Your avatar signature/forum name and layout name

Back in my 30's I played a lot of baseball/softball and was always at a sporting goods store owned by a friend of mine. She asked if I was interested in working there on Saturdays. Figuring it was a good way to get my supplies (bats, gloves...) at cost and make a few bucks I accepted. The guys that worked there full time admired my laid back demeanor in dealing with the customers (it was work for them but for me it was something other than my normal 9 to 5) so they pinned the name ezmike on me.

 

The name of my RR comes from the first initials of my wife, daughter and son; PN&R. Not very creative.

 

Mike

My username is my first name and the intials for a shortline in San Diego that runs on the San Diego Trolley lines in the early mornings, San Diego Imperial Valley. My layout might be named Chula Vista Railway system when I get around to building a layout. Chula Vista means clear view. So I clear view Railway system would only have 1 to 2 trains operating at a time.

I was a naturalist at a nature center north of Atlanta, the Chattahoochee Nature Center. Way back when, I would go on a small Atlanta TV station on a program called Officer Don (Don owned the station) and I would take animals that we had at the center to show and tell. I was of course, Ranger Rick. I am currently an Ohio Certified Volunteer Naturalist and I have a light colored golden retriever named...what else, Ranger! I also bought an older Ford Ranger last year to haul baseball equipment in. Ranger loves the Ranger! 

 

As part of the nature center, we had a wildlife rehabilitation center taking in orphaned and injured animals. I had the opportunity to raise 7 baby raccoons in several years. Unlike many, I like raccoons. My Atlanta layout is named Raccoon Creek Scenic Railroad. 

 

Unfortunately, I had to leave that layout and am now in Ohio with the makings of a new layout in progress. This layout's name will be Shady Hollow just because I like the sound of the name.

 

Rick

 

Some nice folks at a show in Connecticut came up to me and asked, "Hey, are you the Train Guy?" I replied: "Yeah, I'm Trainguy Ken." The name has stuck ever since.

My layout doesn't have an official name. I usually just call it the Traveling Railroad since it's portable and I often take it with me to train club events.

As a kid we had a summer home in East Tawas, Michigan. Used for hunting and fishing. I use to ride my bicycle to the D&M Round House in East Tawas, just off US-23 and watch the trains. At night we could hear the trains coming.

     This Railway is what I use for my You Tube Channel Avatar & Train Room Logo.

This is my story. Pass it on.

University of Pittsburgh......Class of 1997.   Thus, the Panther97.    I haven't come up with a good name for my railroad to date.  

My avatar name is is an anagram for my real name.

 

Rev. Sean Jess Kent

 

(kidding)

For me, there is no connection between my screen name and my railroad's name. The Big Boy part is a little double entendre referring to my physical size and the Union Pacific locomotive. The 4005 part is an homage to my time spent living in the Denver area. I was in an HO club that was in the basement of the old Forney Museum, and the 4005 was just outside the entrance to the club.

 

My layout's name has nothing to do with any of that. The Twin Cities Central is simply descriptive of the area represented. I'm modelling the BNSF, CP and UP as they pass through Minneapolis and St Paul.

 

I use the same login on most forums I'm on.

I got into the email I use very early and needed to pick a email, so I chose P51 as it was available then (people don't believe me when I tell what my email is, now). I have gotten many rides on various WW2 airplanes back in the 90s. The best 90 minutes of my life was spent riding the back seat of a Mustang in formation with a B-17 and a B-24 over water!

I was 26 when this shot was taken, so of course I'm not quite that thin anymore, darn it...

 

My current avatar is me sitting on a P-51 cockpit in my original complete set of WW2 flight gear.

 

 

My layout name is based on the place it takes place in. Stoney Creek is a real place, outside of Elizabethton, Tennessee. My parents (both of whom turn 80 next year) were born and raised there (they currently own the house Dad was raised in). There was a logging RR that went belly up in the early 30s which ran up through there. I always wanted to model the 3-foot ET&WNC RR but knew I'd never be able to do justice to the real locations...

So, I made a fictional branch line to the valley where my parents grew up.

My website link below explains that in more detail...

 

My screen name is my first name and the first two letters of my last name. I like to be called Pat and didn't want any other handle. 

 

My Avitar is a cropped picture of me walking my daughter down the aisle last September. I like the picture and the memory.

 

I don't have a railroad. I operate at my train club. That railroad doesn't have a name.

My mom and dad picked my avatar name.  I've yet to find a suitable pic to use.  Maybe I'll rectify that at York.

 

My RR doesn't have a name as I haven't come up with one I like.  Perhaps one day I will, especially since I'm almost done tearing it down to do a complete rebuild.

 

--Greg

My avatar name is fairly prosaic. There was already a use by the name of 'Len' when I joined the forum. So I became 'Len2' (Len too).

The Odious Orange Octopus. Goes back to my Vietnam days.

Initials, with one common initial borrowed from deceased brother and father and grandfather.

 

My model railroad names (multiple layouts here) are somewhat generic and subject to change.

Gilly is a common nickname amongst men in my family. I have been using it regularly since my father's death in 2006.

 

"N&W" my Grandfather, Father, Brother, and several great and great-great Uncles were N&W employees. Were it not for a blown L2 at age 19 and I would have been at the N&W as well.

 

Layout name: Turbine Town. Dad worked on the N&W 2300 from 1954 - 57. I have an affinity for turbines.

I'm afraid my screen name has nothing to do with trains. I use the same name on every site I visit.

It is a Scrambler, it is an '81, and I've been driving it for 30 years. We're kind of a couple.

 As for the layout: I change it too often to bother naming it. Maybe someday I'll get it right, then I'll think of something.

- I'm a car guy, as many of us here, and specifically a Mopar guy. I grew up in the 50's - 60's (as most of us did), and the hot package on a Dodge from 1955 through 1961 was the "D500". It sometimes had a badge of some kind. Bigger or hotter Hemi -or- long rams intake manifold on a wedge-head, HD brakes and springs, punchier rear-end, maybe Sure-Grip(?).

Enough. That's the origin of "D500". The photo was taken at Railfest in Meridian, Mississippi (100+ miles north of Mobile) by a friend a few years ago.

 

- Railroad name: I don't think of it that way. It's just a slice of things, or a parking lot for projects (as it is now).

I do call it "The Layout", which gives me an idea for some custom decals. Hm-m-m-m. RR Roman or Block Gothic? Slogan: "Take The Layout To Where You Need To Go!" 

When I had to come up with a name while signing up, I went ahead and used the number of the Amfleet Coach Car that I rode on one of the Amtrak Silvers in 2010 or 2011.

 

Full Avatar picture is of me holding an Amfleet Coach and was later cropped to its current size.

Not to stray off topic, but as a Jeep Wrangler/Scrambler/CJ fan, I like your mud photo and you're choice of vehicle.

 

One of these days, I will actually buy one (and not just have a diecast display)

 

Photo below of me at a 2010 Boy Scout event in a WWII Willys Jeep

 

 

I wish I had something interesting to say about my forum name, but the computer at ogauge rr forum picked my forum name.  First name is Steve and I live in Austin Texas.  The computer suggested aussteve.  Knowing that the computer is always right, I agreed.

 

My layout does not have a name, but it could never be named Chula Vista (clear view).  The running trains travel from room to room and pop out occasionally from underneath a second deck that was never finished.  So, there is rarely a clear view.  At present I am moving trains and computer parts off the second deck to either eliminate it or lay down some tracks on the astroturf surface.

My forum name because i like Chessie and the 1971 is the year i was born. My layout is J&A Junction first letter of my first name Jeff  and first letter of my girlfriend name Amy.

Not to split hairs, but that's not a WW2 (or even a military) Jeep. It's a postwar CJ-3. They started making them in 1948.

 

This is a WW2 Jeep. I'm sitting in my 1944 Willys MB:

I also have a 2005 Wrangler Unlimited Rubicon - the 2 door, long wheelbase Unlimited. That one will be going to my son next year.

 I was supposed to drive a Willys much like that in a parade once. Moved it about 20' when I smelled fuel. Danged fuel line split, and it was pouring out. Another 20' and it would have become a roman candle. Never did get another chance to drive one.

The Putnam Division is the nostalgic and quaint piece of the New York Central abandoned over the years, 1st with the elimination of passenger service in 1958. Very little is left now, except for some artifacts and the old ROW is a rail trial through Westchester and Putnam Counties.

 

My layout is called the PeboCentral.....My 1st name is Peter and I am known as Uncle Pebo by the young children of one of my partners.....it was also easy to alter a PennCentral logo!

 

 

 

 

 

The picture is from a retirement party of the fellow that started our group.....the group picture is in my profile.....Now, I'm the "old man"!

 

Peter

 

 

Laidoffsick -- Well I'm not laid off, and I'm not sick. Its a term we use at BNSF to call in sick. When you work the road jobs (pool turns or extra boards) you don't have assigned days off, so the only way we get a day off is to "lay off". During busy times the RR will deny you laying off due to man power shortages, but legally they can't deny you calling in sick. If you're sick, you're sick... or not really. They force us to lie to get a day off, not so much any more, but in the past. So ever since I hired out in 1997, I just use Laidoffsick for my screen name everywhere, because if I was not at work, chance are, I was LAIDOFFSICK

 

We named the layout The Ohio and Southwestern because of our roots. My parents were born and raised in Ohio, I was born in Ohio, and then we moved to AZ. Years later moving again to New Mexico and finally CA. So our layout covers the RR's we were exposed to over the years, making it possible to find just about anything running on our layout.  

There was no premeditation for coming up with 'Traindiesel'.  Back in the early '90's I was trying to come up with a handle to use when I signed up on AOL.  Since I love trains I wanted to make the name to reflect that.  About six different attempts were all taken, so I just put two train words together.  I do like diesels as much as steam and electrics but the name was accepted so I went with it and have used it for any and all forum activities.

 

The short story of The Penn American Railroad is that on the way home from a York Meet several years ago, my wife and I were discussing all the different locomotives and rolling stock we bought representing so many different railroads.  Since the PRR is my favorite railroad, and I had trains from so many different liveries, I officially changed my railroad's name to The Penn American Railroad (working on version 4.0 currently).  Previously it was named "Oxford Central" after our location, but was changed to reflect the many different roads as opposed to being localized.

 

Sometimes it's scary how my mind works.

 

Believe That!

Believe in The Penn American Railroad.

My name of Chugman is not what many of you may think.  Some think it is a reference to a bad drinking habit (I don't drink) and some think it refers to steam engines. (I only have one)  It really started because at the time I was working for Dean Foods and was on the team that introduced Milk Chugs, individual plastic bottles of milk.

 

My railroad is presently called the UP & BNSF Railroad.  In my imagination these two RR's merged, but haven't come up with a new name yet.  That allows me to have both everywhere.  I also run a Milwaukee Road branch line on my upper level that interchanges with the UP & BNSF.

 

Art

Doesn't shock me. There are several places in the fuel lines that could happen. Had a carb float develop a pinhole leak and gas was soon gushing over the top of the carb. Thank goodness it was just sitting in my garage warming up for an oil change at the time!

WW2 Jeeps weren't that tough, really. They had fragile parts and broke easily. They're crazy maintenance-intensive, too. Like owning an airplane, you gotta do a walk around every time you fire the thing up.

People today don't realize that a Jeep in WW2 was only supposed to last for no more than a month or two in combat before a new one would be expected to replace it. yet, I have one in the garage that has never been restored, only repainted a few times and had preventative or routine maintenance done to it ever since it was sold in auction by the Navy in 1947...

Growing up in the hamlet of Oyster Bay, N.Y. the train station was about two blocks from home. As children, we would wait for a train arriving to the station. When we seen the train entering the bend down the line, we would run up to the rails a place pennies and nickels on the rails.

 

Once the train passed, we would look for our coins. Most coins were ejected once the locomotive made contact with them. Every once and a while, you would get lucky and you coin would still be lying on the rail as flat as can be, thus FlatNickel.

 

The layout is Possum Junction (I have stolen the "O" From Opossum for the gauge).

Mine is what I was known as on the railroad. Of the several

Jim's that I worked with, I was the tallest of them all.

Graduated from The Pennsylvania State University after 4 years in Happy Valley - State College in 1980. 

I joined this Forum almost 15 years ago. It was the first such Forum I had ever joined. I had no idea what to use as a handle so I chose my favorite locomotive at the time which is the MTH 20-3020-1 NYC Hudson. I still have it and it is still one of my favorites. It has pretty good detail and runs well. Recently I had it converted to PS3. It's not going anywhere anytime soon.

 

I don't have a layout at the present time so no name for the layout. When I get to building it I want it to be a slice of the NYC so I am looking to pick something prototypical that the NYC used.

 

 

The handle is my name, Samuel P. Wills.

 

     In 1980, my dad, then an Amtrak signalman, purchased a 19-acre plot of land on the West Branch of the Brandywine Creek a few miles north of Coatesville, PA. The plot was bisected by the Wilmington & Northern branch of Conrail. My dad saw this as not only a way to watch trains, but he also thought he would see passenger service return to the line. That dream was not to be, the line was abandoned a few years later. Pursuant to Conrail policy the track was completely dismantled and removed.

     Cedar Knoll was the flag-stop at the Cedar Knoll Road crossing on the edge of the aforementioned property. (See attached image from a Reading ramble video) By 1980, all that was left was the foundation of the flag-stop pole. That was covered up by a road realignment about 13 years ago (I was 4-5 at the time.

 

     So we have a station called Cedar Knoll near the West Brandywine hence the Cedar Knoll and West Brandywine Railroad.

 

An additional influence may be my dad's Cedar Knoll Telephone & Telegraph Company.

http://www.cedarknolltelephone.com/

 

 

 

 

I'm not really sure how I came up with the forum name of G3750.  

 

3750 is the number of one of the two surviving PRR K4s Pacific locomotives.  K4s #3750 lives at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania.  "G" is the first initial of my first name.  When I was signing up for the forum many years back, that's what I came up with.  I don't know how long ago that really was, but I do remember at the first forum meeting at York, we all had time to stand up and introduce ourselves.  The group's just a little bigger than that right now.

 

I don't have an avatar, as Rich doesn't believe this (below) is what I really look like:

 

 

Anyway, my layout is the PRR Panhandle (thread is in the Photo Forum).  It is named for West Virginia's northern panhandle and was the Pennsy's secondary mainline to St. Louis.

 

 

George

 

When I found out about the forum and joined, it seemed most folks were using something other than their given name. My oldest grandson inherited the train gene, so I chose Lionel Grandpa.

 

As far as a railroad name, the first TMCC locomotive my grandson and I bought was a New York Central Mikado from the Hot Box Reefer set. Then we added a NYC Atlas GP and a NYC Lionel S2 switcher, so we call the layout the New York Central H&G Division (stands for Harry and Grandpa). We recently decided to limit the roster to NYC, PRR, Lehigh Valley and Reading locos. 

Frank, as you have probably been told before, there is a real Moon Township, PA.  It's near the Pittsburgh airport.

 

George

Great topic, Frank!!

 

Well I have used signature/forum name in the past, wmshays, for Western Maryland RR Shays including Big Number 6.  However, I have always disliked getting form messages addressed 'Dear wmshays', like that was my name.  So, when I joined here over 3 years ago, I made it the name my parents game me.  I also put a photo of my mug up there, which has come in quite handy for folks recognizing me at events and hobby shops!  If they hadn't put their photo up there, we could have passed like ships in the night and never met.  I recommend it!!

 

I have had various names for my layouts of the past, but need to come up with a really good name for the new layout I plan to build.  Right now, I post photos take on the Patio Pacific RR, the Picnic Table Pacific RR, the Ceiling Central RR, the Carpet Central RR, and the Temporary Railroad.  All of which are rather self explanatory.

I used to do this with my cousin in New Orleans with the streetcars. My dad and uncle told us that is what they used to do when they were kids back when the streetcars ran everywhere in the city. One time the driver saw us placing the coins on the track and stopped the car and told us to get the coins off the track. I had forgotten about that until I saw your post.

"EBT Jim" because my mother grew up in a company town built by East Broad Top RR's sister company ... Rockhill Iron & Coal.

 

At various times in my life, I've loosely modeled the interchange between the EBT and the PRR.

 

 

My present freelanced railroad, a work in progress, is loosely based on Conrail's Chemical Coast Secondary (Branch). A former CNJ line that runs through my home town of Linden NJ, serving heavy industry.

 

 

I placed my Avatar on a Coffee Mug. You can get his done at any big box store that has a photo lab. They have a lot of items that you can place your Avatar / Logo on. There are also on line photo labs that do the same procedures.

Gary • Cheers from The Detroit and Mackinac Railway

Gary,

I love it!!

RRDOC started with my first AOL email address back in the day when AOL was the web.  The RR is obvious;  I'm a family doctor. 

Avatar is photo with my grandson.  Doing some early imprinting with trains. 

Current layout is temporary due to a move, the 6x10 "Blue Foam Central"  

 

12x26 layout to be started this winter, to include PRR, North Shore Line, and Milwaukee trackage. No name yet:  Maybe "Pennsywaukee"?

Bob

 

Hi George, Yes, Thanks. Having grown up in the metropolitan Pittsburgh area, I became aware of the township's existence, even though it did not become a part of my adventures as a teenager, driving around exploring and looking for girls, but I never got that far.

FrankM.

The name is my real name, the layout being built will be the "South Philly and Western" it runs from South Philly to LA and all points in between. it's slogan, "Serving all America" also "home of the flying Scrapple Brick"  sorry can not insert photo of me, would scare off to many folks.

       
PSU1980, I was PSU class of 1988!  My screen name "joeyA" was what my friends and classmates at Penn State called me.  Pretty simple, too, as it's just a nickname version of my given first name (Joseph/Joe), and the first initial of my last name.

As for my layout, my 11-year-old son and I call it the WIHABL Railroad which stands for "Wish I Had A Bigger Layout"!  Our tiny basement layout measures only 4' X 5.5'. 

However, that's going to change in the near future as we just completed an addition to our home and the basement portion will become our new train room.

Yes, but I can well imagine how big it is to your son, an interest and time to play he shares with his father. What can compare?

FrankM.

SantaFeJim

 

Self-explanatory.

I grew up on Long Island in Glen Cove, NY. Back in the '50s and '60s Glen Cove was sort of country. There was a woods down the street where I played and a dairy farm around the corner. In 2000 I moved upstate to Poughkeepsie which is much like Glen Cove was back then, sort of country and sort of suburban. When I joined my first forum about 10 years ago I needed a name and Country Joe seemed natural. I'm Joe and I live in the country.

 

My layout is the Alma and Jupiter Bay Railway. I used my wife Anne and my initials, A&JB and looked on lists of town names for something that sounded real. There are lots of towns names Alma in the US. I couldn't find anything with JB that I liked but there's a Jupiter Florida and I imagined that my railroad started as a route from Alma, maybe in NY or maybe somewhere else in the northeast, to a big bay that the locals called Jupiter Bay. Eventually the A&JB was acquired by the New York Central System but remained independent like the P&LE or the B&A. My N scale layout was the A&JB and my O gauge layout has the same name. I don't see any reason to change something I like a lot.

It's a nickname given to me by one of my room-mates in college where I was a pretty decent computer hacker (and not even a computer science major). The IT dept. (at the time called MIS) thought their network was impenetrable. It wasn't. I could see exam questions before tests were issued, view grade results and change them, and do all sorts of other mischief if I felt like it, although seldom did since I was a pretty straight arrow. (OK, maybe to get a date with a pretty coed, but that was about it). To others it was like I had Superman-like powers, thus the handle.

 

Once, when registering at another forum somewhere, I tried to use the name with the correct spelling, but it was taken. So I spelled it out phonetically and used it that way ever since.

 

No name to the RR...don't see the need.

Just realized that I never provided the name of my railroad in my previous post.

 

This past August on another thread I posted that I finally gave my layout that's always under construction, a name.

 

It was the Brooklyn, Kingston, & South Florida Railroad (BKSF), which is derived from the three places that I’ve spent the majority of my life: Brooklyn, Kingston (Jamaica) and South Florida.  It unintentionally comes close to a real railroad name acronym (BNSF).

 

Either way, there was dissension among the Board of Directors and the name of the railroad was flipped to the KBSF (Kingston, Brooklyn & South Florida).  This way when a logo/gif/image, etc is designed, the first letter of my first name (Kevin) is prominent.

 

The AUC (Always Under Construction) railroad that I just wrote above sounds good though

When I first enrolled on Prodigy back in the 1990s I had mistakenly put the city of my residence (Allentown) in the box for 'screen name'. I believe a box came up saying 'name already taken' and they suggested Alentown with one “L”. I'm sure I wondered why they were changing the name of the city in which I lived, and I'm also sure I didn't care. I must have checked the “OK” box and voila! I've used Alentown for a lot of online purposes ever since.

Note to Ben, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

I would guess most OGR Forumites who have been on the boards for a couple of year's know I used to be scherbear57. Then, there came that ill-fated day I was actually the engineer on the real 765 in Fort Wayne, Indiana. We went about 600 yards and the loco, tender, and first three freight cars all derailed. Rich Melvin was sitting right behind me and he threw on the brake and everyone jumped out. Rich said, "Eliot, from now on you are Scrapiron Scher." I actually was the engineer who derailed 765.

 

The Munoz Lines (now just a memory) was named for my late father-in-law, a hero at the Battle of Cassino in WWll. 

  S.I.R.T. STATEN SLAND RAPID TRANSIT, branch of the B&O until early 1970's.

When I joined the forum in 2003 I wasn't thinking too far ahead and used the sign-in name I was using for the Civil Air Patrol's (CAP) web site: CAPPILOT. I was an active Search and Rescue pilot back then.  However, I should have used a train related name and kept my CAP duties and train interests separated.  I may still change my Avatar name but then nobody on the forum would know who I am.

 

I do sign with my real first name, Ron, at the bottom of the post.  I do keep my email, phone and last name only in the member access area, although there is another topic going on now that indicates that isn't much more secure.  By the way, my Avatar is a current picture of me, not something from years ago. 

 

My last layout was named PRR, Southern Maryland Div (SOMD), where I live.  Not sure what my current one will be called if I ever finish it.

 

 

Hey Eliot, I had heard that about you but chalked it up to legend. So, now that I have read this account, I must ask you, how did you manage to derail such a locomotive?!!!!! I cannot picture how that is accomplished. Would you indulge me by telling that story here? (Totally acceptable thread-drift, IMHO.) WOW!

FrankM.

Frank,

You started the thread, so I think it is only fair for you to ask for a thread drift.  

 

Now that Eliot came out of the closet, I think it only fair if he decides whether he elaborates or lets the story stand as is.    Eliot, My opinion is that my hat is off to anyone who is deemed to be allowed to engineer such a locomotive.  Even Casey had a wreck.

Good thing you're not a fan of the trolleys along Lake Union in Seattle:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...Lake_Union_Streetcar

When it first opened, it went by the name South Lake Union Trolley (or transit).

Yep, the acronym didn't occur to anyone with the city until it was too late! They changed it pretty quick for obvious reasons...

Scrapiron Scher

 

Now that is a screen name!!!!!!!!!Wow what a story!!!!

 

Mine is just me. First forum I ever joined in my life. Still only belong to two.

 

Learned a whole lot here over the years.

 

Never tried to be hidden, just fair, open and friendly.

Larry

 

Heck, I forgot, my railroad name........ Larry's Fantasy Rail Road...... Pure imagination of a old guy.

Blame it on tie condition, Eliot.  Lay it right in the Roadmaster's lap and stick to your story.

I picked Rail, because it was short and simple, and it was available. Years ago when I joined, I just used part of my e mail, but I dropped off the face of the earth when my wife complained I was spending too much time on the computer. I belonged to several train forums, and several music forums. Now I'm getting the same flack as I did then, but my hearing isn't what it used to be, so I can selectively turn off certain sounds!

My layout is an outdoor double loop of Atlas track under a covered patio adjacent to our back yard pond. It is called the WWRR, (wrong way rail road), because I would usually have a switch thrown in the wrong direction, causing derailments, and one time

, a caboose took a 7 plus foot dive to the brick patio below. My son had a sign made for the rear of the shop form a piece of rough cut walnut. 

My AVATAR is my only selfie. I tried using a photo of me welding, but found out it had to be a recognizable pic.

Don 

Over years, a few nice folks have politely inquired if I took my name from the former Great Western 2-10-0, Number 90, which currently receives loving care and periodic exercise on the Strasburg RR.

 

But, no, pretty as that little engine is, I was thinking of a Number 90 that was somewhat larger, faster, and more colorful -- Santa Fe's one and only 3-unit Fairbanks-Morse Erie-Built passenger diesel of 1947. I was absolutely stunned by the real Number 90 in 1956.  I was riding with my cousins, in the bed of another cousin's brand-new Ford pickup, on a 2-lane road paralleling the Santa Fe Third District main line.  I heard a Nathan M5 behind us, and watched as Number 90, on the head end of the eastward Grand Canyon, came out of the 50 MPH curve at Placentia and quickly overtook and passed us with the opposed-piston engines roaring in Run-8.  It looked and sounded like it was taking care of business.  I wanted to run that engine!

 

Well, I was only 10 at that time, and I missed being able to run Number 90 by 8 years, as I hired out on Santa Fe in 1970.  However, after getting to know people, many old-head Engineers shared stories of their experiences with Number 90.  I'll say this:  It was a real hot-rod of a passenger diesel, and everybody who ran it remembered it fondly.  I think it is a worthy name to use.

 

Now -- my railroad . . . I made up a Division name that might have been used if the original Santa Fe survey from Brownwood, Texas, to Texico, New Mexico had been built up through Abilene, across ranch country, and coming up onto the caprock near Crosbyton.  The grade up onto the caprock would have been a helper district.  (Instead, C.W.Post had a survey done on a lighter grade route through Sweetwater, which was built.)  My railroad includes the fictional town of Caprock, Texas, which would have sat on the rolling plains east of Crosbyton and would have been a crew change point.  The scenery is west Texas high plains.

 

My first avatar photo was a vintage one of me, along with one of my sons, standing beside Santa Fe 4-8-4 3751 at Barstow, as I was getting ready to board the engine and head for Bakersfield.  But it was too much photo for the space allotted.  Rich tweaked it a bit, but it still wasn't too good.  So I set up my camera on a tripod on the patio, and used a hand-held remote to take the head shot that shows how I actually look.

The story, alas, is true. I will let Rich Melvin, who sat right behind me the entire time, chime in if he wants to. In the opening footage, I am the fireman but we switched seats a short time later. I will also add the video documentation you will see below. There are very few railroaders who get into the cab of #765, fewer still who get a cab ride, fewer still who get to be engineer, and probably only one (ME) who derailed it. Strange, but true !! I have a story for a lifetime.

 

Way way way back in the early days of the internet you where never ever suppose to give away your true identity 

A combination of names and numbers was the order of the day

 

My name is Joe Sadorf --- My wife's name is Annamae 

We both like the number 2 and the two of us make a great couple ---

so we came up with

 

dorfj2 and dorfa2 for our email accounts, etc

Seems a little silly today --- however it still works

 

 

Never named my railroad

 

Thx

Joe S   

 

 

I got the name rustyrail from friends because I'm always weathering or laying rust on something. Then the O scale came from me being in O scale all these years. Here's the last build I laid a little rust and soot to.

Avatar name:  It's the one on my birth certificate.  Ectually, the first name is Michael, but since my dad was Michael M. Marmel (middle initial stood for Morris or Moishe, depending on who you talk to), they called him Mike and me Mitch, which worked out better all around.  Except for Reggie, an elderly gent in my old Center City neighborhood, who cheerfully called me "Mike", and, since it was technically accurate, I politely answered to the same...

 

Lessee...railroad names.  I still have a couple of streetcars in a fictional "Madison Rapid Transit" paint scheme from my high school days, now some 35 years past, as well as some HO equipment for the "Madison, Birmingham and Aurora", a fictional interurban. 

 

"Razorback Traction Co." came about when I was putting a trolley pole on a Lehigh Valley 627 center cab.  I'd been mulling over names like "Ozark Electric Railway" and the like, when it occurred to me that the red of the LV plastic was a good match for the University of Arkansas mascot.  I hied me off to Walleyworld for some Razorbacks stickers, and things went downhill from there.   I do get the occasional razzing when I go to shows out of state, with locals enquiring where THEIR university's train is...

 

The Gi-raffe Express is pretty self-explanatory, except for the "Gi-raffe" spelling.  That traces back to the Bugs Bunny cartoon, "A Hare Grows In Manhattan":

 

My Avatar name is a derivative of my name and my nick name which was given to me by Ice hockey coach.  My name is James M, nick name is Magoo.  I have had it with me since grade school.  My road name I would say have to be Long Island wannabe.  I live on Long Island, yet my layout is not from any Long Island routes.  I just like the one railroad i have only known my whole life.

MNCW is for the reporting marks of Metro-North Railroad. I wrote a book a few years ago on Metro-North's history, so this is a nod to the railroad.

 

It could have just as easily been something Pennsy-related due to my love of the Pennsylvania Railroad...or the New York Central's Putnam Division, as Peter mentioned. I grew up in Westchester County when the Put was still running.

 

For the Jeep lovers, my favorite vehicle that I ever owned was a white 1983 Jeep CJ-7 Renegade (with blue stripes). 

 

My layout is just an oval on my workbench for now. When I was in Peekskill, NY it was the Peekskill Connecting Railroad. When I build something here, it will be the Yonkers Connecting Railroad...anything to connect my Pennsy steam switchers to the outside world.

 

Tom

Neighbor kid quite some years ago dubbed me Farmer Bill since I was always putzing around in the yard he figured I must be a farmer and the name just stuck.   

 

Back in the early days of the internet, we had dial-up through our school district in which I taught.  They gave out screen names using the first five letters of your last name with the first letter of your given name.  Hence the "poniaj".  I haven't seen any reason to change it.  As far as my avatar, I went without one for a LONG time, since I don't have a lot of photos of myself, being the chief photographer in my family.  The guy behind the camera doesn't appear in the photos!  But I found a nice shot of my and my lovely wife taken at our 40th anniversary party given at the Gandy Dancer, a high end restaurant in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  The restaurant is a converted Michigan Central Railroad depot built in 1886, used by Amtrak until around 1972, when it was abandoned.  Chuck Muir, a restauranteur in the area, converted it to the place it is today.  The depot is being modeled on the layout, by the way. 

 

 

My railroad has no name since I run whatever I like.  Ostensibly, it's set in 1957, but you can see almost anything running on its rails, including Thomas and the Polar Express.  A hole in the space/time continuum perhaps???  There's also an X-wing fighter in a field outside of  town for the sharp-eyed to spot along with the shuttle craft from the Enterprise on a roof top... 

 

My signature is my real name done in Chesapeake and Ohio font thanks to a company that makes railroad fonts, called "Railfonts"...  Simple, but clever name for a company.

 

Great thread!

 

 

 

 

I was one of the "Gang of 8" (John Pignatelli, the late Jack Whitmeyer, the late Lowell Jeans, the late Fred D'Aguilar, Ramon Garcia, Don Lewis, Howard "AGHRHowie" Packer and myself) that founded Angels Gate Hi-Railers. When the OGR Forum started, we had been working on the layout about 4 1/2 years and I took the acronym of the club as I thought it would make a nice reporting mark and combined it with my short name. As we come up on 20 years since we were first given access to the building, we're still Moving Freight an Passengers from Point A to Point A.

Interesting! I always thought you were an actual farmer, which merits its own special respect, in any society, and that you were rightly proud to state so.

 

It's nice betting these little glimpses into each active forumite's presence here on OGR. Every one of these replies has brought a smile to my face as we become a tiny bit further acquainted with so many pleasant fellow hobbyists.

FrankM.

I grew up in Lewistown, PA in the heart of the Juniata River Valley.  My grandparents had a summer cottage right on the river at a location called Horningford, about 11-12 miles west of town.  I would stay with them several weeks each summer, particularly those weeks my grandfather was working a graveyard shift and my grandmother didn't want to be at the cottage all by herself. I'd spend the better part of each day swimming, fishing or boating in the Juniata River hence, my forum name Juniata Guy.

My layout is named the Harrisburg, Horningford and Western.  As mentioned above, the cottage was at Horningford on the PRR Middle Division running from the Harrisburg area west to Altoona.  I have very loosely modeled aspects of this area on my layout.

And, as an aside, I've known Ranger Rick for close to ten years and this is the first time I've heard how he got both his forum name and that of his old railroad here in Atlanta.  Rick; we miss you down here!

Curt

That's easy......  MY TRAINS.....LOL

 

FREDSTRAINS

Curt,

 

    I knew part of your story as you still venture north and pass my way at least once a year. Nice story about keeping your grandmother company. Miss all of you too! Say, if I get along a little further with this new layout, do you want and come up and do some ballasting for me......  :-)   (Curt often took on the tedious and repetitive task of ballasting our club layout at HobbyTown USA in Kennesaw, Ga. Might as well seek help from the experts!!!!)

 

Rick 

Rick; I'd be happy to help ballast.  Can't be any snow on the ground outside though!

Curt

My forum name, Berra, is the normal Swedish short for Bertil, my real name.

My layout is named "The Beer Line" because,

• I like the Milwaukee road
• I like Beer
• I like switching

 

 

Handle is my name.

Avatar is cropped shot out Flying Hi Power Amateur Rockets, The flight I got my Level 1 Cert on actually.

 

Layout has no name yet.

 

Growing up learned to drive in a 48 Willy Jeep. Awesome Transport.

Wish the family still had it, was sold while I was away in the AF.

My Grandfather sold my Dad's first 'car' out from under him when Dad went into the AF in 59 (With the draft hanging over his head, he joined the USAF because it was the only branch of the military that didn't fight the Confederacy in the Civil War. True story). It was a '42 Ford GPW. I'd give anything to know what the serial # was so I might know if it still exists somewhere today:

I used my name, yes I know what your thinking: this guy is real creative.

 My pic is from my last tour in Afghanistan.  

Layout name. Winterton.  My layout is winter based. It is a combination of fantasy and era. Timeline is 1959-1969. Winterton is the logistic hub for Santa's work shops at the north pole and is a jointly run by CB&Q and GN. This operation will eventually will lead to the merger and creation of BN.  There is a lose tie in to the PE. All rail traffic stage at the winterton yards before either heading north or heading south. Although the Santa's work shops main function is to support Christmas. They also support Valentines day( Cupid ) and Easter( The Easter Bunny ) During peak season traffic it not unusual to see N&W ( they supply the magic coal for the PE and coal for the bad boys and girls ) ATSF, SP, Seaboard and ACL equipment in the yards. OK my fantasy world.

My avatar is a painting of my Dad and me when I was 2 yrs. old. My wife commissioned this painting as a surprise for my 40th birthday. If that doesn't show that she supports my hobby, I don't know what does. The painting was copied from a photo that was in our local newspaper back in 1970.

My favorite train is and always will be the Blue Comet--especially the Lionel Standard Gauge headed by the 400e.

As for naming my layout, which is currently under construction, I hadn't thought about it too much, but then decided on a whim on the name: Downcella Central Railroad. "Downcella" is New Englandese for what people in other parts of the U.S. would refer to as "in the basement."

Forum name and layout name are the same.  It's a play on words. Tomlinson Run is a real place in W.VA, not too far from where I was born in PA ('though no relation).  I'm Tomlinson. I run trains, hence, Tomlinson Run Railroad. I hope to create a logo someday based on the PRR keystone.

 

I'm unphotogenic and that fact's definitely not improving with age, so you all have to put up with the stock "female avatar" with the really bad hair do. I wouldn't be caught dead with hair like that but you'll just have to take my word for it, sight unseen .

 

Tomlinson Run Railroad

I picked my forum name because my Grandfather worked for the PRR as a freight manager on the Manhattan docks. I never really got to know him because he passed away when I was about 3. I have many memories of waiting at Penn Station NY with or for my Grandmother. She used to travel to California on her PRR pass. I have some vivid memories of that beautiful structure.  My layout is under construction and nameless.