Need a good name for a fictional railroad

J

jacksonbarno

Alco Spoken Here
Hey guys,

I have gotten pretty far along in creating a large route for a fictional railroad. The only problem is that I don't have a name for it.

The fictional railroad extends from Chicago via Gary, Ft. Wayne, Cleveland, and Akron. At Ft. Wayne, a line branches off to Cincinnati, and at Cleveland, the mainline continues via Pittsburgh to the east coast and a line to Buffalo. The mainline continues through Pittsburgh, then battles the Allegheny mountains as it cuts across central Pennsylvania. This is where the railroad has an electric district. The mainline continues through Elmira, where it parallels the Erie railroad to New York. At Elmira, the mainline branches into two segments, with one going to New York City, and the other continuing through central New York, crossing the Massachusetts boarder and continuing to Boston, crossing through the Berkshires.

Advantages:
The railroad provides good mainline connections between New York/Boston, Pittsburgh, Akron and Cleveland, and Chicago.
A direct connection between Cleveland and Pittsburgh.
Less grades in the Berkshires than the B&A and the B&M.
Good relations with the Wabash (to St. Louis and Detroit).

Disadvantages:
Steep grades in central PA and western MA.
No direct connection between Boston and New York (and as a result relies on the NH as a crucial connection between the two cities).


Any suggestions?
 
Boston & Chicago, Midland & New England, Great Eastern, Central America System, Atlantic & Lake Michigan, Union Atlantic... I like Midland & New England the most, but those are what I just thought of.
 
Thanks guys! I think I'm going to go with the Lake Erie and Eastern railroad. Thanks for the suggestions!
Edit: I know that the Lake Erie and Eastern was part of the P&LE system, but they weren't really a corporate entity, and they only existed on paper.
 
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New York Central

Pennsylvania Railroad

New York New Haven - NYNH

Indiana & Ohio - IN&OH

Berkshire Central

Appalachian Central

Allegheny Northern

Chicago Belt Line Terminal - CBLT

Wopsononock RR

Willey Finishzit, Kenny Dooit & Betty Doant - WFKD&BD RR
 
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Depends on where the thing started.
If it started business in, say The Pitt, go with something like "Pittsburg and Atlantic" (yes, without "h"). Same if it started in Chicago, go with something like "Chicago, Heartland & Eastern".
:)

Just saying, with such a massive system you´d have a tough time fighting with NYC and PRR. As well as their subsidiaries..... I like the concept, though.
 
How about the Chicago and Great Eastern, or CGE for short given it's a Chicago to Boston line and the direction the line is running.

Now that you've got your route name, you need to come up with a back history complete with the connection partners for trackage rights, competitors, and other details. Keep in mind that being a Chicago based railroad, it's going to be a late player in the eastern railroad game. By the time this railroad would have started, the Erie, NYC, B&O, and Pennsy had already reached Chicago. This will make a pretty tight corridor to compete in.

John
 
That's kind of the concept of the railroad. It's the underdog, and kind of like the Erie, it misses a lot of in between cities like Albany, Binghamton, and Alliance. The good part of this is that it is the perfect line for fast freight because of these reasons. Unlike the Erie, freights don't have to go out of the way to reach major cities because they re on-line, and not at the end of branches.
I guess, practically speaking, an advantage it would have is that it has the most direct route between Boston and Pittsburgh and Cleveland and Pittsburgh. That would save it from competition from the PRR and the NYC.

It has good relations with the Wabash, C&O, and the Reading/CNJ. The mainline would be the Boston line, because with the New York market so saturated, and with the PRR utilizing an arguably quicker link between New York and Pittsburgh, they wouldn't be able to compete in that market. There is no direct rail link between Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Boston without routing trains out of their way (Over the B&A and NYC to Youngstown, then back to Pittsburgh, or over the New Haven to New York, then over the PRR.

The backstory is this: The original railroad, the Boston, Pittsburgh, and Western was chartered in 1873 to build a link between Pittsburgh and Boston. It was brought under control of the Reading Company in 1889, but it was turned loose when the Reading company was reorganized in 1896. In 1887, it acquired the New York, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo railroad, which gave it a link with New York, and extended it to Pittsburgh. From here on out, the railroad concentrated on westward expansion. In 1902, it acquired the Lake Erie and Western railroad, which provided a direct route from Pittsburgh to Cleveland, and a branch to Ashtabula. Under BP&W ownership, the branch to Ashtabula was extended via Erie to Buffalo, where the railroad established ferry services. In the panic of 1907, the railroad declared bankruptcy, and was reorganized as the Lake Erie and Eastern. The LE&E then leased the Chicago, Ft. Wayne, and Cincinnati, the Cleveland, Toledo, and Youngstown, and bought the unbuilt Toledo, Cleveland, and Western railroads. The new line west from Cleveland extended to Chicago via Ft. Wayne. After WWI, the railroad built a connection to the Dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnati railroad, which it then leased. By 1929, the railroad had extended it's reach to Columbus, Indianapolis, and Detroit (via a connection with the Wabash at Ft. Wayne).
 
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That is true, and they would have enough traffic from the alphabet route to be able to forward traffic there to rival the C&NE, but even still, the C&NE has the only direct Boston - Pittsburgh route, which in the 30's and 40's would provide enough traffic for a railroad to still be able to compete.
Good point. I may have to reassess the route a bit to generate more traffic. With the PRR and NYC spreading their influence almost everywhere in the northeast, there are few untapped markets left.
 
I formed some more backstory about the railroad:

In 1937, the LE&E entered the streamlined era. In 1937, the Midnight Limited was fully streamlined, and by 1939, three other trains on the LE&E were fully streamlined as well: The Motor City Limited, the Arrow, and the Queen City Express. In 1938, the Clipper an all-coach running mate to the Midnight Limited was introduced. By 1939, enough lightweight cars were received from PS and Budd, in combonation from the modernized heavyweight cars constructed in the railroad's own shops to add streamlined cars to the Queen City Express, the Allegheny Limited, The New York Limited/Chicago Express, and the Cleveland Express. In 1939, the Cincinnati Clipper was introduced as an All-Coach train to Cincinnati. In 1939, six streamlined 4-8-4 Northern type locomotives arrived to haul the Arrow, the Midnight Limited, and the Clipper.

During WWII, the LE&E saw huge amounts of traffic flow over it's mainlines. The delivery of new sets of EMD FTs in 1942, and 44 and DL109s in 1942 did little to alleviate the motive power shortages that came with increased traffic loads, and as a result, the railroad had to borrow locomotives from surrounding lines to keep traffic flowing freely.

Postwar, the Midnight Limited, The Arrow, the Clipper, and the Cincinnati Clipper would all be fully re-equipped. In addition, the Allegheny Limited, the American Limited, and the Queen City Express recieved refurbished sets of equpiment from the prewar trains. In 1950, the Midnight Limited, the Arrow, and the Clipper all received full time dome cars, and three dome cars were placed on a rotation on the Motor City Limited, the Queen City Express, and the Cincinnati Clipper. In May, 1953, the Motor City Limited and the Queen City Express would be combined both ways east of Ft. Wayne, and both started carrying coaches. This would be a sign of things to come. In July, 1953, the Arrow, and the Clipper were combined seasonally during the spring and summer months, and the Advance Arrow was discontinued. This combination would become permanent in 1956, and in 1958 the Arrow name was dropped. In March, 1954, the Cincinnati Clipper was discontinued and it’s coaches were transferred to the Gotham Limited. In April of 1958, the Pittsburgh Limited was discontinued and its coaches were transferred to the Allegheny Limited. In August of that same year, the Allegheny Limited would be cut back to become a Cleveland – Cincinnati local. In February, 1959, the Gotham Limited was discontinued, and in it’s place, the Clipper started carrying New York – Chicago, New York – Cincinnati, and Boston – Cincinnati cars.

The railroad posted it's first deficit in 1958, and from there the only profitable yeas would be 1961, 1964, and 1965. By 1970, the Lake Erie and Eastern was in trouble. With all of the other railroads around it either becoming abandoned or being merged into larger systems, it found that the amount of friendly connections with other railroads were dwindling. Financially, the railroad was also treading water. With Penn Central and the Erie Lackawanna taking the lions-share of the freight traffic, and with it’s passenger traffic losing money, it only barely stayed afloat by concentrating on it’s western end and ferrying fast freight and TOFC traffic. In 1973 the railroad declared bankruptcy. When Conrail was formed in 1976, the LE&E was still somewhat financially solvent, and therefore was given the option to opt out of Conrail. Faced with either abandonment (under Conrail) or bankruptcy, the railroad chose independence. By 1977, the railroad found itself boxed in by hostile systems: the Chessie System, the N&W, and Conrail. From this standpoint, the railroad faced a grim outlook.


Speaking of EMD FTs, I need to get on a paint scheme for those... and the PAs, FAs, E7s, BL2s, F3s, FM Erie Builts... and the rest of the diesel roster...
 
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I'd have suggested Jacksonville & Northern but that's not a fictional name! :hehe:

Anyhoo, nice backstory, I enjoyed reading it. Is it based on any real railroad?
 
The passenger train consolidations and such are based on the challenges that the NYC and PRR faced once they realized that not only were passenger trains not profitable, but they were losing the railroads a LOT of money.

The actual backstory isn't really based on any particular railroad. Here is some earlier backstory.

The mainline of the LE&W faced challenging grades in central Pennsylvania and northeastern New York/southern Massachusetts. Early attempts to meet the challenges of the massive grades, upwards of 2.5% in some areas, the railroad housed massive locomotives: 20 class R2 2-8-8-2 and 25 class R1 2-6-6-2 mallets were used as regular pushers on these lines, and mainline engines included 2-10-2 class T1, 2-10-4 class F1, and 4-10-2 class Q1 locomotives. To top off this powerful roster, the railroad housed 3 class P1 2-8-8-8-2 triplexes (ordered from Baldwin after the Erie received theirs) and 5 class P2 2-10-10-2 mallet locomotives to assist trains. On lines west of Cleveland, the railroad ran 2-8-4 Berkshires, of which it owned 85 (Class A1 based on the original Lima design and class A2 based on the Van Sweringen design) and 4-8-2 Mountains, of which it owned 65. The lines west, the railroad focused on fast freight, and of the scheduled freights, there were four dedicated LCL freights each way and six perishable trains each way. Many of these symbol priority freights ran in multiple sections. In addition to the Mountains and Berks, 2-8-0s and 2-8-2s rounded out the available mainline freight motive power. For passenger service, the railroad owned 75 4-6-2 Pacifics (class E1, based on a USRA design received during WWI, and class E2, defined by a large Elesco feedwater heater mounted above the smokebox). On the mountain divisions, the railroad utilized 4-10-2 Southern Pacific types, which were enough to haul most scheduled passenger runs without the need for helpers. In the late superpower era, the LE&E received two classes of 4-8-4 locomotives: class S1, which looked similar to the postwar Reading T-1s of which the railroad owned 20, and class S2, received with a streamlined shroud in 1939 to haul the top passenger runs of the road.
An electrification project on the railroad's grades in central Pennsylvania was started in 1920s soon as the railroad was turned loose of USRA control. By 1925, just shy of 100 miles of electrified railroad were operated by the LE&E. Three unit sets of jackshaft electrics assisted heavy freight trains over the steep mountain grades in that division. The railroad was happy to double-head steam locomotives over this division, as this practice took less time, and therefore kept the trains on schedule. Later on, in the mid 30's, the New Haven worked with the LE&E to design and order newer and more efficient electrics. The jackshafts would then on be relegated to coal-hauling service on a further 28 miles of branchline connecting the railroad to coal tipples.

Locomotive rosters:

Steam Locomotives (1939)
2-8-8-8-2 P1 (3) - 1 fitted with Russia Iron boiler-jacket
2-10-10-2 P2 (5) – 2 fitted with Russia Iron boiler-jacket
2-8-8-2 R1 (20) – USRA design – “flying pumps”
2-6-6-2 N1 (25) – USRA design – “flying pumps”
4-10-2 Q1 (30) – Entire Class fitted with Russia Iron boiler-jacket
2-8-4 A1 (45) – Elesco feedwater heater mounted above smoke box
2-8-4 A2 (40) – No Elesco feedwater heater above smoke box
0-6-0 S1 (15) – Camelback – Used for switching in NY and Buffalo
0-6-0 S2 (30) – Regular cab
0-8-0 Q1 (35) – Large switcher, USRA design
2-8-0 B1 (75) – Standard freight engine until delivery of 4-8-2s and 2-8-4s
2-8-2 C1 (80) – USRA design
4-8-2 M1 (65) – USRA design
4-6-2 E1 (30) – USRA design
4-6-2 E2 (45) – Elesco feedwater heater mounted over smoke box
2-10-2 T1 (40) – Elesco feedwater heater mounted over smoke box
2-10-4 F1 (35) – Elesco feedwater heater mounted over smoke box
4-8-4 S1 (20) – Based off of Reading T1 design
4-8-4 S2 (6) – Streamlined locomotive, used to haul the top three streamliners

Diesel Locomotives (1948)
Alco DL109 (15 A units)
Alco PA/PB (15 A units, 5 B units)
Alco FA/FB (40 A units, 40 B units)
Alco RS1 (8)
Alco RS2 (15)
Alco S2 (20)
EMD E7 (21 A units, 7 B units)
EMD F3 (40 A units, 40 B units)
EMD FT (25 A units, 25 B units)
EMD BL2 (10)
Baldwin Centipede (6 A units)
Baldwin DR-4-4-15 (10 A units, 5 B units)
Baldwin DR-6-4-1500 (10 A units, 5 B units)
NW2 (20)
SW1 (15)
FM Erie Built (12 A units, 4 B units)
FM H-10-44 (35)

· The diesel switchers and the BL2s displaced most of the steam switchers, sending them to the dead lines.
· The DL109s, PA/PBs, Centipedes, and E7s bumped the 4-10-2s and 4-6-2s from mainline passenger service. The 4-10-2s would be transferred to freight service, and the 4-6-2 fleet would be downsized. The surviving 4-6-2s would haul commuter trains. With the arrival of RDCs in later years, the Pacific-hauled commuter trains would be phased out.
· The RS1s, RS2s, H-16-44s, and subsequent road switchers would displace the 2-8-0 fleet, which would be downsized.
· The EMD, FM, Baldwin, and Alco freight cab units necessitated the removal of much of the mainline steam locomotives. The first to go would be the 2-8-2s and the older 2-8-4s. With the arrival of F7s and FA2s in 1950, the 4-8-2 fleet would be downsized as well.
· The railroad would not be fully dieselized until 1957.
 
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This is a great idea for a fictional railroad, but why keep history "as is"? Why not not rewrite history as well? Not completely different, but tweak it a bit in favor of the railroads and not automotive and air travel? For example, say the 2 world wars had different start and end dates. the great depression and prohibition was short lived? That oil is not plentiful enough to be an economical form of fuel? That the worlds coal reserves are vastly more plentiful than what we have now? Trainz gives us this golden opportunity to reinvent the world!

A good example is old stories and movies that have had their histories changed to create a whole new universe and storyline that is open to new possibilities. My personal idea is to roll history back 10 to 30 years with a complete focus on steam power. With the internal combustion engine being to expensive to operate the best and brightest engineers would focus on taking steam to new heights. With this in mind, streamlining would come to being in the earliest part of the twentieth century and larger superpower locomotives would also come around sooner to support the nation as it's helping in a massive first world war effort along with a growing nation. There could still be room for first generations diesels as experimental units, but steam is king.

With railroads being the only real solution for the movement of people and goods you would see almost every town serviced by at least a small short line connecting to a larger railroad. Now passenger traffic is not only necessarily needed, but profitable. This makes room for large numbers of fictional railroads as they would compete with each other to service the big cities along with the small towns in between. There is a growing number of fictional lines on the forum so why not add them to this new "parallel world". Think of LE&W, NM&W, and the L&A along with many others all big players in the North American rail wars? All competing or cooperating to get a larger piece of the passenger and freight traffic?

Just an idea :hehe:.

Dave
 
You wouldnt get much FTs during wartime, because of the building restrictions.
I think they lifted them either in late 44 or 45, not sure on the exact year.

As far as I know, engines which were almost complete got finished, so an early 42 delivery of a small group would maybe work. But no new ones during the uncertain time of war, when ressources were scarce and the whole economy was regeared for war production.
:)
 
That being true, the LE&E put in an order for them during 1940. With EMC/EMD being backed up with orders, they didn't get them delivered until mid-1942, same with the DL-109s. Like the New Haven, the LE&E lobbied that the DL-109s were dual purpose units, and that they could also be used in freight service. Most of the rest of the FTs arrived on property around late 1944ish.

Another interesting LE&E passenger train is the Trans-Atlantic Limited. Passengers would board the train in Cincinnati for a quick overnight run to Boston, where passengers would board a zeppelin headed for London. This service was an extra-fare all-Pullman operation, with an observation car and a lounge car. This train wasn't upgraded in the 1937 and 1939 order of cars, but by 1940, it would be fully streamlined and occasionally hauled by one of the railroad's six 4-8-4 S2 class streamlined locomotives. With the outbreak of WWII in 1941, the Trans-Atlantic portion of the name was dropped and the train was renamed the Atlantic Limited, coaches were added, and the extra fare was dropped in order to encourage more people to take that train and take people off of other already-crowded trains. After the war, with the vanishing of all trans-atlantic zeppelin traffic, the trans-portion of the name was dropped. The train soldiered on, still carrying a large amount of head-end traffic, but no longer a prestigious member of the LE&E's passenger fleet. n 1957, the eastbound portion was dropped, but the head-end traffic was enough that the ICC didn't let the LE&E discontinue the westbound train. In 1962, the diner was removed from the train, and in 1964, the sleeping car service was discontinued, leaving the train with only coaches and a snack bar. Finally, the Atlantic Limited was discontinued in 1966, a far cry away from the train that it used to be.

Thai1on, I like the idea of changing history. Perhaps I could write a second story about the railroad with an altered history, but I also want to write a version as if it was a real railroad. It would also be hard to build my fake world in Trainz, because it would most likely be a world where everything is either Art Deco or Victorian/Gothic inspired in terms of architecture. Also, most passenger trains would be streamlined completely with observation cars. Locomotives would look futuristic, and be designed like Raymond Lowey and Otto Kuhler's concept drawings. Zeppelins would be the main form of air transport in lieu of trains, and 1930's style cars with long hoods, large engines, and convertible tops would dominate the streets.
 
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I like the idea of this system, do you still need some paint schemes for your diesels? Cause I'd be more than happy to come up with one, I'm getting tired of my signature colors on just about all of my fictional railroads, red grey and black... This would be an opportunity to try something else.
 
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