What to call a freelance railroad?

[Chris333]

I'm starting with some Nn3 narrow gauge stuff and I want to go freelance. I'd like it to be eastern and have other railroads like the Ohio River & Western and the Waynesburg & Washington in mind (both were owned and ran by the PRR) I don't want to call it either of those since I won't be building their equipment. I thought of the cheesy "Ohio River & Eastern", but I don't know.

There was a NG line that ran right behind me called the Painsville & Youngstown. I thought about naming the railroad after local towns to me, but it was heavily industrialized around here early on and I want a little backwoods affair.

I plan to model oil headlights so around 1910-20.

Any ideas for names?

[SquirrelHollow]

Quail Hollow & Madison ?

[central.vermont]

Hoosac Tunnel and Wilmington or more
apply named the Hoot Toot and Whistle!!! ;D

Jon

[asciibaron]

Wheeling and Western
Weirton, Wellsburg, and Wheeling
Weirton, Wheeling and Western
Wheeling, Cambridge and Pacific

the multiple W's could be made to look like mountains for the logo?

if you want to go into PA...

Washington and Cross Creek
Washington and Ohio River Western
Beaver and Ohio
Big Beaver and Western
Pittsburgh and Sun Valley
Alleghany and Ohio River Western
Kings Creek and Western
Hanover and Kings Creek
Raccoon Creek Railway
North Fork and Ohio River

and then the uber lofty

Weirton, Columbus, and St. Loius
Beaver, Columbus, Cincinnati, and San Franciso
Pittsburgh, Youngstown, and Cleveland
Youngstown, Toledo, and Chicago

you get the drift... but i'm leaning toward Big Beaver and Western myself..

-steve

[wm3798]

The Maryland and Pennsylvania started out as a tapeworm of narrow gauges, including the likes of the Baltimore and Lehigh, the Maryland and Delta, and the Peach Bottom Railroad.   Others in this region included the Emmitsburg Railroad (fondly known as the Dinky), the Bachmann Valley Railroad.

Obviously some geographical reference would be appropriate, typical the primary town on the railroad, and some body of water it hoped to reach one day.  Others would be just the name of the town or the valley or the ridge or whatever.

My own freelance is the Laurel Valley
Lee

[Wlal13again]

Mine is named after 2 main points on the line. Philadelphia and Easton. Fictional regional in the eastern part of Pennsylvania.

[up1950s]

My Wyoming & La Grande is a State and a City , but anything that turns you on is correct . There are many ways to geographically define a railroad by its name .

State
City
River
County
Compass direction , or "Nationwide"
Function like " Connecting , Logging , Mining , etc "
Mountain or lake name

You have to suffer through this yourself . The name has to satisfy you , the reporting marks has to satisfy you . Do you want to be able to use existing decals for the name or reporting marks is another thing you need to suffer through . Nothing is perfect , but " oh , ain't that cute " is better avoided .

[3rdrail]

A large and fairly well known 3 foot gauge line in your area was the Conotton Valley, which was shortened to "ConottoN" on rolling stock and tenders. Believe the line eventually went to the B&O or NKP, being standard gauged before 1900.

[David Leonard]

Chris, I've been toying with the same idea, only I'm looking at SW Pennsylvania. Here's a resource I've found helpful: http://historical.maptech.com/  You can find old topographical maps on this site, and there might be something in Columbiana County e.g. that might inspire you. Names of rivers and small towns might be a better choice than a well known city, since using a big city name would make your road more of an obvious fiction, whereas using obscure names adds plausibility to the whole concept.

Looking at the maps of Columbiana County, I kinda like "Glenmoor and Rock Camp" myself, but I didn't check the topography to see it such a route were backwoods enough.

[biker_ray_pa]

There are a lot of little used-to-be-towns here in western PA that "went out of business," so to speak. Lots of great names around here of places that used to be places.

Catfish
Sarah Furnace
Cherry Run
Criswell
West Freedom
Pithole (most famous of the batch)
Burnt Ridge
Protestant Hill
Helen Furnace

You can just grab a map or atlas from the 1910s-1920s and pick some places that aren't places anymore. 

[asciibaron]

http://historical.maptech.com is your friend

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Don't have much to add other than "mmm, easter narrow guage". Do yourself a favor though, AVOID kitschy names like the plague.

[asciibaron]

Don't have much to add other than "mmm, easter narrow guage". Do yourself a favor though, AVOID kitschy names like the plague.

is Big Beaver and Western kitschy? 

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Yes

[up1950s]

Pa has loads of weird names . My parents lived near route 56 , the Johnstown / Scalp Level road . A gazillion more real odd names are all over this country . Those type of cute names I like , ... the real deals .