How did you come up with your avatar name and layout name?
For example: Mine came about as an amalgamation of a nickname my father's friends gave him (back in the 40's) and the fact that I am his son: in effect, Moon's son, Frank. Moonson.
My layout, Moon Township, is named after him, too.
Yours?
Replies sorted oldest to newest
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
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 Username came about the weirdest way. I play video games as well as model railroading, and railfanning. I came up with the idea of Railfan9 and it's stuck. My railroad name comes from it being on the floor, and since it sits on Laminate wood floor. I decided to change the normal carpet central to Laminate Wood Central.
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.
Access to this requires an OGR Forum Supporting Membership
