Personalizing your railroad

I love it! That's a very creative logo and story behind it.

TJ

My road is the "Denver and Front Range", which connects and parallels the north/south "joint line" of Santa Fe and D&RGW between Pueblo and Denver, over the old Colorado and Southern line between these two cities, with a line north connecting to the Great Western, and a line SW that reaches Gunnison.  Common connecting roadnames seen are the D&RGW, Burlington and C&S, Mopac, Colorado Midland,and Rock Island. Less frequently seen are ATSF and UP. Its logo and colors are spruce green and aspen yellow, with aspen leaf decals in those two colors.  Cabooses and some other cars are yellow with silvery green leaves, ordinary cars are green with yellow leaves, this in spite of green being a disliked color l would not get on an auto.  Its slogan is "Route of the Golden Aspens".

Ours is the Great Northeastern Railway with engines and rolling stock from the PRR, B&O, C&O, Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines and New York Central

While about 50% of my engines are Southern, I also run motive power from my other favorite railroads all over the US and Canada. I wanted a name that I liked the sound of but that also reflected the vast geographical area covered by the road names I run. Thus was born the Deadhorse & Okeechobee Railroad. Running from Deadhorse, Alaska to Okeechobee, Florida, their slogan is " From the Glaciers to the Glades, We've Got the Continent Covered". Quite an ambitious statement for a 9x6 spare bedroom layout. 

I took a different path and named my freelance theme in a way that the name itself says a lot about its function: "Kansas City & Gulf".

I also took the time to research and create plausible roster/traffic/etc for my KC&G based on what the "Foundational Four" prototype roads did that were regional to my freelanced theme. Therefore, if an engine time was found on one of my "Foundational Four" (SLSF, RI, Mop, KCS) prototype railroads that I used for my guidelines, then I COULD consider using that model type, but it still might not pass muster and make it to my KC&G roster.

I also created paint schemes that "could have been" during my era-span (early-mid 1960s), staying with what I felt was "realistic" with the hope of avoiding creating caricatures. What I came up with satisfies me (which is paramount). An example from the KC&G's RS-3's...

Note in the back ground you see engines in the "original" scheme  as well as some "simplified" variations of same.

Now, whether I will be successful (or not) conveying these concepts in layout form will rest in the eyes of the beholder.

Andre

No name, I just run trains. Why over think it.

Dave

David1:

"Overthinking": It's a way of life for me. I'm am one. Pays off handsomely at times, other times it's a pain.

However, in the case of my model railroading, I enjoy the research and I enjoy coming up with something that is plausible to me mentally. Obviously, it's not for everyone, but I sure enjoy it.

I also enjoy seeing my model railroading concepts come to life in miniature via my KC&G theme.

Andre

As a kid I grew up in Washington state and lived in Seattle, Wenatchee and Bremerton.  My favorite railroads have always been Great Northern, Northern Pacific, Southern Pacific and Union Pacific.

When I would set up my various American Flyer layouts on the floor, I usually referred to them as the Pacific Coast Eastern, or the PCE, inspired by the Pacific Great Eastern Railway, the PGE, in British Columbia, Canada.  I even painted (badly!) PCE on a Flyer boxcar and a caboose.

Now that I live in Salem, OR and have a vacation home in Lincoln City on the Oregon Coast,  I think that name may still work well if I ever get out of the armchair and finish a home layout.

Cheers!

Alan

Erie Central consisting of Erie, P&LE, B&LE, CSX, Chessie System

Neat logos. I can see I need to get one designed. No mystery on my layout railroad.

My railroad is called the "Liberty Belt Railway" with the tagline "Serving Ohio Industry". When I built layout 1.0 I lived on a road called Liberty, and my layout was a circle, so a belt railway seemed to fit. Other roadnames seen on my layout are Nickel Plate Road and Pennsylvania (which both served my hometown). The Liberty Belt would plausibly serve as a belt line to transfer freight traffic, and of course Ohio industry. 

When I first got back into the hobby, and started reading up about building a layout, I read a couple books and articles that discussed what your layout's purpose is, and why it exists, and that stuck with me. So I kind of played that out to create an avenue of bringing it all together. 

I've seen some clever ones.  "Weary Lackamoney" comes to mind. 

With my room painted, track lighting installed perhaps it is a good time to start thinking about a good name for my soon to be RR.  When I was moving on a frequent basis (jobs) I did call my slice of floor layout the "STSLRR" - The Short Time Short Line Railroad.

Right now we are in Napa CA and today we rode in the dome car on the Napa Valley RR Lunch Train. A very fun time. Seems a small vineyard has to go somewhere in the layout now ~~~

Paul

My new layout will be changed whenever I want to see something else. Hence the EverChanging RailRoad.

Mine doesn't have a name. But I run virtually all Santa Fe equipment, so this fits.

My railroad:

It also runs through a little known national park:

Rusty

The Razorback Traction Co. came about more-or-less by accident.  

As we know,  I have a predilection towards putting trolley poles or pantographs on pretty much anything that rolls,  and some stuff that doesn't.   The very first example of this, back in 2011,  was the "Red Rocket",  a former Lionel 627 Lehigh Valley loco:

I was casting about for something to cover the LV logo when I happened across a sheet of stickers for the local football team at a nearby Walleyworld.  Since the putative "44 tonner" was the same shade of red, inspiration struck, and the rest,  as they say, is history.   

The Giraffe Express came about as a bit of inspiration born of necessity.  It was Frisco Fest weekend, 2014:

Here's the setup for the RTC display at the Frisco Festival in Rogers, AR on 23 August!

Alas, the Gi-raffe Train's usual locomotive (the pale blue GG-1 at right) couldn't handle the 1930s grades of the mini Hell Gate bridge at layout rear, so a substitute had to be fabricated in a hurry... 

Since, as previously mentioned, the Gi-raffe Train's normal locomotive wouldn't handle the grade on the new bridge, I needed something on short notice on Friday night for the show Saturday morning. At 8 PM on Friday, I decided to take a spare Lionel 44 tonner and caboose, respray the shells blue, design and print logo stickers, install a pantograph and have the lot ready by 8:30 Saturday morning! 

As you can see, I got it done! 

Total time (including a run to Lowe's for some Valspar paint but not counting letting the paint mostly dry overnight): About two hours. 

****, but I'm good.  

Logo based on this:

http://www.clker.com/cliparts/...fe-crest-logo-hi.png

Mitch 

As I have noted on another thread, my 8' by 24' model railroad is called the Little Boston & Maine Railroad with all passenger cars, maintenance of way cars, cabooses, and all but one of the locomotives are Boston & Maine (that loco is a Maine Central diesel loco that I misread in a MTH catalog). The freight cars are labelled from New England railroads and industries. The scenery is a rough representation of rural New England.

And, as usual for almost all of us, it is not and, probably, will never be complete.

I call my railroad J&SO Lines, representing my wife's parents who are no longer with us. I intend on putting little things that honor her parents and her sisters possibly on my railroad, but I haven't figured out quite yet how I am going to do it. Interesting that some of you create Logos for your company. That is something I will probably never do, as I am not much of a designer.

when i bought these cars they were just painted with a primer coat, so in finishing them off, i decided to number them to remind me of my aunt's birthdays on Jan 13th, Feb 6th & Jan 7th.

my caboose is number #1112... the street address where i grew up.

My 4' by 76" layout evolved from a trackmobile focus to a southern railroad focus. I wanted some steam and first generation diesel. Eventually, I chose L&N as the primary railroad and the snap-shot date of 1954. The layout name I chose reflected both the railroad (L&N) and the constraints of available space: Loop & Nowhere 

Since our members came from different parts of the country, each with his/her own road preferences, we decided not to name the layout. However, we do name things on the layout after members from time to time (a fairly common practice in the hobby), often in deference to an inside joke (also a fairly common practice). Some include:

• My contempt for traction tires prompted Dustin to rename the warehouse view-block to "Jackson Tires -- you get more traction from Jackson".
• "Bryant Falls" is a waterfall named for Bob Bryant, who took a fall near that area when a board broke on the door threshold.
• We named a park on the layout after the former regional director of Los Angeles Recreations and Parks Department because she took a liking to use for how we rehabilitated the building, setting up at Pershing Square every December, our service to the local school on the park grounds, and City visitor comments (her last official act was having a new roof put on our building -- caught us completely by surprise).
• A couple of businesses are named after members.

We occasionally re-work some buildings and when that happens they'll likely get new names. We're looking at putting up a building to match an ad we put on another building for "Swindell, Goneph and Ladron -- Investment Brokers -- If you've got money, we're not finished!" Goheph and ladron mean "thief" in Yiddish and Spanish, respectively. By the way, if you want to use that, e-mail us the city you're in and we'll add your "office" to the list so we can say "Offices in Los Angeles, ... ".

I created my own layout as a specific time and place (late summer 1943 along Stoney Creek, outside of Elizabethton., TN). To me, I never wanted a generic layout.

I wrote a fictional history of the fictional branch line of a real (East Tennessee & Western North Carolina, a 3-footer) and adhered specifically to it. The ET&WNC, in my concept, bought out a struggling logging line in 1936 and made it into a prosperous branch of their system. While designing the layout and buying stuff for it, I kept with the history. If it didn't fit, it didn't get to the layout, pure and simple:

I have a couple of cars that are lettered from the previous line's name (and a few Army marked cars), but the rest represents rolling stock that actually ran on the ET&WNC in that timeframe.

Hey, if you want to do a generic layout to run trains and have fun, that's great. It just wasn't my thing.

Randy Harrison posted:

Ours is the Great Northeastern Railway with engines and rolling stock from the PRR, B&O, C&O, Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Lines and New York Central

Love the cat!  LOL

On our way to choir rehearsal over twenty five years ago, I asked my wife what we should name the pipe organ factory on our layout, as well as the  town, since the factory is the town’s sole industry. She thought a moment, then said “why not an organ factory that builds organs featuring sewer pipes?” We nearly drove off the road in laughter.

We altered the spelling to get a vague Germanic effect, as the great Bach organs were developed in eighteenth century Germany. The town could even be a German settlement. Thus was born “Sueher Pipe Organ Builders,” as well as “Sueher City.” Eventually, Sueher City bought the decrepit Southern Pacific branch freight line that served it, and it was immediately renamed “Sueher Specific Lines.” Our logo:  

OddIsHeRU posted:

On our way to choir rehearsal nearly twenty years ago, I asked my wife what we should name the pipe organ factory on our layout, as well as the  town, since the factory is the town’s sole industry. She thought a moment, then said “why not an organ factory that builds organs featuring sewer pipes?” We nearly drove off the road in laughter.

We altered the spelling to get a vague Germanic effect, as the great Bach organs were developed in eighteenth century Germany. The town could even be a German settlement. Thus was born “Sueher Pipe Organ Builders,” as well as “Sueher City.” Eventually, Sueher City bought the decrepit Southern Pacific branch freight line that served it, and it was immediately renamed “Sueher Specific Lines.” Our logo:  

Richard,

I love it and the story behind. It was clever to have the Deutsche history as well.  Where did you get the church I see in the background? Would that happen to be Lutheran Parish...you know Bach, German, etc.

Dave

Lou1985 posted:

Mine doesn't have a name. But I run virtually all Santa Fe equipment, so this fits.

That’s what I would pick.

My railroad is the Ophir and Oblivion.  Ophir because model/toy trains do cost money and Ophir is the location of the legendary gold mines of King Solomon. Oblivion because I'm a member in good standing of the Broadloom Conspiracy which means my railroad is a floor layout that is regularly assembled and disassembled.  So (yearly) Oblivion is always the final destination.  The locals call the railroad the "Oh-Oh".  Rumor has it that this is because "Oh-Oh" is what the railroad CFO says every time she sees the road foreman coming through the front door with a large unidentified package under his arm.

luvindemtrains posted:

OddIsHeRU posted:

On our way to choir rehearsal nearly twenty years ago, I asked my wife what we should name the pipe organ factory on our layout, as well as the  town, since the factory is the town’s sole industry. She thought a moment, then said “why not an organ factory that builds organs featuring sewer pipes?” We nearly drove off the road in laughter.

We altered the spelling to get a vague Germanic effect, as the great Bach organs were developed in eighteenth century Germany. The town could even be a German settlement. Thus was born “Sueher Pipe Organ Builders,” as well as “Sueher City.” Eventually, Sueher City bought the decrepit Southern Pacific branch freight line that served it, and it was immediately renamed “Sueher Specific Lines.” Our logo:  

Richard,

I love it and the story behind. It was clever to have the Deutsche history as well.  Where did you get the church I see in the background? Would that happen to be Lutheran Parish...you know Bach, German, etc.

Dave

Dave, It is St. Luke's Church by Department 56. It looks Anglican, but now I know its Lutheran. Thanks.

Great thread.  Love the creativity of personalized layout stories 

I call my tiny slice if high rail heaven the Ontario Southern Railway.  I grew up in Rochester, NY so the name fits the geography of my youth.  Rochester was served by numerous roads including PRR, NYC, and the  Buffalo Rochester and Pittsburg Ry which was later absorbed by the B&O.  The BR&P served a coal dock on the Genesee River.  In my altered history world , the BR&P instead merged with NYC's "Hojack" line that ran along the southern shore of Lake Ontario to become the OSRy, a subsidiary of the NYC.  I also like the PRR Elmira branch which brought coal to the Sodus Bay coal dock also on lake Ontario and served the  nearby town of Canandaigua NY.   I still occasionally get back to Rochester and enjoy discovery existing remnants of these old railroads.  My three rail trains are all either PRR or NYC in keeping with the theme.

Understanding the rail history of my home town and incorporating that into my three rail world is a fun part of the hobby for me.

Dave (Luvindemtrains) - 

This is the Dept. 56 St. Luke’s Church in their Dickens Village Series from about ten years ago. It’s my favorite building on the layout. The flying Buttresses and the narrow nave roof remind me a bit of the recently distressed Notre Dame Cathedral. Their web site says: This is the historic church where Charles and Catherine Dickens were married in 1836. St. Luke's is still an active parish today. There was also an earlier and simpler St. Luke’s Church in D-56’s Snow Village Series.

OddIsHeRU posted:

On our way to choir rehearsal nearly twenty years ago, I asked my wife what we should name the pipe organ factory on our layout, as well as the  town, since the factory is the town’s sole industry. She thought a moment, then said “why not an organ factory that builds organs featuring sewer pipes?” We nearly drove off the road in laughter.

We altered the spelling to get a vague Germanic effect, as the great Bach organs were developed in eighteenth century Germany. The town could even be a German settlement. Thus was born “Sueher Pipe Organ Builders,” as well as “Sueher City.” Eventually, Sueher City bought the decrepit Southern Pacific branch freight line that served it, and it was immediately renamed “Sueher Specific Lines.” Our logo:  

Hi Richard

I remember Sueher from out TinPlate Tracker Days. Very clever play on words and great modeling.

My railroad name would have to be the Willoughby Lines.  It's a nice idyllic town at the turn of the century.   A place that takes your mind away from today's troubles and fast pace.  A man working on that rail lines could create A World Of His Own.  It's main yard is near Maple Street and certainly within Walking Distance of the downtown area.

Aussteve - given the selective capitalization of words in your post, What You Need to do is tell us The Whole Truth and admit you are a fan of The Twilight Zone.

I've included on my layout many items that are of deep personal meaning.   It's my way of giving daily gratitude and honoring all the folks who helped me build my railroad and spur on my interest in trains, both real and model.  

My railroad is named the Free State Junction Railway.  I live in Maryland and Maryland is nicknamed " The Free State" which was born out of a 1923 editorial appearing in the Baltimore Sun newspaper suggesting Maryland should leave the Union rather than be part of prohibition.  Mind you that on my layout, the City of Patsburg is the headquarters for the FSJR and the main industry is a brewery. LOL!  

I wanted to model all the class one and short lines that ran throughout Maryland during the post WW2 days and thru 1960.   Those lines being the B&O, Western Maryland, Pennsylvania, Norfolk and Western ( N&W owned tracks into Hagerstown ), the Baltimore and Annapolis, Canton, and Maryland & Pennsylvania.  I also include Reading Co. which had some trackage rights over WM into Hagerstown. 

Honoring family and friends was/is important to me.   Located in a prominent place on my layout is a lake.  The lake is named after my brother Chris and  Chris Harrison who also helped out.... hence the name "Lake Christopher".   My brother Chris built the bench work and did a fabulous job!  I also placed beside Lake Christopher a replica of his real life cabin located in western Maryland near a lake.   My brother is a home builder, so I also have a house under construction with his company name on a sign advertising who is building the home. 

My good friend Randy Harrison ( a forum member ) was also a tremendous help in building the layout.  In one corner of the layout I created a HUGE mountain which I call "Mt. Randolph" in honor of Randy who was and is a HUGE help.  

Another friend ( who is not actually a train person but knows of my love of trains ) Todd Butler, keeps an eye out at thrift stores for train related items .... and he's made some great finds.  This is why I named a particular junction on my layout " Butler Junction ".  Todd is the "VP in charge of procurement of unusual odds and ends".

I also have on my layout some items that go back to when I was given my first layout at 4 years old.  These and other items  from the 50's and 60's remind me of my parents who were the "Santas" that gave them to me each Christmas as my layout expanded.  As my mom, Mary, was THE " Spirit of Christmas " around our house,  I made a Mary Christmas Shoppe which I will place on the layout next Christmas season.   My two uncles, now passed on, who lived in England would send me Matchbox vehicles for Christmas when I was a kid.  I have some of these vehicle on my layout.  

   As my father was a D Day Vet,  I created a small park on my layout which I call Freedom Park.  I visited Omaha Beach in Normandy France with my father back in 1998. As we walked the beach and he told me his story of landing there June 6,1944 with the Big Red One,  I picked up a stone from that beach and brought it home with me.  Mind you this was several years before beginning my train layout.  That stone from Omaha Beach now sits on my layout in Freedom Park.  A sign in Freedom Park tells the story.  A piece of the Berlin Wall also resides in Freedom Park as it was given to me by a dear friend Daniela, a German,  who lived in Berlin at the time the wall came down. 

My uncle Leon was a traffic manager for the Kennecott Copper Corp refinery located in the Baltimore, Md. area.   I have a K-Line Kennecott MP 15 switcher and gondola which I run on occasion.  Uncle Leon gave me my first engineers hat and it was the real deal from the New York Central System. ( Admittedly a bit large for my 5 year old head but I proudly wore it anyway .. LOL! )  A NYC salesman gave it to him and he gave it to me.  Uncle Leon dealt with most of the major railroads back in the day, as they all solicited him to route Kennecott freight over their railroad.  

Just down the street from where I live, sits the only remaining iron truss bridge designed back in the 19th century by, Baltimorian, Wendell Bollman.   This type of bridge boasted a new patented design and was the first railroad bridge made out of iron.  The B&O had about one hundred of these bridges throughout its' system.  Check out Harpers Ferry WV photos from the Civil War period and you will see Bollman bridges spanning the Potomac River as it carries the B&O mainline west from Maryland into West Virginia.   No one knows where the one now located in my town of Savage, Md was originally located.  This bridge is now a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.   I have a model of this bridge on my layout.  Had to include it!  

One of my favorite restaurants at which to eat is located in Fells Point, the oldest section of Baltimore City and located on the water front. ( a B&O Docksider used to do street switching/running in Fells Point )  The name of the restaurant is Berthas and Berthas is famous for muscles.  Of course I have a custom rendition of Berthas on my layout.  It's one of two.  Mine is the first Bertha's model and when the owner of Berthas saw my model he had to get one too!  Richard Starsnick of Catonsville, Md. made the models.   

Many decades of personal treasures and wonderful memories are part of my layout.   Each time I walk into my train room they make my heart smile.  

trumptrain posted:

I've included on my layout many items that are of deep personal meaning.   It's my way of giving daily gratitude and honoring all the folks who helped me build my railroad and spur on my interest in trains, both real and model.  

My railroad is named the Free State Junction Railway.  I live in Maryland and Maryland is nicknamed " The Free State" which was born out of a 1923 editorial appearing in the Baltimore Sun newspaper suggesting Maryland should leave the Union rather than be part of prohibition.  Mind you that on my layout, the City of Patsburg is the headquarters for the FSJR and the main industry is a brewery. LOL!  

I wanted to model all the class one and short lines that ran throughout Maryland during the post WW2 days and thru 1960.   Those lines being the B&O, Western Maryland, Pennsylvania, Norfolk and Western ( N&W owned tracks into Hagerstown ), the Baltimore and Annapolis, Canton, and Maryland & Pennsylvania.  I also include Reading Co. which had some trackage rights over WM into Hagerstown. 

Honoring family and friends was/is important to me.   Located in a prominent place on my layout is a lake.  The lake is named after my brother Chris and  Chris Harrison who also helped out.... hence the name "Lake Christopher".   My brother Chris built the bench work and did a fabulous job!  I also placed beside Lake Christopher a replica of his real life cabin located in western Maryland near a lake.   My brother is a home builder, so I also have a house under construction with his company name on a sign advertising who is building the home. 

My good friend Randy Harrison ( a forum member ) was also a tremendous help in building the layout.  In one corner of the layout I created a HUGE mountain which I call "Mt. Randolph" in honor of Randy who was and is a HUGE help.  

Another friend ( who is not actually a train person but knows of my love of trains ) Todd Butler, keeps an eye out at thrift stores for train related items .... and he's made some great finds.  This is why I named a particular junction on my layout " Butler Junction ".  Todd is the "VP in charge of procurement of unusual odds and ends".

I also have on my layout some items that go back to when I was given my first layout at 4 years old.  These and other items  from the 50's and 60's remind me of my parents who were the "Santas" that gave them to me each Christmas as my layout expanded.  As my mom, Mary, was THE " Spirit of Christmas " around our house,  I made a Mary Christmas Shoppe which I will place on the layout next Christmas season.   My two uncles, now passed on, who lived in England would send me Matchbox vehicles for Christmas when I was a kid.  I have some of these vehicle on my layout.  

   As my father was a D Day Vet,  I created a small park on my layout which I call Freedom Park.  I visited Omaha Beach in Normandy France with my father back in 1998. As we walked the beach and he told me his story of landing there June 6,1944 with the Big Red One,  I picked up a stone from that beach and brought it home with me.  Mind you this was several years before beginning my train layout.  That stone from Omaha Beach now sits on my layout in Freedom Park.  A sign in Freedom Park tells the story.  A piece of the Berlin Wall also resides in Freedom Park as it was given to me by a dear friend Daniela, a German,  who lived in Berlin at the time the wall came down. 

My uncle Leon was a traffic manager for the Kennecott Copper Corp refinery located in the Baltimore, Md. area.   I have a K-Line MP 15 switcher and gondola which I run on occasion.  Uncle Leon got me my first engineers hat and it was the real deal from the New York Central System.  A NYC salesman gave it to him and he gave it to me.  Uncle Leon dealt with most of the major railroads back in the day, as they all solicited him to route Kennecott freight over their railroad.  

Just down the street from where I live, sits the only remaining iron truss bridge designed back in the 19th century by, Baltimorian, Wendell Bollman.   This type of bridge boasted a new patented design and was the first railroad bridge made out of iron.  The B&O had about one hundred of these bridges throughout its' system.  Check out Harpers Ferry WV photos from the Civil War period and you will see Bollman bridges spanning the Potomac River as it carries the B&O mainline west from Maryland into West Virginia.   No one knows where the one now located in my town of Savage, Md was originally located.  This bridge is now a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark.   I have a model of this bridge on my layout.  Had to include it!  

One of my favorite restaurants at which to eat is located in Fells Point, the oldest section of Baltimore City and located on the water front. ( a B&O Docksider used to do street switching/running in Fells Point )  The name of the restaurant is Berthas and Berthas is famous for muscles.  Of course I have a custom rendition of Berthas on my layout.  It's one of two.  Mine is the first Bertha's model and when the owner of Berthas saw my model he had to get one too!  Richard Starsnick of Catonsville, Md. made the models.   

Many decades of personal treasures and wonderful memories are part of my layout.   Each time I walk into my train room they make my heart smile.  

Pat:

This is beautiful tribute to your family and friends. I am honored and humbled to be one of the many. Your layout is spectacular! You bring artistry to model railroading.

I have eight buildings or artifacts on my layout that were purchased at auction when my good friend, Josef K. Lesser, removed the legendary JLATSF Railway layout from his living room about ten years ago. Joe was one of the pioneers of the Hi-Rail movement in the late eighties. Most of his buildings were scratch built. He would locate a building somewhere between Los Angeles and San Bernardino, photograph it extensively, then faithfully replicate it for his layout.

One such structure was a ubiquitous wooden Craftsman style home on North Wilton Place in the Wilshire district of Los Angeles. I was indeed fortunate to acquire Joe’s model of the home as my wife grew up in a similar Craftsman home just a few miles away. She often spoke of a beloved palm tree out front where she and her playmates would store jacks and other small toys in the stubby branch remnants. This Craftsman model enjoys a central location on my layout where it is a memorial to my late wife. She is represented putting something in the tree, while the four legged creature behind represents me on those occasions when I didn’t take advantage of her superior wisdom.