What's in a Name, or, Location, location, location

When I first began planning for my own model railroad as a teenager, I was captivated by the Great Northern's mountain goat logo. In those days (the end of the 1960s and the early 1970s) there wasn't a lot of prototype modeling going on yet. The typical model railroad was freelanced, even if it might be heavily influenced by or even based on a particular real-life line. So I didn't try to research the Great Northern and adopt it as my model -- I just figured out a way to rip off the logo, sort of.

Instead of the GN's rocky mountain goat, I opted for a western bighorn sheep. Then I decided to call it the Bighorn Central. (The Pennsy and the NY Central were just merging at the time, so "Central" in a railroad name seemed timely.)

Perusing maps of the west, I discovered that there really is a Bighorn Mountain Range in north central Wyoming. Without much contemplation I settled on that as the setting for my railroad. I conceived of a basic route for it across the range, although connecting imaginary communities rather than real ones.

Within a couple of years I saw a lot of flaws in my concept. Still attached to this mountainous area of Wyoming (or to my imagination of it), I discovered that there was another mountain range to the west of the Bighorns: The Bridger Range. I modified my imaginary railroad some and the fictional prototype became the Bridger Range and Northern. That was the concept I was building when I was working on the layout that I wrote about here.

Before much track had been laid, that layout came down and instead I began developing a simple shelf layout -- 8 feet by about 18 inches or so. The plans was just for a station scene, siding and a few spurs.

And for some reason -- I don't recall why -- I had abandoned the entire Bridger Range & Northern scheme. Instead, this was to be called the Cedar Creek & Western. I think I even played with a logo idea in which the C, C, and W all interlocked in such a way as to resemble the wheelset of a freight car (the truck).

I don't recall having decided where that was set, but it probably was also intended to be a western themed railroad. And set back in the first third of the 20th century --smaller equipment and all that.

In the time since then, when I've contemplated building layouts, I haven't given any thought to a name. I have contemplated location, however.

Generally I've been imagining northern Wisconsin, suitable for logging and some kind of mining operation. (Ore, probably not coal.) Now that I've finally got a track plan, I'm trying to nail that down a bit more. But I'm not quite ready to firmly commit yet, and I don't think I have to either. Still, Wisconsin, since I live here now, is pretty close to a certainty. Maybe an imaginary prototype, maybe a real one. Maybe some amalgam of the two.

But it's time, again, to think about a name. Cedar Creek & Western appeals. So does Cedar Creek & Northern. I may look over specific locations I want to include and arrive at another name. And I've been perusing books on Wisconsin railroading for other ideas, too.

Then, finally, there's time period. All along I've though I'd make it in the teens, 20s or early 30s. Maybe even in the first decade of the 20th century.

Lately, I'm rethinking that, too. The expanded possibilities for setting it in, say, the '40s and early '50s -- still lots of steam in use, but also making it possible to employ some older diesels (cheaper to buy) -- intrigue me. Again, I don't have to commit quite yet, not until I'm actually investing in rolling stock. Yet another alternative is to model multiple periods -- run 50s rolling stock one day, 'teens rolling stock another.

One time I won't do: the '20s. I want to have a brewery somewhere on the layout. And it's no fun if they can't brew real beer.