Fantasy Railroads

Howdy all. Anyone have their own fantasy railroad company? Im talking about one you have invented and used custom painted decals to decorate.
 

2-8-2

Member
SeriousSam said:
Howdy all. Anyone have their own fantasy railroad company?

Sure! Lot's of guys here (including myself) have freelanced roads.

SeriousSam said:
Im talking about one you have invented

Part of the fun of this hobby, for me at least, has been creating things that "might have been". Click this link, and you can read the made up history of my railroad.

SeriousSam said:
...and used custom painted decals to decorate.

Here's the planned paint scheme for my GP-7...

wngp7gm7.jpg


I've also created logos, road heralds, timetables, waybills, stock certificates, and a lot of other things for use with my railroad company that never was.
 

CCT70

Member
Oh yeah, it's a lot of fun. Use whatever equipment you want, paint it however you want, go as extravagant as you want, detail them how you want, it's a blast.

A good friend and model railroad mentor who passed away years ago had his own railroad, Pacific Northern. It was a neat old railroad, so I figured what better way to remember him than to carry it on as well.
 
really cool guys. Im thinking about doing something similar. Since im from Texas, but I live in New Mexico, I should do something like New Mexico Texan, or something. Hey 2-8-2, how do I get a locomotive drawing like that to paint my own? Thanks for the replies
 

CCT70

Member
SeriousSam said:
really cool guys. Im thinking about doing something similar. Since im from Texas, but I live in New Mexico, I should do something like New Mexico Texan, or something. Hey 2-8-2, how do I get a locomotive drawing like that to paint my own? Thanks for the replies

I get mine from http://trainiax.net/mescaleloco.htm

Here is the PN Scheme that I drew up. This was Everette's scheme for his fictional PN, I just added a silver underframe as opposed to his black underframe (a mod that I showed him once and he liked it and was considering changing it) and the flag decal on the battery compartment door.

PNSD40T-2gif.gif


Here is the scheme I came up with for my shortline, the California North Eastern recently. Both of these new railroads will run side by side with the Western Pacific on my new layout.

cneengines.gif


The key to coming up with your own "Freelanced" railroad is to cut loose, go whole hog planning your new railroad's history, paint scheme, equipment, etc. and do exactly what you want to do exactly how you like it. You're not bound by any restrictions, as you made it all up, it's YOUR railroad. THAT *to me* is what makes freelancing fun.
 

fsm1000

Member
My is called FSM after my initials, but I have no decals as of yet. Maybe when I can afford it I will get some custom made or something.
That's mine anyhow. :)
 
FSM, have you looked at doing your own custom decals? I made UMTRR decals this way:

A cheap photo software package called "iPhoto" (came with my scanner about 5+ years ago) for the logos

MS Word to make lots of copies of the logo and dimensional data, road numbers etc.

Printed on an HP inkjet printer on decal paper made for inkjets.

Spray coated with Krylon "Crystal Clear"-- two coats.

Will post some pics later. Only disadvantage on clear paper is that you can't do white. You can do white on white decal paper through some trickery.
 
Tom,

I dont think i have ever seen a horn on a caboose before, was/is this common? When did this come about/what roads? I would imagine it being useful for long train backing moves etc. Really sharp paint scheme for the CNE I dig it!!!
 

brakie

Active Member
SeriousSam said:
Howdy all. Anyone have their own fantasy railroad company? Im talking about one you have invented and used custom painted decals to decorate.

First let's call them by their proper name-Freelance railroad..:thumb:
And yes many of us have engines and cars lettered for our freelance railroads.
I have 2 such railroads..My Columbus & Hocking Valley (HO & N) and my Huron River Ry(HO).

These are my N Scale C&HV units.

Picture-001-9.jpg
 

eightyeightfan1

Now I'm AMP'd
I do have the Southwick and Colebrook River, envisioned,(never exsisted, but could of), which interchanges with my Central New England(fallen flag that did exsist) in Winsted, CT.It only serves a couple of industries(plastic auto parts manufacturer:i.e.dashboards and kickpanels, a rock quarry and a wood products co:mulch, wood chips for paper industry).
Right now its just a siding, no locos or paint scheme(Thinking of a GP-38, short tank, with a patch job).
 

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
I see this thread is in the N scale forum but I hope you don't mind me sharing a photo of the HO scale freelanced railroad I'm working on. Its the Kings Port & Western, a short line that will interchange with my Penn Central layout at the fictional town of Kings Port. I envision the KP&W as a private hold out against the former NYC that served a few local industries to the west of Kings Port. The KP&W is trying hard to hold is own in the early 1970's. The PC doesn't want it as they'd have phased out the branch by now had they owned it. The shortline's owner is a little eccentric and changed the color scheme of his railroad from blue and yellow to blue and orange in 1970 to celebrate the Amazin' Mets winning the world series the year before. Most of the motive power is smaller switchers but the line is hoping to get hold of a Geep or two.

Here the KP&W drops off a couple of cars at the interchange while a PC SD9 and GP7 roll by on the highline.
 

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pgandw

Active Member
My free-lance roads are the:

Picture Gorge and Western Railway - "none more picturesque" (HO)
Tillamook Head and Bethel Railway - "To Heaven, and back!" (HOn3)

I have developed histories and approximate routes through Oregon. Although I invented the PG&W independently, it bears a lot of similarities to the actual Oregon Pacific, including expansion plans into Montana/Wyoming and becoming a transcontinental. The main difference was the PG&W intended to use the John Day River as its route through central Oregon, whereas the Oregon Pacific had planned a more southerly route to the Malheur River.

The TH&B is not mapped to the real Oregon towns of those names. The names were selected to give the initials I wanted, so I could use the particular slogan I chose. The geography of the port of my free-lance Tillamook Head more closely resembles the California coast just south of Fort Bragg, and is more appropriately located around Gold Beach or Brookings. I may end up changing the name of the HOn3 line to better reflect the actual geography better.

I do need to develop paint schemes and heralds. I haven't started that yet.
 
Wow, I love all the awesome ideas brought forth by yall. I will have to start doing something like this soon. Thanks for the replies. Ralph, that switcher looks nice.
 

fsm1000

Member
George yeah I looked into it a while ago. Seeing as how I have black locos [steam] I would want white and I don't have one of those special printers [I forget the name off hand] sooo I would have to get them custom made.
And being broke that's hard too LOL.
Anyhow, thanks for the idea just the same. :)
 

CCT70

Member
liven_letdie said:
Tom,

I dont think i have ever seen a horn on a caboose before, was/is this common? When did this come about/what roads? I would imagine it being useful for long train backing moves etc. Really sharp paint scheme for the CNE I dig it!!!

I have seen a shortline caboose or two in photos with horns, but it's not common, nor does mine follow a prototype. I just used to do LONG shoves as a switchman and HATED not having a caboose to protect the shove, ESPECIALLY in Valley fog, let alone without a horn. SO.... since fog is a big part of my area in the winter, I added a strobe (Like the Central California Traction uses on their locomotives and cabooses) and a horn for the long backup moves down the street running on my layout. I have a LOT of street running planned for the new RR and, well, California drivers aren't that stellar as you well know from living here :D

Besides, I also thought they just looked cool. sign1

Here are a few other examples of other Pacific Northern equipment paint ideas I came up with recently:

pnfleet1.gif


pnfleet2.gif
 
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