In search of business names.

JCitron

Trainzing since 12-2003
I don't know about you guys, but I sometimes run out of names for my various industries and businesses on my routes. During a search on www.archive.org for something else the other day, I happened on this here:

https://archive.org/details/polksindianapol1963unse

There are plenty more where this came from, and viola! we now have various names we can incorporate into our industries and other businesses such as Foster Engineering, Lemon Tree Lounge, and so on.

If we're gutsy enough, we could carefully trace the images off and create signs for some of them by downloading them, and screen capturing a page we like, and putting the capture in a different layer in Paint.Net, Gimp, or Photoshop, or some other similar program, and tracing over the image carefully.

Way cool.
 
Those are good sources as well, but the older ones are better especially if we're modeling the older time periods. There are some business types which no longer exist today, or are pretty rare such as piano manufacturers for example.

The wording too is particularly important. There was a different way of wording things back in the previous decades than we do today.
 
I don't know about you guys, but I sometimes run out of names for my various industries and businesses on my routes. During a search on www.archive.org for something else the other day, I happened on this here:

https://archive.org/details/polksindianapol1963unse

There are plenty more where this came from, and viola! we now have various names we can incorporate into our industries and other businesses such as Foster Engineering, Lemon Tree Lounge, and so on.

If we're gutsy enough, we could carefully trace the images off and create signs for some of them by downloading them, and screen capturing a page we like, and putting the capture in a different layer in Paint.Net, Gimp, or Photoshop, or some other similar program, and tracing over the image carefully.

Way cool.

Try Googling the terms "random name generator" and you will get a variety of online sites that can generate random names. These sites are used by authors and game players when the old imagination just can't do the trick. I have used these sites myself and it solves the problem neatly.

Bob
 
Try Googling the terms "random name generator" and you will get a variety of online sites that can generate random names. These sites are used by authors and game players when the old imagination just can't do the trick. I have used these sites myself and it solves the problem neatly.

Bob

I've used one of those sites before way back in the SimCity days. Yeah they are helpful for situations like this. :)

Thanks.
 
Yellow Pages? Comon' Guys, it's the 21st Century. Go to Google. Type "yelp milling companies"
McGoldrick Milling Company
Conagra Flour Milling Company
Foothill Mill & Lumber Company
Coastal Milling Works
Bob's Red Mill
Adm Milling Company -


As
schweitzerdude mentioned, Google Maps is also very good (for current businesses). When I did my Tampa Rockport I used this to get the actual company names for everything from gas stations to the major company industrial complexes. An added plus is that you can see what the building looks like and dimensions.
 
Two other sources are:
1. http://www.opsig.org/reso/inddb/ they have a database of industries served by railroads - 4 files with about 10,000 each. Listings are by state, Name of Industry, City, RR, products, send/receive. Some files are in xls format, some in txt.
2. Books of customers of railroads were published years ago called Shippers Guide. http://railsunlimited.ribbonrail.com/Books/shippers.html has reprints from 16 railroads available.

David
 
Two other sources are:
1. http://www.opsig.org/reso/inddb/ they have a database of industries served by railroads - 4 files with about 10,000 each. Listings are by state, Name of Industry, City, RR, products, send/receive. Some files are in xls format, some in txt.
2. Books of customers of railroads were published years ago called Shippers Guide. http://railsunlimited.ribbonrail.com/Books/shippers.html has reprints from 16 railroads available.

David

These are great sources. The NMRA is a great resource for information, which I have totally forgotten about since I am no longer a member.

The Shipper's Guide link, however, is broken. I was able to get to the main site then select books and arrive there.

http://railsunlimited.ribbonrail.com
 
I use my ancestral family names many times to name my industries. For instance, my Mom's maiden name (Burkett). The names of some of my childhood friends, etc. etc. Or sometimes, I'll take one name I saw along the road and combine it with another name. OR many times, I'll just make up a name.
 
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I us
e my ancestral family names many times to name my industries.

A brilliant idea, Dave - I have traced 155 names of families which married ancestors of mine or direct descendants of those ancestors - should keep me busy for some time!

Ray
 
That's a great idea. I have family on dad's side whose names I can't spell even phonetically, thanks to coming from the Ukraine and other places in Eastern Europe. Mom's side are English, Irish, Swedes, and Germans, which is easier.
 
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