Is it Milwaukee Road or Montana Rail Link?

I always interpret "MR" to mean Milwaukee Rail, just because I don't believe too many folks know about MRL. 

Montana Rail Link is one of my favorite railroads, because it is small, located in the western US mountains, privately held, and a bit quirky - I understand it still uses cabooses.  It was the conceptual prototype for the fictional Canon City, Blanca, and Glen Canyon Railroad (Ialso small, western US mountains, quirky, and privately held) in my book, Veranda Turbine, and the railroad I run, in addition to ATSF and UP on my layout. 

I'd like more MRL.  MR is not really my thing, but Montana and the western US surely are . . . 

I can see where there might be some confusion, but most reasonable people will probably think "MR", in the context of our little train forum, probably means Milwaukee Road.

Charlie

Montana Rail Link is a local short line??.  I didn't know that it existed until my first trip to Glacier National Park/and Missoula MT.  Most, probably don't know a thing about the Montour RR, unless they are from Pittsburgh.   Another MR. 

It's all in the context.

OGR Forum:  MR = Milwaukee Road

All the HO Forums:  MR = Model Railroader

Psychology/Social Work:  MR = Mental Retardation

Medicine/Physics:  MR = Magnetic Resonance

Everywhere else: MR = Mister

That's the trouble with abbreviations.   You guys had me going for about six months talking about ESE cars.  I could not figure it out.  Was it some modern subway car that I knew nothing about?  Finally, one of you let it slip:   Empire State Express!

Bob

I don't think much about the abbreviations, but to your query regarding more product, I couldn't be more happier with the Milwaukee Road offerings.

Notably:

• Lionel S3
• Weaver ribbed boxcars (these are outstanding)
• 3rd Rail SD7
• Atlas F7s
• K-line caboose offerings (IMO still the best, unless it's brass)
• LCCA milk cars
• The classic, reissued 1988 Hiawatha
• The Lionel oil-burning 4-4-2 (even tho the colors are a little off)

I could go on and on. Montana Rail Link fans have been largely ignored by Lionel, but MTH has produced some really sweet modern equipment for MRL.

I've always abbreviated Milwaukee Road as MILW,(their reporting mark)

 which is a heck of a lot easier than the earlier CMStP&P.

Rusty

As with the above poster, I use official reporting marks so it's MILW for me as well. A few other confusing abbreviations which pop up here from time to time are the Nickel Plate being referred to as NP, Pennsylvania as PA and Jersey Central as JC.

Bob  

Nice list!

Us MILW fans have been fortunate.  I would add to the list:

• Lionel 18" Hiawatha passenger cars (even if the windows were a little funky)
• Weaver Hiawatha Hudson
• Legacy F7 ABBA
• Atlas Erie Builts ABA (2 paint schemes)
• K-line 18 and 21" aluminum Hiawatha passenger cars

Bob

If we Milwaukee Road fans are having our day of thanksgiving, let's not forget MTH! For some reason neither of the previous two posters mentioned a single MTH product. 

• Bi-Polar in Olympian Hiawatha and original black paint schemes (as well as a couple of forgettable later schemes)
• Boxcab electrics in black and Hiawatha paint schemes
• Fairbanks-Morse C-Liner
• Hiawatha Baltic (not Hudson) 4-6-4 
• F7's, issued at the same time as Lionel and quite a bit less expensive
• Geeps, SD units, and switchers too numerous to mention
• A greater variety of Milwaukee Road rolling stock than all the others combined

Weaver has been a great friend to Milwaukee Road fans. To what's already been mentioned for Weaver, we can add:

• F6a Baltic 4-6-4, one of the most beautifully detailed non-streamlined passenger engines ever made in 0
• The first S3 Northern, years before Lionel
• Brass ribside cabooses in early and late lettering schemes. I must have a dozen assorted Milwaukee Road cabooses by Lionel, MTH, and K-Line but somehow it's one of the two Weaver cars that always winds up at the end of the train. 
• U25B and VO1000 diesels
• Scale models of all three steam-era Hiawatha passenger trains

And let's not forget the Milwaukee Lionel Railroad Club (MLRRC), which has issued more than a dozen Milwaukee Road cars in both scale and traditional formats. My favorites are the round roof boxcar (scale), the operating ice car (traditional), and the three TOFC's. 

I live about 1/8 of a mile from an abandoned Milwaukee Road line to the Pacific Ocean, part of the 'Lines West' section that went belly up around 1980.

Here's what I think of the abbreviations:

• MR is a magazine dedicated to Model Railroading
• MLW is the Milwaukee Road
• MRL is Montana Rail Link

Not around here. The locals often ref to the Milwaukee Road in writing was MLW.

Montreal doesn't factor into anyone's thinking around here.

I do see it as MILW from time to time but most often as MLW.

Ya cain't go wrong using the railroad's actual reporting marks...

Rusty

Ah, yes, thank you, Southwest. My list was "from the hip." I agree about the Weaver Baltic. Just a fantastic engine...I am impressed day after day with the F6a - I wish I would've/could've picked up another road #!

Southwest

I, stand humbly corrected.  How could I forget those MTH Bipolars and Boxcabs?

I have the Railking Hiawatha 4-6-4, a beautiful engine and only slightly undersized.  And MTH piggybacks, hoppers and tank cars in the Hiawatha paint scheme, some probably not prototypical, but too nice to pass up.

Bob

PS:  MTH and Weaver Little Joes

The MR reporting marks are used by McCloud River Railroad.

There has not been enough accurate McCloud River locos and cars made in O scale.

Here is an example of an HO Scale box car scheme that the people at Lionel never put on the O Scale 50' Double-Door Boxcar that they produced, then it vanished.

Andrew

Falcon Service

Not around here. The locals often ref to the Milwaukee Road in writing was MLW.

Then they are wrong.

MILW = Milwaukee Road

Ya cain't go wrong using the railroad's actual reporting marks...

 

Rusty

You got that right Rusty.

And while we are correcting "lashed up" terminology...

NKP = Nickle Plate

Someone needs to tell Lionel that NPR is an abbreviation for either a public broadcasting outfit or the Northern Pacific Railway.

Wonder if that is due to the fact that is no longer a McCloud River Railroad?

The only McCloud River Railroad boxcar I've ever seen mass-produced in O scale was from Weaver.

Add another, MTH 20-93089 in two road numbers.

MR 2186

MR 2290

The McCloud River Railroad 50' Double-Door Box Cars have been sold to companies like IOWA TRACTION. They are still being used with most of the original markings.

There are many railroads that no longer exist, but locos and freight cars are still being produced, such as the Milwaukee Road. The Soo Line and Canadian Pacific take over of the Milwaukee Road completely changed it.

Andrew

I have been a railroad fanatic for six decades.  In the railroad context, MR has always meant Model Railroader magazine.  This is the absolute first time I have seen it used to refer to the Milwaukee Road.

I see MR used quite a bit for Milwaukee Road in online auctions and by some 0 gauge train dealers. I occasionally use MR as a search term on eBay, to pick up auctions by sellers who don't use MILW or Milwaukee. 

I thought it was Model Railroader