Whats in a name?
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Why Jackson & Burke?
Well, I wanted something for Jean (my wife) and me (Bruce), but didn’t want it to be the Jean & Bruce RailRoad. We’ve lived in Burke, Virginia for over twenty five years, so that took care of the “B”. I’ve always admired Stonewall Jackson, and the rest is history.
Jean and I go birdwatching almost every week, and the pileated woodpecker is one of our favorite birds.
A little work and a logo was created.
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Well, I wanted something for Jean (my wife) and me (Bruce), but didn’t want it to be the Jean & Bruce RailRoad. We’ve lived in Burke, Virginia for over twenty five years, so that took care of the “B”. I’ve always admired Stonewall Jackson, and the rest is history.
Jean and I go birdwatching almost every week, and the pileated woodpecker is one of our favorite birds.
A little work and a logo was created.
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112 Posts
Bruce,
Thank you for responding.
That is totally cool.
I was kind of wanting to work the kids and wife in the name but like you don't want the simplicity of the "Lindsay Joel & Melissa Railroad"....
I like that fact that you incorporated your other hobby into the logo as well.
Thank you for responding.
That is totally cool.
I was kind of wanting to work the kids and wife in the name but like you don't want the simplicity of the "Lindsay Joel & Melissa Railroad"....
I like that fact that you incorporated your other hobby into the logo as well.
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1,167 Posts
Mine is regional and grandiose. Typical of old time, small railroads trying to raise investor capital. Similar to the Maryland & Pennsylvania which was just a shortline between Baltimore and York, Pa but sounded much bigger.
Still working on a logo though.
-Brian
Still working on a logo though.
-Brian
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5,510 Posts
Mine just kind'a came to being. I didn't spend a whole lot of time at it... maybe I should have.
I did spend some time trying to decide if it was a "Railroad" or a "Railway". Initiallly it was a "Railroad" but in working on the logo I could not get the "Y" to nest neatly inside the second "R" or "RR", so I tried "RY" and I thought it looked good that way.
I have had some fun with folk that ask what "CMBY RY" stands for. It is fun to watch them count on their fingers, first they count off the letters one at a time while they mouth the letters.... "C", "M", "B", "Y"... then they count on their fingers again saying, "Chicago", "Milwaukee", "Burlingon",... uh.... uh.... "What does the 'y' stand for?" When I suggest it might be "Ypsilanti" people just say, "No, it can't be that." If I suggest "Yukon" their eyes look off into space as if studying a wall map of North America and then they say that is too far and makes no sense. The suggestion of "Yokohoma" doesn't work either. "There was never a railroad to Japan!", so it seems nobody will accept a fictious name if it seems to be outside of reason. Of course, most people have no idea how many real railroads had names that bordered on the ridiculous.
I eventually tell them what it really means ("Charlie McCullough's Back Yard Railway") and it is then that I learn I should have spent more time picking the name.
I do find it interesting that so many people have never seen "RY" as the abbreviation for "Railway". Several have said it should be "RW", but I have never seen that, though I have seen "RWY". My daughter had a very nice sign made and the maker convinced her that RY stood for Rail Yard, so I have a sign that reads "CMBY Rail Yard". That's okay, all Railways need a Rail Yard!
I did spend some time trying to decide if it was a "Railroad" or a "Railway". Initiallly it was a "Railroad" but in working on the logo I could not get the "Y" to nest neatly inside the second "R" or "RR", so I tried "RY" and I thought it looked good that way.
I have had some fun with folk that ask what "CMBY RY" stands for. It is fun to watch them count on their fingers, first they count off the letters one at a time while they mouth the letters.... "C", "M", "B", "Y"... then they count on their fingers again saying, "Chicago", "Milwaukee", "Burlingon",... uh.... uh.... "What does the 'y' stand for?" When I suggest it might be "Ypsilanti" people just say, "No, it can't be that." If I suggest "Yukon" their eyes look off into space as if studying a wall map of North America and then they say that is too far and makes no sense. The suggestion of "Yokohoma" doesn't work either. "There was never a railroad to Japan!", so it seems nobody will accept a fictious name if it seems to be outside of reason. Of course, most people have no idea how many real railroads had names that bordered on the ridiculous.
I eventually tell them what it really means ("Charlie McCullough's Back Yard Railway") and it is then that I learn I should have spent more time picking the name.
I do find it interesting that so many people have never seen "RY" as the abbreviation for "Railway". Several have said it should be "RW", but I have never seen that, though I have seen "RWY". My daughter had a very nice sign made and the maker convinced her that RY stood for Rail Yard, so I have a sign that reads "CMBY Rail Yard". That's okay, all Railways need a Rail Yard!
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301 Posts
I currently reside in the town of Reston in Northern Virginia, about five miles from Dulles Int'l Airport, so I'm building the Dulles & Reston Garden Weeds Railroad in my "garden weeds" (not to be confused with that other D&RGW railroad.) The chief advantage of this is that I can use a lot of commercially available models that are already lettered for my railroad - well mostly, anyway. All I generally have to do is replace the herald (logo) with my own, and I'm good to go. Another advantage is that it gives me a great deal of flexibility in that I don't have to be a slave to the prototype, but can stay within a general theme, such as Colorado narrow gauge. And if somebody says: "The D&RGW never had one of those," I can always say: "Well, maybe that D&RGW didn't - but this one does!"
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Also, as was common with a lot of regional short lines (ie: The "Tweetsie" for the ET&WNC,) it's picked up a nickname among the locals - "The Dandy Line" (get it? - dandelion?)
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All this just goes to show that there's lots of ways to have fun with your model railroad. I hope you have as much fun with yours as I do with mine.
Also, as was common with a lot of regional short lines (ie: The "Tweetsie" for the ET&WNC,) it's picked up a nickname among the locals - "The Dandy Line" (get it? - dandelion?)
All this just goes to show that there's lots of ways to have fun with your model railroad. I hope you have as much fun with yours as I do with mine.
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112 Posts
That is what I am talking about! Having fun but also having purpose.
My Kids graduated from John Foster "Dulles" High School here in Sugar Land, Texas.
I thought about working "Sugar Land" into the name some how as well.
I love the thought of making people think like the "CMBYRY" does...
Great input!
Thank you.
My Kids graduated from John Foster "Dulles" High School here in Sugar Land, Texas.
I thought about working "Sugar Land" into the name some how as well.
I love the thought of making people think like the "CMBYRY" does...
Great input!
Thank you.
When we lived in Lakewood, Colorado our railroad was named the Grun Mountain und Western. We lived on Green Mountain and at that time I had two separate loops. One was Colorado Narrow Gauge and the other was European, German and Swiss. At that time everything was LGB. I combined German and English into the RR's name. Here in Virginia I largely run only American style trains. I have expanded to Accucraft and Bachmann when I want the Narrow Gauge and USAT and Aristo when I what the smaller (Standard Gauge) trains. I haven't run the European trains in years. We live on a lake, so my current railroad is the Clear Lake Central.
Chuch N
Chuch N
Well, let's see...My railroad is named after both family and location.
The Allibeth Pacific Railroad got its name from my two daughters (Allison and Elizabeth) and the fact that we live near the Pacific Ocean. Earlier attempts to work my street (Sharynne) or city (Torrance) did not work out as I could not come up with anything that I felt was pleasing to the ear. It happened that as I drove back across the desert from the Arizona convention last year that "Allibeth Pacific Railroad" was dreamed up. The San Cristobal Mining Company subsidiary is named after my stillborn son, Christopher, and uses the Spanish term for Saint Christopher since were are here in southern California with lots of Spanish influences.
The Allibeth Pacific Railroad got its name from my two daughters (Allison and Elizabeth) and the fact that we live near the Pacific Ocean. Earlier attempts to work my street (Sharynne) or city (Torrance) did not work out as I could not come up with anything that I felt was pleasing to the ear. It happened that as I drove back across the desert from the Arizona convention last year that "Allibeth Pacific Railroad" was dreamed up. The San Cristobal Mining Company subsidiary is named after my stillborn son, Christopher, and uses the Spanish term for Saint Christopher since were are here in southern California with lots of Spanish influences.
We named our companies after my wife and I and our pets(they are actually our kids with fur!). We took the first letter of each name and came up with the Graceful Streams & Backwood Pines Lumber Co. It took some serious thinking and planning to come up with it, but it was worth it. The logo has pine trees in it, and although people see it and like it, my wife and I know what it all stands for. It's fun to take something personal, and making it RR related
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4,970 Posts
My Tuscarora Railroad is named for a railroad that--if more than 1/4 mile of rails had been laid--would have run from Blairs Mills, PA (where it picked up from the Tuscarora Valley RR--it's sister company) down to Burnt Cabins, PA, passing through Neeleyton, PA where it would have connected with the East Broad Top's Shade Gap branch. I model the East Broad Top RR, particularly the Shade Gap branch, but a lack of commercially available EBT locomotives convinced me to look for an avenue to use the ones that were available. (Click on the banner in my sig to read the full history of the railroad.)
Later,
K
Later,
K
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736 Posts
Lots of cool names in Texas... Lindale, Joppa & Moravia
Though I did see that Melissa is a town there....
Texas Towns
Though I did see that Melissa is a town there....
Texas Towns
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Dang. Double post. Must not be holding my mouse correctly...
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Wouldn't that be 4 R's?
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Setting is the Southwest US, I wanted something whimsical yet believable. Theres a scene in the movie "The Great Race" that takes place in the desert town of "Borracho" spanish for drunkard. I loved the name, but "Borracho Railroad" just didnt sound too beleivable. There is a town here in California called Borrego Springs, it took about 1/2 a minute to get "Borracho Springs" or Drunkard Springs . Borracho Springs, the name just rolls off the tongue dont it.
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