Layout Names (or not)

[basementcalling]

How did you name your layout? Are there any options you are glad you didn't choose?

I'm wrestling with a possible change, as my schematic may be relocating from Idaho to Oregon. Idaho Belt sounds better than Oregon Belt to me.

I know it won't become the California, Oregon and Washington. Spare me the COW jokes.

Oregon, Washington & Eastern is a possibility, as I do OWE a few people some small favors.

Oregon, Nevada, California and Eastern is probably too long, even to write ONCE.

Probably late in the game to be thinking of naming conventions, seeing 1/3 of the track is down.

[u18b]

Years ago, I chose a name for my fictitious short line called the Gulf Central.
Came up with my own logo- with a seagull and a pelican.



Then, several years later, a new railroad started in my area called the Central Gulf Railway.

Hahaha.

That was a close one!

[C855B]

Hither & Yon? The Bach & Fourth? Gorre & Daphetid? Oh, that last one's been used.

Washington, Oregon & Eastern? Certainly is a bit of WOE here about a name.

I dunno. Do what I did and pick a couple of real towns in your service region with goofy-sounding names resulting in an acronym that means nothing. Safer that way.

[Scottl]

Name it after the division it represents, fictional or otherwise.  Cascade or Columbia division or something like that.

[Philip H]

Years ago, I chose a name for my fictitious short line called the Gulf Central.
Came up with my own logo- with a seagull and a pelican.



Then, several years later, a new railroad started in my area called the Central Gulf Railway.

Hahaha.

That was a close one!

That's actually a pretty darn cool scheme! And those decals are great.

I named mine after the WATCO line that has taken over operations of the portion of KCS I model, and combined it with the town I currently live in - which also happens to pay homage to the last place I lived before moving to DC.

[Dave V]

My PRR/Conrail Juniata Division is based on the PRR Middle Division that ran along the Juniata (June-ee-ah-ta) River from its mouth on the Susquehanna near Duncannon, PA to Altoona.

The real Middle Division was 4 tracks wide during the era I model.  My tiny two-track version takes significant enough liberty from the real Middle Division that I didn't want to anger the Pennsy gods by calling it as such.  Calling it the "Juniata Division" is a nod to its geographical location and Pennsy's famed Juniata Shops (which constructed thousands of locomotives for the PRR) while not violating rigorous proto standards.  The name Juniata is instantly associated with Pennsy.

My N scale Colorado Midland Railway takes so many creative liberties on the other hand, I don't even worry.  After all, I can probably count on one hand the number of folks on the Railwire that know enough about the Midland to call me out, and besides...this is a micro-layout that's meant for play-value rather than as a proto platform.  I plan to start making the show rounds again with the CMRy...I think it's interesting enough (and "model-railroady") that it would play well in a show.

[SandyEggoJake]

I don't know.  If moving toward Oregon, perhaps COW Belt is the best.  Then you can run a small herd of Atlas's new limited edition Port of Tillamook GP-9 #101's to Bend, Boise & Beyond. 




Moooving on.....

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I've had a number of layouts with different names over the years.

It's usually been a combination of a descriptive term, or the locale.

For example, there was "The Kidney" because the trackplan looked like a kidney. It was also sometimes referred to as the "Apartment Layout":


After that came the "NCR Shelf", which was named such because it was a shelf layout that represented Conrail's "NCR Line" (aka, the Northern Central):


And finally, I've got "Windsor St" because the layout is focused on the Windsor Street Yard.

But, I think you're conflating two things: are you trying to name the layout, or the railroad that's on the layout?

[djconway]

My RR's have been named DC1, DC2 ... DC9 (Deer Creek RR #'s 1 through 9)
The current layout is ER&DC #4, Elaine River & Deer Creek. My wife of 35 years Elaine, thinks I should include the 3 kids in the name.

[randgust]

History can give you a lot of clues.   Most railroads were originally chartered and incorporated as much smaller branches with local names and merged, leased or incorporated into larger systems over time.    The interesting part is that during the regional railroad and shortline railroad 'de-merger' era (including today) a lot of those historic names re-emerged again as the formal railroad names a second time, sometimes with minor modifications.

A couple good examples of that locally are the Western NY & Pennsylvania, which was  real pre-PRR corporation prior to 1920 and absorbed into the PRR network; the name made logical sense for the recreated regional railroad on some of the same trackage.  Another good one is the New York and Lake Erie, named after the Erie Railroad predecessor New York, Lake Erie & Western as originally-built lines.

Ed's kind of on that kick with his Northern Central, that was actually the Sunbury, PA to Baltimore line that was constructed as a separate chartered corporation under PRR.  Other than the locals, historians, and railfans, nobody calls it that, but it makes a dandy layout name.

No matter how big the railroad, it has it's own real division/line segment/branch name, and that tends to be unique.  History books, employee timetables, and railfan publications are good sources.  For me, in 1972, the name came right off the employee timetable - Santa Fe Albuquerque Third District, which in real life ran from Winslow to Seligman.

I'm still a fan of the close hit names like the Virginia & Ohio, Utah Belt, etc.  Less of a fan of stuff like the Pittsburgh, Tucumcari & San Diego and the perpetual pun names like the Gorre & Daphetid.   You can actually end up with goofy reporting marks, I was told by the former general manager of the St Lawrence Railroad that he rejected the initial AAR reporting marks of SLOW.  And there are certainly oddballs like the ultimate vanity plates of RJC for RJ Corman, and HOCX as the Head On Collision Line.

One fun subtle thing you can do for family and friends is their own private reporting marks.   Take their initials and add "X" to the end, and see what you come up with.  Some actually exist as real cars and reporting marks.    You can have a lot of fun figuring out what kind of car, paint scheme, and lading may be appropriate when they don't.   I did tank cars for a business consultant friend who was an HO modeler with his initial and "X" for "Red Ink Removal Services", and it looked completely appropriate.

[railnerd]

The process of naming MC's Free-moN Yard as "Effet" is pretty self explanatory.

[GaryHinshaw]

But, I think you're conflating two things: are you trying to name the layout, or the railroad that's on the layout?

This.  In Peter's case, he might be trying to do both.  To me, a layout is more about geography and operations than it is about the RR's that operate over it.  So naming the layout was easy: Tehachapi Pass in British Columbia = Tehachapi, BC.  The RR's that run on the layout are UP/BNSF, or SP/ATSF if the mood strikes, or ocassionally even BCR.

[Flagler]

My Railroad is the  Pacific Railroad, My wifes family owned the real Pacific Railroad back in the 1850's. James Lucas. I believe another relative was the president or CEO Oliver Hart or Augustas Hart. It might have been The Missourie Pacific RR by then

[mark dance]

The layout name the "Columbia & Western" is named for the charter from which the prototype sprang and is also very descriptive of the locale which follows water routes feeding into the Columbia and west from there.

Technically the layout is a model of all, or portions of, four CPR subdivisions and a portion of a GN/BN subdivision. 

Now for a marketing aside from my product management days: I try to assure that the layout "brand" - The Columbia & Western - is consistently used and front and center in all documentation and publications because it is the layout name that I want people remember, it is  a name hopefully unique to the layout, and I want any value accumulating from the publications, photos, videos or clinics to accrue to a single brand.  Otherwise I worry that the layout would become known as "Mark's CP Layout"

md

[Kisatchie]

I've never built a layout in N scale, although I can dream. And the older I get, the farther away the dream gets.

My dream layout was to have a logging branch, since I like logging railroads. I needed a name for it, so I looked for a nearby forest. I found the Kisatchie National Forest here in Louisiana, so "Kisatchie" became part of my fantasy railroad.

Since the forest is relatively near to New Orleans and the Gulf Coast, "Gulf" became part of the RR name.

And since I like long strings of coal hoppers, I needed to extend the main line northward (to Ohio/PA), hence "Northern."

That gave me the Kisatchie, Gulf & Northern RR. I really doubt it will ever be built. I need to get my books published and have them be big financial successes before I can start construction. 


Hmm... when life gives
you lemons, get ticked
off and sulk...