How about some fun with naming of industries?

A little bit of goofy fun goes a long, long way. Less is more. 

There a lots, millions, of actual businesses trackside in this country many with very lovely signs, logos, and names which could fit almost any layout. 

Sadly, I have seen far, far to many layouts with joke after joke -- half dressed gal in the window, topless bar with a colorful name, sewage company, etc. After the first time they became really boring and took away from the layout. Like hearing the same joke told poorly over and over. 

CincinnatiWestern posted:

A little bit of goofy fun goes a long, long way. Less is more. 

There a lots, millions, of actual businesses trackside in this country many with very lovely signs, logos, and names which could fit almost any layout. 

Sadly, I have seen far, far to many layouts with joke after joke -- half dressed gal in the window, topless bar with a colorful name, sewage company, etc. After the first time they became really boring and took away from the layout. Like hearing the same joke told poorly over and over. 

Yep.  Like seeing the same SF Warbonnet F3s on so many layouts.  Whimsy and F3 are the laouy owner's choice.

Ann Arbor, Michigan had "The Halfway Inn."  I have the M.T. Box Company on my railroad.  "The Enchanted Florist" is one of my favorites. Alas...no Warbonnet F3s.

"After the first time" ...so you had fun, but forget about those that haven't yet?

???? Fun once; works for me

 I laugh hardest when I first  HEAR a joke too...knock knock.. bananna!

But someone, somewhere hasnt heard it      ..yet

 Rich, If you tie a villan figure down, I've gotta a MARX SF SC WB A-B-A we can try to run it too fast, and derail it right into the M.T. Box! Bullseye! Kaboooshh! Less villians, less silver plated pickles with lipstick on them.

Not exactly win win, but still fun with the right attitude.

(I blew my bridge up again; haven't got around to fixing it yet; can't host)

  I went past a dog salon today I hadn't noticed before;

"Butt Wiggler's"

Industrial ..................

CincinnatiWestern posted:

A little bit of goofy fun goes a long, long way. Less is more. 

There a lots, millions, of actual businesses trackside in this country many with very lovely signs, logos, and names which could fit almost any layout. 

Sadly, I have seen far, far to many layouts with joke after joke -- half dressed gal in the window, topless bar with a colorful name, sewage company, etc. After the first time they became really boring and took away from the layout. Like hearing the same joke told poorly over and over. 

Amen. I know some really good layouts which have goofy names for every business. To me, that detracts from an overall good modeling job otherwise.

Growing up, I kept hearing about how amazing John Allen's G&D layout was. I was impressed with his scratch-building for structures and his scenery was impressive in its scope and size, but the whimsy? That turned me off very early into my interest in the hobby.

Another thing that annoys far more is that so many businesses have massive signs, and almost always in the Helvetica san-serif typeface, regardless of the era. What is it with model railroaders and Helvetica? I get these signs are so they can be read from a few feet away, but you're not likely to find such a large sign in real life unless it's a very large building to start with. Billboard signs on the side of buildings aren't so common in real life but they're the standard for model railroads.

One structure on my own layout has a O scale sign that you'd have to get just a few inches away to read it at all.

On30 has become a joke among many in the hobby as it's largely a 'catch-all' gauge for all the whimsy you can pack into a layout. Structures that'd look odd in a Hobbit movie, curves that are so tight that they'd look off in Z scale, and cars so short they really should have a single truck underneath them. All are common in On30. I have been told in person and via email many times from people who are surprised that my layout lacks that "amusement park-esqe" quality that so many On30 layouts have,

Seen in Western Nebraska a few years ago.

Correct fellas the design of one's layout is entirely their own, fill it full of goofy stuff til your heart sings with joy, belly laugh every time you see it, live it up. Not suggesting in any way that isn't each and everyone's right. 

Just pointing out that a little can go a long way, and what is funny once isn't twice (or 400 times), it gets real old real fast. 

But again to each his own. With so many real choices of both names and industries, there are plenty of prototypes to model without inventing anything.

On that note, we traveled 4,000 miles train this summer, taking 6,000 photos along the way. Oddly in that entire journey, not a single ice cream stand, only two strip clubs (neither with a funny name), nor any 12' tall giant gatemen waving to the passing train. 

CincinnatiWestern posted:

But again to each his own. With so many real choices of both names and industries, there are plenty of prototypes to model without inventing anything.

On that note, we traveled 4,000 miles train this summer, taking 6,000 photos along the way. Oddly in that entire journey, not a single ice cream stand, only two strip clubs (neither with a funny name), nor any 12' tall giant gatemen waving to the passing train. 

I bet you never passed a pickle plant, either, right? How many of those have graced layouts over the past 30 years or so?

Model railroader had an editorial last year on all the staples of layouts that probably never existed in real life. They used the examples of pickle plants and cars (as well as haunted houses), as kits for each were very common in the hobby for generations and used to be spotted on almost every large layout (though hardly anyone could say they'd ever seen either in real life). One guy said it best, I think:

One guy's whimsy is another guy's silly.  I for one agree [with a previous post] that believability, not necessarily realism, is achieved by modeling the ordinary.  OTOH, I also agree with the most overused quote/excuse on [the MR forum]... "It's your railroad..." 

BTW, the idea of modeling the ordinary is not new.

I have O.L. King Coal Co on my layout. There was A real used car lot in our area called Beetswalken cars

Max and "Max Foods"

Peter