# Layout Names



## OilValleyRy (Oct 3, 2021)

I don’t know how many folks name their layouts. I’ve spent some years trying to figure a good one for my current layout (20 years in the making/planning), and I am open to suggestions.

But let me back up a second. “Why name a layout?” Is a question some may be asking?
To put it simply, the right name can establish the where, what, and when in just a few words. It can be intentionally vague, or very specific, prototype based, or based on something else (geographical, historical event, etc).
For example; I’ve had layouts named “Michigan & Elsewhere” and “Valley Steam.” Those establish the where more or less. (Also, feel free to adopt those names if you like).

Back to now: As many may know I model Northwest PA during the peak of the 2nd oil embargo (or 2nd wave if you consider them one embargo) in, specifically, Thanksgiving week of 1978. Yes I went *very* precise on the time frame. The proto-freelanced company, Oil Valley, is actually a geo-economic region akin to the rust belt but I don’t think many people know this factoid. So I’ve ruled that out as establishing the where for 99% of folks. Similarly, using “black magic” is a term people don’t associate with crude oil anymore, so I’ve ruled that out… although it didn’t occur to me until just now of incorporating *crude black magic.*
I had considered the name “*Pennsylvania’s Embargo Busters*” but while it clearly pinpoints where, what & when, it doesn’t roll off the tongue very well, ya know? Say it out loud a few times and you’ll realize it’s flirting with tongue twisting.

Anyway, I’ve been coming up short on ideas for a layout name that establishes the where, when, and/or what of the operation. I’d like some suggestions, ideas, and general help from forum members in deciding a name.

If it helps, the two major industries are both refineries, predominant traffic are hazmat trains (crude, gasoline, diesel, coke, etc), the company’s marketing slogan is “harder, faster, & heavier,” and power is EMD, GE, and Alco. Again, 1978.

Thanks in advance. I’m looking forward to ideas from outside my mental box.


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## Murv2 (Nov 5, 2017)

I call mine the 'Sacrifice Division of the B&O Railroad'. It kind of developed from a terrain piece I made to fill an exposed corner of the layout.


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## CTValleyRR (Jul 26, 2014)

I call mine what it is: the Connecticut Valley Railroad.


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## shortwrench (Nov 21, 2019)

Mine is the M & Y Railroad. M & Y = MY.


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## MichaelE (Mar 7, 2018)

Rhätische Bahn and Deutsche Bahn. Not too creative, but that's what it is.


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## Lee Willis (Jan 1, 2014)

About the reason to name a layout, I think alot of it is just so you don't have to call it "my layout," which seems, well, so uncreative. But I love the names people pick for their layouts = just a lot of fun. Mine layout and its little town is called San Bettadaise - (seen better days). That won out over my number two choice, the Lackamoola and Busted Flats RR.


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

OilValleyRy said:


> I don’t know how many folks name their layouts. I’ve spent some years trying to figure a good one for my current layout (20 years in the making/planning), and I am open to suggestions.
> 
> But let me back up a second. “Why name a layout?” Is a question some may be asking?
> To put it simply, the right name can establish the where, what, and when in just a few words. It can be intentionally vague, or very specific, prototype based, or based on something else (geographical, historical event, etc).
> ...


I did some research and, you probably know this, there is an Oil City and Oil Creek in western PA. You could go with Oil City and Western Pennsylvania RR. That's my best shot.


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## 65446 (Sep 22, 2018)

One fellow I know names his RR by the street co ordinances where he lives...If you live on Greenwood and cross street is say, laurel Dr.., Wha la ! The Greenwood & Laurel RR...


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## OilValleyRy (Oct 3, 2021)

Gramps said:


> I did some research and, you probably know this, there is an Oil City and Oil Creek in western PA. You could go with Oil City and Western Pennsylvania RR. That's my best shot.


That’s actually the heart of my layout.

I guess what I really need assistance & suggestions about is the when being established. The embargo with Iran is all I can think of to indicate the time frame. And “oil embargo” is the only term I’ve seen referring to it. Were there any slang terms used, or did Cronkite coin any phrases or monikers for it?


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## Ron045 (Feb 11, 2016)

I don't have a name for my layout, but I do name things on the layout after family.

Here is a real estate sale with my sister-in-law









Here is the entrance to Canman yards named after my brother-in-law who is a RR engineer and is nicknamed TheCanMan because he recycles aluminum cans.

















Here is an aquarium named after my daughter for all of her aquarium cars.









And here is NATRON supply. My son and I built this kit together so it is named after him and I. Nate and Ron.










I'm working on a garden center and that will be named after my Wife. She is a master gardener.
Have Fun!
Ron


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

OilValleyRy said:


> That’s actually the heart of my layout.
> 
> I guess what I really need assistance & suggestions about is the when being established. The embargo with Iran is all I can think of to indicate the time frame. And “oil embargo” is the only term I’ve seen referring to it. Were there any slang terms used, or did Cronkite coin any phrases or monikers for it?


I feel that you are overthinking "the when" the railroad was established. I seriously doubt that any railroad began as a result of the '73 and '78-79 embargos so I think you have to abandon that aspect. The railroads existed prior to the embargos so don't fixate on it, or as we said, back in the day in New York City, 
Forgeddabout it".


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## Steve Rothstein (Jan 1, 2021)

Try the Titusville 4G Railway. The first oil wells in the country were in Titusville, PA in 1859. 4 generations later would be about 120 years, making it late 1970s. I think most people today would understand the abbreviation 4G for 4th generation, though they may not know that the generation is actually a period of 33 years.

BTW, I have never heard the term black magic for oil, but it is called black gold a lot in Texas. And, of course, The Ballad of Jed Clampett called it Texas Tea also.


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## GNfan (Jun 3, 2016)

telltale said:


> Walla ! The Greenwood & Laurel RR


You meant "Voilà". "Walla" is half a town down the road from me. 😀


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## SF Gal (11 mo ago)

I think you hit the nail on the head with "Oil Valley Railway"....adding a favorite first or family name to the beginning would personalize it. 
I have seen Railroads named after point to point towns, state boat shipping harbors, County Valleys, and Industries.
The trouble you get into when you name your railroad is designing a logo and incorporating it into locomotives and train cars. I suppose half the fun, for some of us, is decorating un-named locomotives and rolling stock with your very own created railway logo! 
Like Ron, I too have named businesses with relatives names along the Santa Fe's line from Chicago to New Mexico,
Calling my rendition anything other than the Santa Fe "Big L" would take away from trying to mimic my take of the Railroad already established.


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## MacDaddy55 (Aug 19, 2008)

Ours is the Bedford & Wisconsin Eastern Railway....That Life-Like Bedford Blinking Water Tower (which is all that's left from the original Train Set) made it easy for the kids to name the old layout. So now we have moved and I'll stick with the same name, just to keep it in the Family..LMAO!! I like Petroleum & Penn Valley Railway..Oil Valley RR works just fine!


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## OilValleyRy (Oct 3, 2021)

Ok, I guess there’s confusion of what I was asking.

I’m looking to name the actual layout, not the railroad company etc. From my experience the top two questions people have (especially those with scant RR knowledge) is “what time period is this layout supposed to represent?” And “where is this setting (geographically)?” 
I read an article somewhere decades ago where, like a railroad serves a purpose, so to can a name for a layout. 
The Oil Valley Railway company was formed in 1970 as a result of the Penn Central bankruptcy and selling assets; and reads like a crime novel involving corrupt executives, a shell company, federal agents, private jets bound for Mexico, Switzerland and elsewhere, and eventually, extradition and prison sentences. But to clarify, that revolved around two Penn Central employees, regarding the transfer of assets from the PC to their own shell corporation for virtually nothing, the criminal activity did *not* involve the parties that jointly purchased the line from the shell company in order to create the OVR. It’s not exactly a Clive Cussler novel, but I wanted to use my non-hobby skills in the making of the OVR. 
But that’s a story for a different day. I’m trying to name the layout representation that indicates time & place.

Small note; black gold is a much more common term, yes. That term came to be during the oil boom in Texas. Earlier, actually before and around the time Drake’s Well was drilled, the term black magic was used in slang. It came to be due to the “magical” properties crude Pennsylvania oil had over things like whale oil, etc. The term fell out of use when most production shifted to Texas and So Cal. To this day though PA oil is in a class of its own, literally. There’s Sweet Crude, Sour Crude, and Pennsylvania Crude (determined by impurity levels).

Back to the time/place name… If I could work in “the Shah” somehow, not “siphoning the Shah” but along those lines, that’d unmistakably broadcast the layout is 1978-1980 era. It’s kind of tricky, like marketing a product.


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

If my understanding is correct, your theme for the layout name is Iran's hostility toward the USA and as a result, the oil embargo in 1978-79 and possibly the hostage crisis. I remember that era very well and my suggestion would be the Ayatollah, Assaholah and Embargo Central.


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## Stumpy (Mar 19, 2013)

OilValleyRy said:


> That’s actually the heart of my layout.


Oil City during the Second Oil Shock.






Oil Shock of 1978–79


Explore the Federal Reserve's history



www.federalreservehistory.org


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## traction fan (Oct 5, 2014)

OilValleyRy said:


> I don’t know how many folks name their layouts. I’ve spent some years trying to figure a good one for my current layout (20 years in the making/planning), and I am open to suggestions.
> 
> But let me back up a second. “Why name a layout?” Is a question some may be asking?
> To put it simply, the right name can establish the where, what, and when in just a few words. It can be intentionally vague, or very specific, prototype based, or based on something else (geographical, historical event, etc).
> ...


Mine's just one of those prototype-based layouts. Its set in Seattle in the 1920s or 1950s. I change eras by changing out signs (they're magnetic) and automobiles. The figures work out OK. Men's fashions (suits, ties & hats) were close enough and except for the 1920s "Flappers" with their short skirts, women's hemlines & general attire were similar. in the two eras.

My railroads are the Milwaukee Road, Union Pacific, Great Northern, & Northern Pacific.
I can get away with this plethora of road names since their real life passenger terminals were right across a street from each other. Models of the actual stations, plus the Sears Roebuck mail order building, and backdrop representations of Smith Tower, and the King County courthouse, help to indicate the Seattle locale.

There was also a local coal hauler called the Pacific Coast Railway. Its tracks gave the MILW. & UP access to Seattle. In my model world, the GN and the NP used the Pacific Coast's tracks too. (I don't have room for the multiple, parallel, tracks that these competitors actually used.)

My only attempt at a combined name for the layout was "The Pacific Coast Railways" With the added 's' supposedly encompassing all the various road names. Not very imaginative, I know  but its all I could come up with to fit the situation.

Traction Fan


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## OilValleyRy (Oct 3, 2021)

Gramps said:


> If my understanding is correct, your theme for the layout name is Iran's hostility toward the USA and as a result, the oil embargo in 1978-79 and possibly the hostage crisis. I remember that era very well and my suggestion would be the Ayatollah, Assaholah and Embargo Central.


That’s the era yeah. One mention of the Iran situation zeroes it all in. That was a tremendously rough decade from what I’ve learned (was too young then to grasp more than lollipops).

But you all have me thinking in different ways than I have previously. 
Maybe something like “PA’s Shah-cking Solution”? Although spoken loses it’s clarity.
That’s going in the desired direction anyway. I’m avoiding using “crisis” because these days everything is labeled a crisis.


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## cv_acr (Oct 28, 2011)

My layout is prototype based, so I would just call it after the real railroad line I'm modeling - Algoma Central Northern Subdivision. That was the real name of the real line.

My club is also building a layout based on a specific prototype, so we refer to it as the thing we're modeling - Canadian Pacific Sudbury Division. Again the real world name of the real collection of lines we're modeling.


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## Jscullans (Jul 8, 2019)

I call mine the atsf Illinois valley division


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## Robert E (Nov 5, 2021)

I like the more general name from the layout in one of the recent magazines that is a derivative of saying “goes nowhere and does nothing”. 😊


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## Maddog (Jan 14, 2016)

Named after the three counties the railroad serves.


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## RTWD (May 14, 2021)

OilValleyRy said:


> I don’t know how many folks name their layouts. I’ve spent some years trying to figure a good one for my current layout (20 years in the making/planning), and I am open to suggestions.
> 
> But let me back up a second. “Why name a layout?” Is a question some may be asking?
> To put it simply, the right name can establish the where, what, and when in just a few words. It can be intentionally vague, or very specific, prototype based, or based on something else (geographical, historical event, etc).
> ...


I named mine "The C, J, & B, the Road of the Three Sisters," my daughters. The steam locomotive is named after my Granddaughter, the GP-7 is named after our dog, the cars are named for my daughters, and the caboose is named after my wife.















The true model railroad I just stick with whatever comes on the purchased rolling stock.
Rex


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## Ken4Sports (Feb 24, 2019)

One of my customers ran the local tank farm and he said his tanks were full to the brim but he wasn't allowed to release the gas.


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## Oomowmow (10 mo ago)

OilValleyRy said:


> I don’t know how many folks name their layouts. I’ve spent some years trying to figure a good one for my current layout (20 years in the making/planning), and I am open to suggestions.
> 
> But let me back up a second. “Why name a layout?” Is a question some may be asking?
> To put it simply, the right name can establish the where, what, and when in just a few words. It can be intentionally vague, or very specific, prototype based, or based on something else (geographical, historical event, etc).
> ...


Well since I've been putting crumpled aluminum foil on my layout at night to discourage our resident cast (see the thread "catzilla") I've been thinking of calling mine Tinfoil Valley... 😄


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## DalesParts (Jun 26, 2021)

Keep it simple. Mine is mine. Dale's Railroad. DRR.


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## Oomowmow (10 mo ago)

Oops!


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## Norgale300$$ (Dec 9, 2021)

I named mine "Bonita Grand Central" because I live in Bonita Springs and there is a street named Bonita Grand near where I live. Bonita is between Ft. Myers and Naples, Florida so "Bonita Grand Centra"l it became. I even established colors for the RR, yellow and orange. Painted all my loco's and many cars that combination.





















I can instantly see where all my engines are and see where all the "other" engines are. Works for me. Pete


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## OilValleyRy (Oct 3, 2021)

Doing decal work and thinking about the conversation… and it hit me. I’ve got it.

*“PA’s Seventies Salvation.”*

That immediately conveys to anyone who hears it the “when it is” and “what it’s all about.” It also works with the Oil Valley Railway’s new marketing slogan “harder, faster & heavier.”

It almost sounds like the name of a spaceship in the Firefly tv show too. … That’s a plus.


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## Norgale300$$ (Dec 9, 2021)

People do come up with some great names for stuff. I remember one train that was on another thread called NoLakawanna which I think is very clever and on a boat building thread there was a tug boat named "Push comes to shove." That was my favorite one.


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## Norgale300$$ (Dec 9, 2021)

OilValleyRy said:


> That’s the era yeah. One mention of the Iran situation zeroes it all in. That was a tremendously rough decade from what I’ve learned (was too young then to grasp more than lollipops).
> 
> But you all have me thinking in different ways than I have previously.
> Maybe something like “PA’s Shah-cking Solution”? Although spoken loses it’s clarity.
> That’s going in the desired direction anyway. I’m avoiding using “crisis” because these days everything is labeled a crisis.


Gramps you sure got that name right. LOL. Best laugh for today. Pete


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

Norgale300$$ said:


> People do come up with some great names for stuff. I remember one train that was on another thread called NoLakawanna which I think is very clever and on a boat building thread there was a tug boat named "Push comes to shove." That was my favorite one.


The best name I saw on a boat was "Someday". The owner said for years he had said "Someday I'm going to have a nice boat." and someday finally came.


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## VilledeGrace (Sep 6, 2021)

_ I named my layout (VilledeGrace) after my wife because she puts up with all the crap that goes along with it! I thought it was the least I could do....now she wants a flower shop..._


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## Oomowmow (10 mo ago)

Gramps said:


> The best name I saw on a boat was "Someday". The owner said for years he had said "Someday I'm going to have a nice boat." and someday finally came.


Hmm, I think I'll get me a boat trailer and name it 'someday never comes'....😄


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## Norgale300$$ (Dec 9, 2021)

Oomowmow, didn't that come from a song years ago? That's pretty clever too. You'll be lucky if you never own a boat.I had one and I don't ever want another one.None of my Lincolns ever came close to costing me as much as that one boat did.


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## Oomowmow (10 mo ago)

Norgale300$$ said:


> Oomowmow, didn't that come from a song years ago? That's pretty clever too. You'll be lucky if you never own a boat.I had one and I don't ever want another one.None of my Lincolns ever came close to costing me as much as that one boat did.


I think it was a song, anyway its also an expression I've heard, so I can't take credit for it. I know boats are expensive, that's why I've never owned one. I'll stick to model railroading for now, that's expensive enough!!


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

Oomowmow said:


> I think it was a song, anyway its also an expression I've heard, so I can't take credit for it. I know boats are expensive, that's why I've never owned one. I'll stick to model railroading for now, that's expensive enough!!


It was a song by Creedence Clearwater Revival


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## Norgale300$$ (Dec 9, 2021)

That sounds right Gramps. Sort of a jungle kind of music as I remember. Must have been from the fifties or so. Very popular song.


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## Oomowmow (10 mo ago)

Gramps said:


> It was a song by Creedence Clearwater Revival


Oh yeah, now I remember it!


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## OilValleyRy (Oct 3, 2021)

For those who recall Jon Grant (awol model railroader) he has layouts named Sweet Home Chicago and Sweet Home Alabama.


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## Gramps (Feb 28, 2016)

Norgale300$$ said:


> That sounds right Gramps. Sort of a jungle kind of music as I remember. Must have been from the fifties or so. Very popular song.


They were very popular but only for a few years in the late 60's. I liked them, their biggest hits were "Proud Mary" and "Bad Moon On The Rise"


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## Norgale300$$ (Dec 9, 2021)

I liked them too. I remember those other songs also.It was much better music than what I hear today.


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