple of old 2nd generation units, and I'm painting them now as I have time. A simple tiger orange and black is the color scheme, with stripes on each end of the engines.

I have enough equipment to justify an order to a decal maker like Railgraphics. I'm making the difficult decision now on the name of the railroad ...... something with my last name and forge and/or machine and/or mine and/or industrial and/or etc etc etc. I'm thinking of a herald with a tiger paw, something like Clemson University's, or something like that.

The railroad interchanges with Conrail and CP.

[Isambard]

QUOTE: Originally posted by SpaceMouse

Dang! And I thought I was having a semi-original idea. So now I have to come up with a logo and money for a printer that will do decals. Then I have to get an airbrush and study paint schemes.

Oh, what have I done. What have I done.

At least I can stick to PRR at the club.

A note of caution-when thinking about a name for your RR, consider what will be involved in applying the name to your loco's and railway cars i.e. length of name, logo if any, letters required, font size, space available etc., individual letter decal'ing vs custom decals, dry transfers vs wet decals etc.
I've found that decal'ing "Grizzly Northern" on loco tenders by individual letter wet decals takes a lot of patience and time, and eats up a lot of decal sheets - only two zz's to a sheet for a given size! I've settled for "GNR" on the GNR's freight cars - much easier, and cheaper.
But it's worth it-developing your own RR name and applying it to equipment is part of the fun for you and visitors! Writing a scenario and a history for your RR can also be a fun part of MR'ing.
__________________

[eastcoast]

I oversee the EAST COAST RAILWAYS.
A class 2 system that competes with
CSX ,NS, FECR, and AMTRAK along
the eastern U>S coastline.
By doing this, I have great flexibility in
a freelanced setting. It is also easier to
describe to family/friends who wi***o
purchase gifts or contribute to the railroad.

[TurboOne]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Isambard

QUOTE: Originally posted by SpaceMouse

Dang! And I thought I was having a semi-original idea. So now I have to come up with a logo and money for a printer that will do decals. Then I have to get an airbrush and study paint schemes.

Oh, what have I done. What have I done.

At least I can stick to PRR at the club.

A note of caution-when thinking about a name for your RR, consider what will be involved in applying the name to your loco's and railway cars i.e. length of name, logo if any, letters required, font size, space available etc., individual letter decal'ing vs custom decals, dry transfers vs wet decals etc.
I've found that decal'ing "Grizzly Northern" on loco tenders by individual letter wet decals takes a lot of patience and time, and eats up a lot of decal sheets - only two zz's to a sheet for a given size! I've settled for "GNR" on the GNR's freight cars - much easier, and cheaper.
But it's worth it-developing your own RR name and applying it to equipment is part of the fun for you and visitors! Writing a scenario and a history for your RR can also be a fun part of MR'ing.
__________________

What are you using to print your decals. Are they white background, or clear background. I am hoping that I can use my HP photosmart 7960 printer to make my own decals. Then I can launch the tk7kt rr.

Tim

[Anonymous]

Falls Valley. A Fictional Railroad that is based near Baltimore and permits me to run WM, PRR, B&O and other equitment. A feature of the railroad is that I try to take trains to other people's layouts and operate them as traffic to and from interchanges.

The actual railroad is only 2x8 plus a work bench but you gotta start somewhere! =)

Railroad Names are based on these types of conventions:

1- One location to another "Toytown to Whistlestop Railroad"

2- One location to a direction of service... "Steamville and western Railroad"

3- Geographical area to geographical area "The muddy river and Pacific Railroad"

Thinking of a name can be anything you want it to be. It's your railroad.

[TheJoat]

I operate a narrow gauge line: The Jackson and Burke Railroad . It operates in the Carolina's.

I use the ET&WNC as my inspiration, but basically do my own thing.

[darkstar974]

I operated the pittsburgh & slippery rock railroad in my dining room in Pittsburgh . Now seeing that I have moved to Youngstown, Ohio I am thinking of a new name for my freelanced railroad that i'm going to start building the new name i have chosen is the Pittsburgh,Beaver & Youngstown.

[Anonymous]

I run a freelanced railroad based in the fictional town of Deere Valley, CA. Here is a short "history" of the road.

Deere Valley & Western, without motive power or rolling stock of its own enters lease and trackage rights agreements with ATSF, SP, WP and UP after purchasing some little used and abandoned right-of-ways in California with financial backing of the John Deere Company. John Deere uses its own motive power and rolling stock on the DV&W tracks and is a financial contributor in construction and rehabilitation of the rail lines. The line serves the agricultural areas of California from Sacramento to Los Angeles and sees a tremendous variety of freight and passenger equipment on its trackage. The ficticious town of Deere Valley is located in the rural outskirts of Stockton, CA.

Construction is underway for a new John Deere parts distribution and warehouse center in Deere Valley.

The era is 1959/1960. A variety of soon to be retired steam and 1st generation diesels are common sights including the occasional UP Big Boy which is routed from Wyoming for special fast heavy produce freights to the East. A couple of times a Big Boy was even seen hauling a passenger consist when the diesel power broke down and no other engines were available to continue the run.

Photos of the current 4x8 (scheduled for demolition and replacement this spring) can be seen at Webshots. Just click on the link in my signature.

I am planning on doing a repaint on some of my locos to the DV&W scheme, (similiar to JD) and will likely print my own decal sets. If they turn out good, I will start getting some undecorated rolling stock and go from there.

[chutton01]

Originally (decades ago), I had an expansive concept of a fictional railroad based I guess on the inital planned Erie Lackwanana competition to ConRail (which, of course, in the real world never came to pass)

However, eventually I sobered up, realized I like short lines and industrial switching, and so created a modern era shortline (Philadelphia Delaware Terminal) which services (real-life) branches and spurs in the Philadelphia and Bucks County environs which ConRail dropped the ball on (since ConRail never played with a mitt, it dropped the ball on a lot of lines). Indeed, this has lead to my current delusional belief that Class I railroads should be prohibited from local and terminal switching and transfers, just deliver long trains to terminal yards and let the Class II/IIIs and other shortlines/beltlines do the real work...
Back to the real world, I used the line drawings at the RailRoad Paint Shop (http://paintshop.railfan.net/home.html) to design the paint and lettering schemes.

[Anonymous]

I pilot the mythical, but vaguely prototypical, Coos Bay & Western as a shortline and interchange in coastal Oregon. Mainly because I grew up in Corvallis and love the area, but also because it lets me run SP, UP, GN, NP, (time is nonlinear around the layout...) and a bunch of logging roads. Of course, I'm mainly an SP nut, so I don'd have a lot of the 'other' stuff (the CB&W only has 2 locos and 4 pieces of rolling stock), but when I get a chnace to have a real layout space, you can bet it'll be fully equipped. The CB&W side of things will grow more slowly, and has been the home for my oddball kits and kitbashing efforts since I was 10 years old. Short lines need to be a little quirky right? This one is special, because in addition to the quirky (S-12, 2-truck shay), they get rental/purchased power from far away (ex-NYC CB&W K-11, ex-SP Sierra Central MT-3), and get to see some cool trains run through (AC-9 on a coal freight), because in my little world, the Modoc connected (via my little short line) to the same tracks that held the Coastal Daylight. The joy of proto-lancing [;)]

At some point I'll graduate from stock lettering sheets to custom decals, an pretend that the CB&W did the same as they grew and had money for a real herald to showcase their expanded motve power and cargo capabilities. I'm also planning on showing that transition in the structures around the engine yeard, whick..well..once I build that layout....

-dave

[Anonymous]

Chip,
A freelance layout is kinda like a cowboy alias. You pick what you want it to do, choose a name for it, then invent its history. While I haven't freelanced my own railroad, I've considered a fantasy layout of the UP in which there is a shortage of available modern diesel powered locomotives, so for the sake of handling the rapid increase in rail traffic, many of the old steam and early diesel locomotives from UP and its fallen flags are restored and put back in service. This would allow me to model anything I wish in the western US featuring many different roads that are now extinct. Since I live in Kern County, CA, Tehachapi is very close to me. This section of track is jointly operated by both UP and BNSF now, so would allow me to operate the fallen flags from either of these railroads, which is pretty much anything that has ever run in the western US.

The reality is that I like almost anything railroad related, from early steam on up to modern diesel, so if the fantasy allows me to operate what I like, then that's what becomes reality on my layout. Now I've just got to get that layout built...

-Joe

[Anonymous]

Another freelance here, the TRV Railways. That's "Turk's Recreational Vehicle Railways".
It's On30, built in a 31' RV and depicts a fictional railroad from southern Okla/Northern Texas to Southern Texas coast oilfield railway. It's primary function is to haul crude from Okla/N. Texas to a small port on the Texas coast. There is some coal mining and logging in south Okla. The oil boom towns were supplied with supplies and equipment by the railroad. Limited passenger service, mostly oil workers and their families allows me to run a passenger train once in awhile too. It's branchline set in the 30's to the 50's.

[Anonymous]

Well my main goal of this hobby is to have a railroad that I can call my own. It might not start out that way, but I hope to eventually get to a point where I can do that. But first, I think I'll concentrate more on how to run a railroad, building a layout, working on scenery and other basics. After all thats what is important. I will most likly freelance the layout from the beginning. That, Im certain off.

Steve

[Anonymous]

My Allegheny, Mercer, and Lake Erie runs (would run) from Pittsburgh north through Butler, Grove City, Greenville, and up to Erie. Entirely contained within the state of Pennsylvania.

[GDRMCo]

all the members in the CPFreeMoGroup do

[jhoff310]

I operate the Toledo Central RR. I adopted the name from a "wannabe tourist line" that I volunteered for. The tourist line went belly up, I bought some of the remaining souveniors ( water bottles, magnets, etc...) and decided to use the name on my layout. I have a completely different logo than the original.
Website is under construction.
Jeff

[howmus]

The Seneca Lake, Ontario, & Western (SLOW) is a fictional railroad based on the New York, Ontario & Western in name only. It lives up to its name as it has been in construction for 25 years and isn't showing any signs of being close to finished yet. It is located in the heart of the Finger Lakes Region of New York and connects with the NYC and the Northern Central Branch of the Pennsylvania RR both of which came into Canandaigua, NY where I was born. Ultimately there will be freelanced models of the Lisk Plant in Canandaigua as well as many of the mills found on the old Penn Yan and New York RR that went from Dresden, NY to Penn Yan, NY (nicknamed the Corkscrew RR by the NYC which absorbed this shortline). It hauls coal from PA and the little mine that will be built sometime or other as well as paper from mills in the area and enamalware from the Lisk plant. It, of course, will have to bring supplies to each of the industries as well.

The time period is post WW1, the USRA period. By having it interchange with two "real" railroads, I can "prototypically" include steam locos and passenger trains from the PRR and the NYC.

[Anonymous]

I'm operating the Washington Central.

[canazar]

I am working one up myself. JBX Railroad... Stands for John,:me, Brandy: the finacee, Xander: her son, my new one (what we call him, short for alexander)

The JBX is located here in Arizona and based on current time.

Here is a bit histroy (all made up of course )

The JBX was created to serve those that lost rail service after Santa Fe and Sourthern Pacific were no longer to provide after the mergers. Maintence and division of power for the routes was deemed as "MPM's" , Minimal Profit Margines, and cut from the new owners plans.

Also, with Union Pacific over worked and overloaded and with BNSF planning to avoid the problems that overcame UP, they began looking for other carriers in the region to help with occasional overflow.. JBX was created by Owner Operator John Kanicsar along with cheif investor Brandy Lynn and Xander to fill that void. JBX also went to the area industries to see if they would be interested in returning to rail service. With desiel fuel costs climbing, the trucking fleet, which many turned too after loseing rail service, jumped at the chance.

With work garaunteed, and steady local routes in contract, JBX began business in March of 2003. The company is operating on old SP and SF lines that run through out the state. JBX has plans to purchase their own power soon and run new flag and colors of JBX. At the moment, they are local power from the UP and BNSF in lease arrangements and lease/purchase plans. Part of payment also comes from allowing UP and BNSF to operate therr own overflow traffic and use potential storage provided by JBX's lines and sidings.



And there ya have it. I suppose more of the detial will come ot me when its late and I am down stairs working on the RR... Almost have the paint scheme figured out. I have a GP-40 on order that I will plan on painting for the JBX.

Happy thoughts. [:D][:D][:D]

Best Regards
John Kanicsar