Make your Own Train Company

[jordon412]

Not a Train Company, but a Shortline Holding Company

I am head of the Tennessee Pacific Shortline Holding Company. We operate several shortlines:
Appalachian Southern - located in northwest Georgia and is based out of Dalton, Georgia, where it connects with Norfolk Southern and CSX
Atlantic Coast Railway - located in southeast Georgia and is based out of Pelican Bay, Georgia and connects with CSX in Grand Junction, Georgia
Tennessee Central Railroad - A combination of the former Nashville & Eastern and Nashville & Western and extended over Walden's Ridge eastward to connect with Norfolk Southern's former 'Rathole' route near Harriman, Tennessee. It extends from Ashland City, Tennessee to Harriman, Tennessee, passing thru the state capitol of Nashville and providing a direct route between Nashville and Knoxville via NS at Harriman.

We recently added several additions to our portfolio:
Iowa Traction Railroad - located in north central Iowa and is the last electrically-powered freight line in America. However, we added an SW1500 switcher to the roster incase the electricity used by the electric locomotives all of a sudden goes down.
Smoky Mountain Railway - Located in western North Carolina and is a combination of the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad tourist railway between Sylva and Andrews and the Blue Ridge Southern Railroad's 'T Line' between Murphy Junction, in Asheville, NC, to Sylva, where it connects with the Great Smoky Mountain Railroad
Atchafalaya Basin Railroad - Located in the Atchafalaya Swamp of Louisiana, this railroad connects towns that can otherwise be accessible only by boat with the outside world

We work hard to provide quality service and are always looking for new customers. We also routinely give back to the towns we serve with donations to local groups, excursions to fund local communities affected by natural disasters, among others. Our tourist railways also hosts special events such as Day Out with Thomas, Polar Express, dinner trains, and several others.

All six railroads have tourist railway subsidiaries:
Appalachian Southern - Appalachian Scenic Railroad
Atlantic Coast Railway - Atlantic Coast Rambler
Tennessee Central Railroad - Music City Railroad Museum
Iowa Traction Railroad - Iowa Scenic Railroad
Smoky Mountain Railway - Great Smoky Mountains Rambler
Atchafalaya Basin Railroad - Voodoo Express

All these railroads, except the Iowa Traction, have steam locomotives and diesels for their tourist trains. The Iowa Scenic uses three interurban cars for their tourist trains. Here's the tourist locomotives at each railroad:
Appalachian Scenic Railroad - One 2-8-2, two 2-8-0s, two F7's, one GP9, one RS-3, and one SD9
Atlantic Coast Rambler - One 4-6-2 and a 2-8-2, one E8, one F7, one GP9, two GP7s, and one RS-3
Music City Railroad Museum - Two 2-8-0s, two E9s, an F7A-F7B-F7A consist, two GP7s, and one SD9
Great Smoky Mountains Rambler - Two 2-8-2s, four GP9s, and two FP9s
Voodoo Express - One 4-6-0, one 2-6-0, and one 2-8-0, an FA1-FA1 consist, one GP9, and two RSC-1s

While the locomotives used for freight service are all painted in one paint scheme, inspired by Southern's freight paint scheme, each tourist railway has a paint scheme that fits the area:
Appalachian Scenic Railroad and Great Smoky Mountains Rambler - Southern Railway
Atlantic Coast Rambler - Atlantic Coast Line
Music City Railroad Museum - Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis
Voodoo Express - Southern Pacific
However, the Iowa Traction and Iowa Scenic use the same paint scheme - orange with silver roofs and black lettering

We also operate passenger service between Atlanta and Chattanooga on CSX's mainline, starting at the Amtrak station in Atlanta and the Chattanooga Choo-Choo, called The General, after one of the locomotives involved in The Great Locomotive Chase, which traveled the same route. The train is powered by two F40PH's and streamlined cars, along with a dome car. The train offers Coach Class and Business Class, along with a café car serving meals onboard.

That's it for now.
- Jordon412 - CEO, Tennessee Pacific Shortline Holdings Inc.

 

[MeowRailroad]

YOU GET RID OF THAT IATR SW1500 RIGHT AWAY!

 

[cvw]

Since I'm not very good at reskinning I have these.

 

[watemple]

The Ogdensburg and Massena Railroad

The Ogdensburg and Massena Railroad is a tourist railroad that also handles freight. Typical passenger trains are headed by ex-Great Northern H-4 4-6-2 #1453.

The tourist trains start at The Freight House restaurant (I've been there. Delicious food!) and run to Waddington and return. If the 1453 is in for repairs, high hood SD9 #1709 heads the train.

The train is usually comprised of 4 ex-PRR P70 coaches restored to their former glory.

The ride to Waddington takes about a half an hour and runs over the Oswegatchie River, next to the St. Lawrence River, and lush forests. When the train arrives in Waddington, a 2 hour block is started and the passengers can explore the small town. Local freight services between Ogdensburg and Massena and neighboring cities are pulled by 1709.

 

[jordon412]

YOU GET RID OF THAT IATR SW1500 RIGHT AWAY!

Don't worry, it's only there if there's a power outage and to rescue locomotives if they break down. If there's a power outage, the locomotive will be used until power is restored. The Iowa Traction will not be converted from electric to diesel.
This is actually true, the Iowa Traction was purchased by Progressive Rail, a shortline holding company, and plans to continue using the electrics, but are adding diesels to supplement them, along with expanding the railway by reopening the line between Emery, where the shops are, to Clear Lake Junction, where it interchanges with Union Pacific. It also serves Rorick Park, near Mason City. Ironically, Clear Lake Junction is not in Clear Lake, but between Emery and Mason City.
Interestingly, Walt Disney World's monorail network use three diesel-powered 'tractors', which 'tow' the monorails if a power outage occurs.

Also, we have recently decided to add three new events to our portfolio:

Beginning in September and ending the weekend before Thanksgiving, The General gets a new name The General Fall Special. It follows the same schedule and route, but adds on extra passenger cars, a second dome car, a dining car, and a dome-observation car. The trains are pulled by two Ex-Reading 4-8-4 T-1's, one pulling the Atlanta-Chattanooga-Atlanta train and one pulling the Chattanooga-Atlanta-Chattanooga train. Steam replaces the regular diesels on weekends, while the diesels still handle the trains on the weekdays. A 'Tourist' class is added, which costs more than 'Coach' class, and less than 'Business' class. A special 'Deluxe' class is for the dome-observation car and is the most expensive. Tickets for the dome-observation are for either round-trip or one-way only. All 'Tourist' Class, 'Deluxe' Class and passengers who purchased 'Business' or 'Coach' class one-way or round-trip ticket are allowed access to the Dining car. 'One-way' tickets are either Chattanooga-Atlanta with bus return, or Atlanta-Chattanooga with bus return. 'Round-trip' tickets are Chattanooga-Atlanta-Chattanooga or Atlanta-Chattanooga-Atlanta.

There are also fall specials on each tourist railway also, and also use steam locomotives, but the trains are always steam powered, and only run on weekends.

The weekend following Thanksgiving, each tourist railway runs a 'Santa Special', which has Santa on the rear of the train, throwing presents to people waiting alongside the mainline from the platform of an observation car. The train is pulled by a steam locomotive, but for The General's route, only one 'Santa Special' will run, going from Atlanta to Chattanooga.

 

[boyerm25]

I see the "original" Boyerm25 never mentioned that the M&O (on page 9) was actually mostly made by me (I guess he would've had to say "my friend made this" and that would sound bad). :n:
Well, since his departure from the simulation world ("moving on to better things") I've completely taken over the project. Here's a map

Here's one with only original M&O (Pre-1950) routes

Finally, here's one with only routes added AFTER 1950

 

[hauntedclipp]

San Diego Northern Railway

My railway companies require some reshaping of history.

The San Diego Northern runs from San Diego to Barstow, California, with a branch to Escondido from Oceanside. The railway maintains a good relationship with the ATSF, which has trackage rights between Oceanside and San Diego for their San Diegan passenger train as well as freight trains to and from Los Angeles. The SDNR runs freight and passenger trains within their own borders, with other rail companies in charge of through freight. The railway has only one named passenger train, the Silver Gate. Most motive power as well as the equipment used for the Silver Gate was secondhand until the purchase of F59PH's in the late '80s. Local passenger services were later spun-off to the railway's new San Diego Northern Transit (SDNT) division and rebranded as Coast Express Rail (commonly known as Coaster), as well as absorbing the local bus agencies on the western half of the county and rebranded them as Breeze.

The real San Diego Northern Railway is (was?) a real company, formed in the early '90s to acquire the portion of the Surf Line between Stuart Mesa yard, north of Oceanside, to San Diego, California. I believe it was disbanded by the early 2000's.

My version of the San Diego Northern replaces the San Diego - Barstow line's original constructors, the California Southern, which would later become a part of the ATSF. The SDNR remained independent, but had strong ties with the ATSF. In fact, most of SDNR's secondhand equipment came from the Santa Fe. The California Southern abandoned portions of the line between Barstow and Oceanside (due to regular wash-outs) to effectively make it a branch line to Fallbrook, before abandoning that as well. My version of the San Diego Northern put lots of money into preventing the wash-outs to keep the line open, which many SDNR employees owed to the company's many years of financial instability. The risky move to form a the fully-owned Transit subsidiary proved to be profitable using smart business moves and consolidation and streamlining of bus routes and schedules, most routes connecting with the Railway and thus act as feeder services to the Coaster and Silver Gate.


I also have a shortline in mind that purchases the Desert Line from Southern Pacific after a failed attempt to abandon it. The Desert Line runs from San Diego, through the Corrizo Gorge, to Plaster City. I don't have a name for it yet. Just like the SDNR, a lot of money went into maintaining/altering/restoring the line, resulting in a shortage of money and thus owned almost all of its equipment was secondhand. Though once fully operational, the line made a nice profit as a shortcut to a Southern Pacific (later Union Pacific) connection in Plaster City from the Port of San Diego. They also have scheduled passenger trains using ex-UP streamlined equipment (including domes and cafes) along with older heavyweights modified as open-air excursion cars to take advantage of the normally dry and warm weather of the scenic route.

 

[boyerm25]

Updated map including the Arkansas & Northern (A&N) from Kansas City to Texarkana, purchased by the M&O in 2008, a couple older M&O subdivisions I forgot to add (the Iowa Subdivision from Eldora Jct, IA - Sioux Falls, SD, the Vincent Branch from Duncombe, IA - Vincent, IA, and the Madison Subdivision from Sioux Falls, SD - Huron, SD, opened in 1902, 1903, and 1907 respectively) and some changes to the Pioneer Subdivision from Minneapolis, MN to Des Moines, IA (extended a few branches, removed others).

Also, major yards on the system (no names yet):

Major Hump Yards:
Minneapolis, MN
Chicago, IL
Des Moines, IA
Granite Falls, MN

Major Flat Yards:
Springfield, IL
Rockford, IL
Detroit, MI
Madison, WI
Appleton, WI
Hinckley, MN
Duluth, MN
Rochester, MN
Warroad, MN
Sioux Falls, SD
Huron, SD
Rapid City, SD
Waterloo, IA
Kansas City, MO
Little Rock, AR

 

[AMTRAKwannabe]

My railroad is the Virginia Tennessee and Western (AAR: VTW), I may have already mentioned it in here before but I'm putting it here now because I have a system map. My railroad is set in the early 2000's and is the largest railroad in the world. We cover most of the U.S. some of Canada and some of Mexico. We are also the only Class I in North America because the ICC was never created and monopolies were never regulated. While we decided to take over most U.S. rail service, we left a majority of the shortlines and regionals. More detailed info to come at a later date.

 

[hauntedclipp]

Since there's no line down to San Diego on your map, does that mean my San Diego Northern is still independent? :hehe:

 

[trainman7616]

Thats total overkill :/

 

[hauntedclipp]

Nothing's overkill when it comes to the imagination.

It does paint quite the picture, though. It may very well be what it would look like if railroads were allowed to grow and absorb each other without any sort of restriction. But with a railroad the size of the VT&W, I would imagine they'd consolidate routes, which it appears to have done so in the Western states. Looks like there are only lines connecting the largest/most important hubs in the country. I'm assuming shortlines and regionals handle everything in-between. Still quite the tangle in the Northeast. Is there a backstory tracing the events (mergers, buy-outs, absorptions, etc.) that would eventually lead up to the massive VT&W system?

 

[AMTRAKwannabe]

It's not overkill in a society with no government control over monopolies.

Well, here's the basic backstory, the full one will be edited into the original post over time.

We were formed in 1889 as the Kinsale Connecting Railroad, running from Kinsale, VA to Fredricksburg, VA. We connected eastern railroads to a bustling harbor scene, when we expanded out line to Richmond, VA in 1893 we became the Richmond Northern. From that point we remained the Richmond Northern until 1910, at which time our network spanned three states (VA, WV, & MD) and the District of Columbia. In 1910 we acquired the Richmond, Greensboro, & Southern Railway, following the buy-out we became the Tidewater Western Railway. The Tidewater Western expanded over the years and by 1945 we were ready to change names again, this time with a network spanning 15 states (VA, WV, MD, NC, SC, GA, DE, PA, NJ, NY, OH, KY, TN, CT, & MA), we became the Virginia, Tennessee, & Western Railway, which we remain to this day. Following the 1945 name change was a period of little progression, as we were planning our takeover. It was in 1963 that we took the country by surprise, purchasing the NYC, LV, PRR, BN, NKP, N&W, SOU, ATSF, SAL, ACL, C&O, WM, & B&O railroads. After this 1963 takeover we were unstoppable, taking out all but the UP by 1980, it wasn't until 1987 that we acquired the UP and achieved total domination of connecting services. After the 1987 purchasing of UP we made 1 more major purchase, a Mexican railroad by the name of "Portuaria Nacional Mexicano Ferrocarril Conexión" or the Mexican National Port Connecting Railway. That was in 1993, time mysteriously froze in the mid-2000's and here we are, July 23, 2000. While clocks have stopped and time is frozen, we continue providing our services around the country at a very high (yet still reasonable) price.

 

[WCL]

Updated map including the Arkansas & Northern (A&N) from Kansas City to Texarkana, purchased by the M&O in 2008, a couple older M&O subdivisions I forgot to add (the Iowa Subdivision from Eldora Jct, IA - Sioux Falls, SD, the Vincent Branch from Duncombe, IA - Vincent, IA, and the Madison Subdivision from Sioux Falls, SD - Huron, SD, opened in 1902, 1903, and 1907 respectively) and some changes to the Pioneer Subdivision from Minneapolis, MN to Des Moines, IA (extended a few branches, removed others).

Also, major yards on the system (no names yet):

Major Hump Yards:
Minneapolis, MN
Chicago, IL
Des Moines, IA
Granite Falls, MN

Major Flat Yards:
Springfield, IL
Rockford, IL
Detroit, MI
Madison, WI
Appleton, WI
Hinckley, MN
Duluth, MN
Rochester, MN
Warroad, MN
Sioux Falls, SD
Huron, SD
Rapid City, SD
Waterloo, IA
Kansas City, MO
Little Rock, AR

I like how ya got it thru Wisconsin here.....Would be cool to see ya get that part of ur route done

 

[boyerm25]

I like how ya got it thru Wisconsin here.....Would be cool to see ya get that part of ur route done

Do you mean the Spooner - Eau Claire - Stevens Point - Appleton - Oshkosh - Fond Du Lac - Milwaukee line or the La Crosse - Madison - Milwaukee line?

 

[trainman7616]

Who's the muppet with no sense of humour that deleted my Kim Jong Un meme? 0_o

That would be a moderator.

 

[hauntedclipp]

It's not overkill in a society with no government control over monopolies.

Well, here's the basic backstory, the full one will be edited into the original post over time.

We were formed in 1889 as the Kinsale Connecting Railroad, running from Kinsale, VA to Fredricksburg, VA. We connected eastern railroads to a bustling harbor scene, when we expanded out line to Richmond, VA in 1893 we became the Richmond Northern. From that point we remained the Richmond Northern until 1910, at which time our network spanned three states (VA, WV, & MD) and the District of Columbia. In 1910 we acquired the Richmond, Greensboro, & Southern Railway, following the buy-out we became the Tidewater Western Railway. The Tidewater Western expanded over the years and by 1945 we were ready to change names again, this time with a network spanning 15 states (VA, WV, MD, NC, SC, GA, DE, PA, NJ, NY, OH, KY, TN, CT, & MA), we became the Virginia, Tennessee, & Western Railway, which we remain to this day. Following the 1945 name change was a period of little progression, as we were planning our takeover. It was in 1963 that we took the country by surprise, purchasing the NYC, LV, PRR, BN, NKP, N&W, SOU, ATSF, SAL, ACL, C&O, WM, & B&O railroads. After this 1963 takeover we were unstoppable, taking out all but the UP by 1980, it wasn't until 1987 that we acquired the UP and achieved total domination of connecting services. After the 1987 purchasing of UP we made 1 more major purchase, a Mexican railroad by the name of "Portuaria Nacional Mexicano Ferrocarril Conexión" or the Mexican National Port Connecting Railway. That was in 1993, time mysteriously froze in the mid-2000's and here we are, July 23, 2000. While clocks have stopped and time is frozen, we continue providing our services around the country at a very high (yet still reasonable) price.

Goodness! How could a single railroad just up and buy thirteen large Class I railroads all at once? I'd estimate the VT&W would require enough funds for such an astronomical buy-out to equate to building the Burj Khalifa entirely out of bills and coins.

 

[AMTRAKwannabe]

Goodness! How could a single railroad just up and buy thirteen large Class I railroads all at once? I'd estimate the VT&W would require enough funds for such an astronomical buy-out to equate to building the Burj Khalifa entirely out of bills and coins.

The point of no progression for 18 years of no expansion or upgrades, only mandatory stuff.

 

[jacksonbarno]

I might as well throw mine into the mix: the Lake Erie & Eastern

http://www.elvastower.com/forums/index.php?/topic/25486-fictional-railroad-project-the-lee/

Divisions are as follows:

Yellow: Eastern Division
Dark Blue: New York Division
Pink: Allegheny Division
Dark Green: Ohio Division
Light Green: Northern Division
Purple: Cleveland & Erie Division - Interurban electric line (Erie - Toledo only)
Light Blue: Southern Division
Red: Western Division
Lines in black represent trackage rights to other cities.

 

[wpn96]

Here is my list of fictional railroad companies:

Bryanton Central System - Class I railroad set in many states East of the Mississippi.

William Pacific - Class I railroad set in many states West of the Mississippi River.

Fort Camon Military Railroad - A military railroad based in Virginia.

Jaggerton Central Route/Mt. Jaggerton Scenic Railroad - A Class II railroad set in the pacific northwest and northern CA. Headquartered in Mt Jaggerton, WA. Also has a narrow gauge railroad.