A Rose by any other Name...

So what's in a name?

I'm a big one for names. There are certain things I like, and certain things I don't. To some it might be a trivial issue but the name of my fledgling railroad is important to me.

I really dig names like, "Cross Harbor Railroad", or "South Brooklyn Railway". They have... presence.

So what do I call mine?

In previous bouts of Railroad Hysteria, I've come up with several names baised on the idea of a railroad freelanced in my current location. "Raymore Terminal Railraod" RTR. things like that. So what do I call it this time?

Well that takes a step back to another big decision. I was thinking this time that I'd like to have a car float operation as a significant protion of my railroad. I like the idea of a car float. It gives a small railroad a source for it's cars. They don't just "appear" at an interchange track, or coming zooming out of a staging yard, they actually have a source. (Not that there's anything wrong with stating yards, but car floats seem somehow... cooler to me).

In my first couple of go'rounds with planning a car floating operation was the source of traffic.  As I had short bouts of sanity, I decided that perhaps that was too ambitious for me and went with a simple staging yard and interchange track set up.

So if I do a car float railroad, it would probably be an isolated railroad, serviced by car floats but with no other interchagnes. So after many attempts I came up with, "Malcolm Island Railroad" (Malcolm is the name of one of my uncles). MIRR. Not bad. While I was kicking this around I also stubled on "Parks Harbor Railraod" PHRR. (Parks is my maternal grandmother's name). "The Parks Harbor" sounds really good to me. I like that.

When I was thinking about a local industrial spur I didn't like any of my ideas from the last time around, and while I was just kicking names back and forth in my brain I stumbled across, "Peculiar, Raymore, and Eastern" PR&E. oooo... yeah that I like. (Peculiar and Raymore are towns where I live. Yes there is in fact a Peculiar Missouri, look it up). The PR&E also works because it would mythically run from an existing (but abandoned) ex-Frisco line that ran through Peculiar, and on eastern. If it was ever expanded it would connect with the active UP trackage that runs through Pleasant Hill, MO. I like that dose of realism... well semi-realism. the PR&E would also be neat 'cuse the ex-Frisco line that it would connect with is partly in use (though North of Peculiar) by the Belton, Grandview, and Kansas City excursion railroad I work with. So it would give me an excuse to model some of the BG&KC's equipment for the interchange operations. A definite bonus for me.

So now, which ever way I decide to jump, I've got names to start with. That isn't of course to say that I won't have a flash of inspiration and go with a new name at some future date, but for now, I have at very least working titles.