Peabody's Improbable History!

R

Ralph

Remember...it's for fun!
Jun 18, 2002
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Are you old enough to remember Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman who would travel back in time using the "WayBack" machine to help make historic events happen as they were supposed to? The short stories always ended with a terrible pun! (Ex. "You mean you've never heard of Chicken catch a Tory?!")
http://www.concurringopinions.com/archives/images/mr_peabody_and_sherman.jpg

The stories were entitled "Peabody's Improbable History" :rolleyes:

In that tradition I propose that the rare orance "C" found in some PC logos was NOT intended to reflect the inclusion of the New Haven as some believe, but rather an acknowledgement of the eventual absorbtion of the KP&W into the big comglomerate. :mrgreen:
9-4-2007-20.jpg


Fortunately I model the freelance at the early transition time before its identity was blotted out by black and jade green. :)

Any other improbable histories out there?
Ralph
 
Ralph said:
In that tradition I propose that the rare orance "C" found in some PC logos was NOT intended to reflect the inclusion of the New Haven as some believe, but rather an acknowledgement of the eventual absorbtion of the KP&W into the big comglomerate. :mrgreen:

Ralph
Click to expand...

Nice theory, Ralph, although I always thought that the orange "C" was to make the logo look less like one of those mazes featured in children's puzzle books. The whole shebang certainly ended up as one big corporate maze, though, didn't it? ;):-D

My own Grand Valley has an improbable connection to the New York Central via Central's supposed controlling interest in the line during the '20s and early '30s. This accounts for a massive grade separation project and passenger station in the relatively small city of Dunnville.
100_5649.jpg


Foe-toes_from_first_cd_175.jpg


While a few of the Grand Valley's handful of freight cars carry the
official reporting marks of GVC,
2007-01-10_4151.jpg


the locals have always referred to it as simply the Grand Valley. Even more improbable is that now-parent Elora Gorge & Eastern bought the line from the Central during the depths of the Depression for a substantial sum, all paid for with cash-on-hand. :eek:

Wayne
 
I love these semi-fictional stories that justify the existance of free-lanced lines. I have a story-in-progress (along with a lot of other "in-progress" stuff) for my fictional Ottawa, Algonquin & Georgian Bay.

[ASIDE] In a real-life example I saw today, it appears that the Ottawa Central has taken over a unit from CPRail. The paint job remains as CP did it, with the exception that the name now says OCRail. Quite a contrast, as OC's regular paint is black with white letters. [/ASIDE]

Andrew
 
Andrew, in Ian Wilson's latest book, 'Steam Scenes of Allandale', there's a chapter on the Algonquin Subdivision, the former Ontario, Arnprior & Parry Sound Railway. On page 188, there's a panoramic shot of the Highland Inn that you might be familiar with or might otherwise find of interest. Although the photo is undated, it appears to be from somewhere between the time that it was re-opened in 1937 to when it was purchased by the Ontario Government and demolished/burned down in 1956.

Wayne
 
Twist my arm... ;) I guess that's another cheque I'll be sending Mr Wilson... hamr

In my fictionalised version, the Cache Lake trestle is repaired, and through traffic continues. Hwy 60 is not built (or built over another route) and passenger service is provided by my OA&GB. The Inn was never closed, and was never torn down either. CNR continues to operate a primarily transshipment service from Depot Harbour to Ottawa and beyond. But local industries continue to thrive with at least daily service.

While we're at it in this ficitious past, let's let the Kingston & Pembroke continue to flourish too. ;)

Andrew
 
My railroad supposes that in Britain nationalization never happened, but the SR, LMS and LNER had to band together to avoid being taken over by GWR. Hence the name Perth and Exeter.
Although sometimes I operate Canadian equipment and it becomes an independant Ontario and Quebec, but extended out into western Ontario.

And sometimes it's a very small Scottish line with ambitions. :mrgreen:
 
Improbable histories? Here's a few:

-A CNW F3A, no. 4056 managed to live past 1936 (that was the year all CNW F3's were sent back to EMD for some newer unit aparently) by working on a branchline of the CNW up untill the late 70's, maybe early 80's when it was stored in a shed and would later be found again and now works on a class III railroad dedicated to preserving it.

-CNW RS-32 no.4242 was not scraped in the early 70's, but was instead repainted and re-sold to Conrail in a shady buisness deal. The new Conrail unit (number unkown) was kept in rather poor condition, and narrowly escaped scrapping again when the Riverside Railroad found out about this deal and bought the almost-junk ALCO for $45.02 (Conrail couldn't get more for the RS-32 aparently). The restored ALCO, once again CNW 4242, now works alongside CNW 4056 and other restored examples of desiels.

-The actual prototype for Athearn's Hustlers existed, but were considered an experimental failiure by their creator (although sources say it was GM's atempt to cram more power into a smaller loco).

- The CNW had branched into Ohio, Riverside being the limit.
 
FiatFan said:
And don't forget Road Runner!

Tom
Click to expand...

Someday, someone is going to build and operate The Acme Railroad, shipping all those wonderful Acme products to folks all over the nation - and especially to Wiley E. Coyote!


sign1
Come to think of it, how did he get that stuff delivered? :confused:

As for fictional railroad history, it is what allows us to indulge our own personal fantasies, operating lines that never could exist in the world of today. Here's to it - may we have more of it every day.
 
Mountain Man said:
Someday, someone is going to build and operate The Acme Railroad, shipping all those wonderful Acme products to folks all over the nation - and especially to Wiley E. Coyote!


sign1
Come to think of it, how did he get that stuff delivered? :confused:
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Nah, the ACME Railroad idea sounds to misplaced, even for Looney Toons. Now, having ACme be a rail served factory is a whole different story...:twisted: As for how Wily E. Coyote got all of his stuff, I saw something on the boomerang channel about that. Aparently you just put your order in the mailbox, and in no more than three secconds, an ACME truck will zoom right to your location with your order! BTW anyone know what ACME stands for anyways?
 
Are you old enough to remember Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman who would travel back in time using the "WayBack" machine to help make historic events happen as they were supposed to? The short stories always ended with a terrible pun! (Ex. "You mean you've never heard of Chicken catch a Tory?!")
Click to expand...
I (barely) remember that, but I assumed it was so familiar that this thread's title wasn't just referring to the concept of "improbable history". I assumed it was a play on that title, and was going to be about some oddity in the history of Peabody Coal. In a railroad context, that's the "Peabody" I'll think of.
 
CNWman said:
Now, having ACme be a rail served factory is a whole different story...:twisted:
Click to expand...

Both Wilkinson-Kompass, being switched here by CNR 8414, and National Grocers, in the background, were candidates for being Acme Industries, but I opted instead for the names of two prototype industries from my hometown.
Train_Brain_1291.jpg


Here's the street side of Wilkinson-Kompass:
2007-01-10_481.jpg


However, I still have a couple of towns yet to be built, and a pair of Walthers American Hardware Company kits that are intended to be kitbashed into a large building flat that will disguise a corner on the upper level of my layout....;)

Wayne
 
MasonJar, we may need to discuss interchange details at Madawaska, when my proposed extension of the Lindsay, Bobcaygeon and Pontypool railway to Mattawa occurs!
 
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