Finding a name for your model railroad.

[Anonymous]

I've been tring for for the longest time. To decide what to name my model railroad? My roadname is IL.CENTRAL, the ERA 1970-80, location southern IL-Tenn. area. What would be good name for it?

[CSXrules4eva]

Good Luck trying to figure out a name for your railroad. I still haven't gotten a name down for mine and I've been working on mine for 5yrs. I model after CSX and Conrail mainly, but I do have some PRR going on.

[Anonymous]

How about after the states it connects, like "Maryland & Pennsylvania"; or the counties it runs through, like "Ulster & Delaware"; the single town it was built to serve, like "Emmitsburg Railroad"; or the big cities it was to reach, like "Philadelphia & Baltimore Central"; or the state it would engulf, like "Pennsylvania Railroad."[all these examples were real railroads]

Look at the area your imagined road serves and see what sounds BELIEVABLE! Please, no "Bent Wheel & Broken Spoke"...that SOUNDS like a model railroad.

Good luck!

[Junctionfan]

I got mine from land area. I operate around the Great Lakes and I go all the way to the Atlantic coast.

[Anonymous]

I model CSX so the name wasn't hard but I grappeled for along time over the subdivison name. How I foumd mine was actually the name on the side of a truck. So my advice is just look around at the name of things around you and you might find a name you like
Andrew

[Anonymous]

The Muddy Creek RR is my layout's third incarnation named after the town I grew up in. Actually, it was the original, unassuming and aptly descriptive name of the town I grew up in, having in the 1870's been changed to the totaly pretentious name of Pearl River.

Wayne

[ndbprr]

Your railroad name is going to reflect the image you want to project to the reader or customer. For example (from real life) if you wanted to serve a city you might name your railroad the "Milwaukee". If you wanted to project an image of your railroad you might name it "Milwaukee Road" and if you wanted to present a national image you might name it "Milwaukee Road and Pacific". Most railroad names have a significant area served like a city, state, region, etc. and a name to indicate length (Chiacgo, ROck Island and Pacific, Lake Superior and IShpeming, Atlantic Coast Line, Atcheson, Topeka and Santa Fe, Wisconsin Central, etc.)

[bluepuma]

My first design was Twin Rivers, had two rivers on it. Eliminated one and renamed it.

Have had designs, Bluejay Creek, Racoon Creek, and after a common sight, "Cocktails along Valley" - Valley Blvd was a main route with old highway.

Since it's set in the Los Angeles area in the San Gabriel Valley, where lots of vegetables and flowers were growing, and Gardena is on another part of the line,
and there is a Spani***radition, Los Jardines Pacifica or Pacific Gardens is the layout name, the railroads are still SP and ATSF.

In your RR area, there are major rivers to cross, Ohio, other distinctive things.

I might use Skunk and/or Buzzard in the name, or a town name, junction. Tazwell & Putnam Ridge.

[ndbprr]

Most real railroads use one or more of the following in names: states, cities, rivers, oceans, or some other geographic feature. So if you stay with those you will have a plausible name. John allan said he would never rename his railroad the Gorrre and Daphetid a second time. Cute names get tiresome after awhile. I model the PRR. Anything else I want gets labeled for the Allegheny Railroad. A plausible name that mirrors PRR practice and has an allegiance with the PRR but allows me to run SP GS4's since the ARR bought them second hand. Passenger diesels are Amtrak blue and Sp lettering gray, freight diesels are Pullman green and SP lettering gray and steam is grimy black. Works for me.

[jabrown1971]

Because mine doesn't go anywhere, I named it the Roundabout Shortline. Yours serves the Little Egypt area of Illinois and the triangle of Ky and Tn. I assume Cairo plays a part somewhere-How about Cairo, Little Egypt and Memphis.

[locomutt]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jabrown1971

Because mine doesn't go anywhere, I named it the Roundabout Shortline. Yours serves the Little Egypt area of Illinois and the triangle of Ky and Tn. I assume Cairo plays a part somewhere-How about Cairo, Little Egypt and Memphis.

"REELFOOT LAKE" might work; if that is close to the area you are modeling.
One of the names I have used; is : "Chimney Rock", mainly because it passes
an area of my house,where there used to be a fireplace.[:)]
After many,many years of thinking about names;I came up with:
"EAGLE RIDGE RAILWAY"

[DanRaitz]

Other option is to research the RR history of your area, and find out what RR's were proposed but never built or were built but quickly absorbed into other RR's. If you find a name that interests you use it.
I used this method for both my HO "Minnesota International Ry "and Sn3 "Nevada Midland Ry"

Dan

[IRONROOSTER]

If it's a small local railroad use local names like Alexandria and Orange. If you envision a major railroad you generally should use geoprahic names like Northern Pacific or combine a local name with some far away feature like the Baltimore and Ohio. That's what I did with my Virginia and Lake Erie. Of course there are always exceptions like the PRR and the AT&SF which greatly expanded beyond their name area. And the New York, Ontario and Western, which never did the Western part.
Enjoy
Paul

[tree68]

My Tug Hill & Northern is named after a local region, and obviously, points north.

Consider, too, that you can officially call your railroad one thing, and refer to it as something else (Soo, Nickle Plate).

I'll agree with staying away from the cutsie stuff, unless it can be made to sound classy, or has some profound meaning (ie, Gorre & Daphetid). Of course, if your significant other's name, and the dogs, sound like place names, you could use them (Susan River and Angus RR?)

And I'll second the idea of seeking out defunct RRs from the area. If you want to use IC (or other) locos, then you can rationalize that the RR leases from IC. Or you can dream up your own paint scheme, etc...

[Buckeye Riveter]

When I was young I rode the B&O from Baltimore to Cincinnati and then the NYC to Lafayette, Indiana.

My railroad's name: The Baltimore, Ohio and Wabash Railroad

If you know the geography you understand the logic.