Butner Lines: Introduction and Some Notes

gp792

Butner Lines Railroad Co.
Seeing how some forum members have actually come up with stories and history about their fictional railroads, I feel it is now the appropriate time to introduce my railroad company, Butner Lines. While this company has technically existed for a little while, it didn't take on its current form until very recently, when I decided that I wanted it to exist within alternate history. This is where events may have had a different outcome compared to how they actually occurred. And of course, means that railroads (and other companies) that went defunct can still exist, and various landmarks that are long gone can still be standing, etc. So, a little bit about Butner Lines...



Butner Lines started in the 19th Century as a modest-sized railroad named 'Northern & Southern Short Line' or N&SSL for short. This somewhat small railroad operated for about ten-fifteen years before merging with various shortlines and re-organizing a few times, then eventually changing their name to 'Butner Lines'.


Timeframe: Railroad appears to be set sometime in the first or early second half of the 20th Century. (Not too early that diesels aren't invented yet, but not too late where steam is completely gone.)

Paint scheme(s):

Freight/Passenger - Typically black, with graphite smokeboxes, white walls on drivers, white striping along length of running boards/edges of steps, red window frames and oxide red tender decks. Marker lights/classification lights are always Red/Green.

Named Passenger Trains - Typically a deep, sapphire blue, with either gold or silver (sometimes aluminum or stainless steel) striping, cast logo bolted on engine or tender (location varies), and roadname written in cursive/script lettering.

Diesels (Early) - Wears a paint scheme similar to early RF&P paint scheme, but with silver striping and imitation aluminum broad stripe. Main color is Midnight Blue. Cursive/Script Lettering.

Diesels (Late V1) - Midnight blue replaced with maroon. Silver stripe with imitation aluminum striping remains unchanged. Cursive/Script Lettering changed to Serif Lettering. Roughly matches 'Book Antiqua' font.

Diesels (Late V2) - Maroon with tops of hood painted black. Cab roof painted same color as carbody. Reflective white dashed stripes applied to sides of frame, while reflective white paint is applied to handrails. Leslie A200s replaced with Nathan M5, mounted sideways on engineers side, just ahead of the window.

Cabooses (Early) - Light red with black roof, black marker/classification lights. Ends are lighter shade of red. Handrails are non-reflective white.

Cabooses (Late) - Deep red with black roof, yellow ladders and safety slogans written in imitation aluminum-colored script on both sides. Warning stripes in yellow-orange on both ends. Ends are red.
Note: Most wood-bodied cabooses were retired, scrapped or sold to museums long before this paint scheme became standard.

Passenger cars - Most painted various shades of a Pullman green w/ gold lettering, while streamlined cars received a deep, sapphire blue w/ imitation aluminum scheme to match locomotives.




May add more info at a later date...
 
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