Model Railroad Names

My small layout of a 76” by 48” plywood sheet is called the L&N. Which stands for the Loop and Nowhere. As you might guess the motive power is L&N (and also includes NC&StL).

Ours is the Cornfields & Coalfields RR since we model the midwest and northeastern Pennsylvania.

I fondly refer to mine as the Harrisburg, Horningford and Western aka "The Mattawanna Route".  I grew up in central PA and both Horningford and nearby Mattawanna are special to me.

No logo although I've toyed with the notion.

Curt

Southeastern & Chesapeake. I haven't even thought about a logo yet.

For a long time I just called it "The Layout". For some reason my favorite roads are mostly concentrated in the southeast and northwest, including Alaska, so when I finally decided it needed a name I wanted something that reflected the "vast" territory my railroad runs through. Armed with google maps I searched for towns with distinct names at either end of my main line. Thus was born the Deadhorse and Okeechobee RR, or D&O for short. Quite an ambitious name for a 9'x6' pike in my spare bedroom. No logo yet but I have some ideas. 

My father's first train was in the wine cellar of his house (which HIS grandfather built).  Now, he is a grandfather.

He calls his "Grandpa's Wince Cellar Trains"

Mine is/will be the Polar & Ohio, a transition-era conglomeration of the NYC, C&O, W&LE, N&W, and Polar Railroad/Polar Express. 

Chesapeake Susquehanna & Western

My brides Uncle had HO running through all the upstairs rooms of the house when he retired. She has fond memories of those trains and her Uncle Rocky. Therefore, Rocky Junction.

If I came up with a rail road name out of the blue, I'd probably go with one of the following:

1. Pee Dee Railroad (PDRR) - There is a Pee Dee River Railway (owned by Aberdeen & Rockfish Rail Road).

2. Darlington Southern Railroad (DSRR) - This one may be more likely.

I'll probably only do it though if I get comfortable enough repainting and detailing locomotives and rolling stock.

Back in the early days of Model Railroading there was a fad of using humor in your railroad's name.  I recall one fellow who named his the "Lackawampum" Railroad.  Might be appropriate for a lot of us.

                                                                                                                                Logan

I thought I had named my layout until my 4 year old granddaughter informed me that it was called "Choo-Choo Land". Who am I to argue about a name?

Eastern Kentucky and Ohio Railroad 

The two  sections of my layout are connected behind the stairwell, under a 'mountain', and not visible from the control panel. The mountain is called Hidden Pass Mountain, and the layout is Hidden Pass Junction RR.

Alex

My name is Bob and my wife's name is Sue.  I thought long and hard to come up with a name that would use the initials B and S.  How about the Burlington and Southern or the Buffalo and Susquehanna?  I finally decided if I am going to letter any equipment I use "B&S,  The Mountain Route".  That's a name that can cover most areas of service.  I've been using it for about 50 years.

THE PENN AMERICAN RAILROAD 

“Serving the Basement “

We live in Lansing, Illinois.  We grew up in Calumet City.  We run Santa Fe locomotives.  Hence, L,CC&A.  Also the initials of the club to which we belong.     John in Lansing, ILL

My fictional Road is 

The MISC..pronounced The MESSY 

Its short for Miscellaneous 

Because I run everything 

MANCHESTER 

INTERMODAL

SERVICE 

CENTER

My ‘micro’ layout is called the North Branch & Lamington - the two ‘rivers’ that run through my area. It’s a division of the New York Central, the Raritan River railroad has trackage rights and Conrail shows up from time to time. 

Mine is the Poller Express ... I owned a barber shop.

What, me worry?   

Well, one of my newer railroad names is the Lincoln, Arlee, and Western. The "L.A.W. Road", as I call it was established in southern Michigan from Ex MC trackage bought from conrail in the mid to late 80s. The railroad owns a large roster of U30Cs from all walks of life, and one RS27 that was bought by the founder for his own perosnal business trains. So, come along and "ride with the LAW!"

Nothing witty here.  My RR is the Wild Mary which is what the old timers called the Western Maryland RR back in the day.

"The Passaic, Raritan, Neshaminy, Delaware and Lehigh (PRND&L) Railroad – Where Good Service Is Automatic"

galley_proof posted:

The Passaic, Raritan, Neshaminy, Delaware and Lehigh Railroad was formed in 1996 out of bits of used track found at train shows. It's main commodities include plastic pipes, dowels that look like logs, toy farm and construction equipment, and plastic formed to look like piles of coal. For some unknown reason, it also hauls a large number of cars which are completely empty.

That signature line always makes me smile.

Neither my layout nor my parents' has a name. We toyed with naming it after the nearby rivers, "Missouri, Mississippi & Meramec." But because we are content to run out-of-the-box rolling stock (not lettering any of our own) there has never been a real need to settle on a name.

I dug out my crawl space, I know, I am an idiot for doing this. But, here in the Ozarks we have solid limestone, hence the name.....Solid Rock Railroad.

Roger Wasson posted:

I dug out my crawl space, I know, I am an idiot for doing this. But, here in the Ozarks we have solid limestone, hence the name.....Solid Rock Railroad.

Yes! A very well deserved name for great challenge overcome, resulting in a superb layout,

Alex

Mine is River Bend Trains due to the Winnebago River going right by me and the other layout is Menardsville for everything on it is made by Menards.. Bob

I remember my parents always telling me to look at a map, and pick out a couple towns or cities, then name the railroad that.  So I had things like Wolf Point and Fort Peck, things like that.  Since my current O gauge running is Pennsy and B&O, I call my O gauge line the Ohio-Penn Connecting Railway.

I once had an American Flyer layout and called it the National Freight Railroad, the NF also standing for "No Finances!"

Someone in our old hobby shop had a layout which he ran at tight quarters near the furnace in his basement.  He left a locomotive and cars near it one night on the track, only to find them slightly, um, melted.  So he named his railroad the Furnace Creek Railroad for the pools of plastic left behind.

Thinking of calling mine the CNJ Chickory division. CNJ because of living in Jersey, Chickory is the name of the street I live on.   A friend has an outdoor G gauge railroad named ID & OM (In Debt & Outta Money)

Ingeniero No1 posted:

Roger Wasson posted:

I dug out my crawl space, I know, I am an idiot for doing this. But, here in the Ozarks we have solid limestone, hence the name.....Solid Rock Railroad.

Yes! A very well deserved name for great challenge overcome, resulting in a superb layout,

Alex

Roger, You have a remarkable project with a remarkable result and a very appropriate and well deserved name.  Pat B.

I just call mine "Roy."

Pete

The IC.  No, not that IC, but the Illinois Concretus based upon the fact that it's a basement floor layout.  Concretus isn't really a good Latin translation but it's shorter than "caementicius" which is perhaps more accurate.

My wife Jerrie was the biggest fan of my train collection.  She would accompany me to most of the train meets I attended and if I rented a table she would man the table for me while i walked around looking for something to buy.  She passed away in November2016 after a 13 year battle with cancer.

In her honor I have formed the JERRIEVILLE RAILROAD and she is and always will be the honorary CEO.  I am currently customizing a 230E locomotive and tender and (2) 710 and a 712 passenger cars as the first official rolling stock of the JERRIEVILLE RAILLROAD.

The picture of the sweatshirt was designed, made and given to me as a surprise Christmas gift from my granddaughter.  She is now tweaking the logo shown to be the official logo of the railroad.  I live on Temple Road and have built my train room to resemble an early 1900 depot so that is what she is referring to as the Temple Road Depot.

Entertaining topic!  

My railroad is named the Free State Junction Railway.   It's a transition era road which incorporates all the class one and short line carriers of post WW2 Maryland.   Maryland was nick named " The Free State " after an anti-  prohibition editorial was published in the Baltimore Sun in 1923.  

The FSJR owns only track and no locomotives or rolling stock.  Member roads run their own locos and rolling stock over the FSJR rails.  Those railroads are: B&O, Western Maryland, Pennsylvania, N&W, Baltimore and Annapolis, Patapsco and Back Rivers, Canton, Maryland & Pennsylvania.  A Washington Terminal Co. RS-1 and the Delaware and Hudson PA 1s show up on the FSJR rails when traffic demands are peaked.  

The FSJR is headquartered in the ficticious town of Patsburg, tucked away in mountains of far Western Maryland.  The FSJR run between Patsburg and the another fictiusious city, Port Chesapeake located on the Chesapeake Bay. 

Ironically enough, Patsburg's main industry is a brewery. Of course Prohibition was long over by WW2 so brewing beer is thriving very well in Patsburg where, incidentally, " the trains always run on time."    

In the real world unfortunately only the Canton Railroad continues to exist, still operating in Baltimore City.  The rest of the roads are all unfortunately fallen flags whose memories are still kept alive by the FSJR.  I'm grateful to MTH for having produced the Maryland and Pennsylvania, Baltimore and Annapolis, Patapsco and Back Rivers, and Canton railroad locomotives, cabeese, and in the case of  MA&PA ... several pieces of rolling stock too!  

Many, many years ago my younger brother dabbled in HO scale for a while. He really wanted his own railroad name and reporting marks, but purchasing custom made decals was out of the question. He was just a kid. But he was pretty sharp.

At the time we lived in Poland, Ohio, and Lake Evans was very near to our house. He bought some Pittsburgh & Lake Erie decals, but just used the logo.

His HO scale railroad was called the "Poland and Lake Evans Railroad." 

The CBS railroad runs from Clayton, New Mexico, thru Buffalo, Oklahoma to Springdale, Arkansas (Crystal, Brent, Stacie).  This railroad is owned by BNSF, UP and KCS.  The railroad was built in 1906 just before statehood in Oklahoma. The original railroads that built the line were ATSF, C&S, Frisco, KCS and MP.  The CBS hauls cement, grains, oil&gas, coal and steel.  The railroad purchases all engines and equipment from the parent railroads and has to keep them painted for the parent railroad that they were purchased from (that was no problem when the railroad was first starting in 1906 because all steam engines were black) due the CBS bylaws.