The New Name

A while back, I realized that the name Wolf River & Nicolet was out of place: The Nicolet Forest wasn't so named until sometime in the 1930s, when the federal government took it under protection as part of the effort to re-propagate it. So began a lot of ruminating and dithering as I contemplated a new railroad name. In the process I also thought more clearly about the railroad concept.

The end of all that has resulted in the name Wolf River & Lake Superior Ry. Co., a short line that grew out of a logging line but attained common carrier status and links Green Bay and Superior in an arc across northern Wisconsin through the woods and lakes around Eagle River and then the Lake Superior Shoreline through Ashland. At more than 300 miles from terminal to terminal, it's a bit long for a true short line, perhaps, and being the 1930s, it's struggling to remain independent. Expect trains from the C&NW and perhaps the Milwaukee Road to make use of its tracks from time to time.

And we have a settled-on herald as well. Here it is:

Name Change?

I'm thinking about changing the name of my fictional prototype railroad from Wolf River & Nicolet. It turns out that the Nicolet Forest didn't get that name until the 1930s. Although I am setting the railroad in that decade, it doesn't seem plausible to me that the name would have predated the forest's having been named that. (The US Forest Service named the forest for the 17th century French explorer Jean Nicolet.)

I really like the ring of the name, but even though it is freelanced, I do want it to be as plausible as it can be given the setting in geography and time. And I also have second thoughts about the use of Wolf River. As far as I can tell,  names of carriers in the region reflected communities served, rather than just geographic features.

So I think a name change is likely...

Typefaces: Updated

A couple of months ago, I posted a selection of typefaces, using the HTML editor to render them. I've realized that they were not consistent from one computer and browser to another. So while I am leaving that post up, I decided to make a new post presenting the same document as a graphic. I hope this will show more consistently the various typefaces I am considering in connection with the Wolf River & Nicolet Ry. Co.

As before, if you wish to comment on which you like best, you would be welcome to do so.

A note, too, on time period, as that might be relevant to evaluating appropriate typefaces: My greatest preference would be to set it in the 1930s, just after Prohibition. I am trying to ascertain, however, whether that is an appropriate time period for the scale of logging I would like to depict. I don't mind if this is an era in which logging is in decline in Northern Wisconsin, which by all I have read so far it certainly was, but I want it to be at least realistic and appropriate to have some continuing logging and railroad operations associated with it in this period and locale.

If in time I conclude that is too far removed from reality (even for a freelanced railroad), I will fall back to the first 20 years or so of the 20th Century, before Prohibition.

If you have any knowledge and information you'd like to share on these points, you're more than welcome to do so in the comments.

Trying Out Typefaces: Updated

I am leaving this post in place, but removed the graphic element, which didn't translate consistently. See the NEW "typefaces" post here.

Playing with a series of different typefaces in Word to settle on a typographic style to use on printed material, heraldry, etc. I've always been partial to "Ry. Co." instead of "R.R." so these reflect that usage, but I might change my mind and revert to the more common terminology...

(The way the top line is jammed to the second line, if it is, is an artifact of Blogger... That is not the intent of the design. I am not sure how to fix that here and I don't want to take the time to figure it out.)

If you happen by these parts and have an opinion about which of these you like best, feel free to chime in in the comments. (You can identify your preferred face by the name in smaller type immediately below it.)

The premise is a fictional line in northern Wisconsin in the 1930s, primarily handling local traffic, but with some through traffic passing over it from Green Bay to northern Minnesota (Duluth/Superior). The primary local traffic includes logging (there will be a branch serving a logging camp, and there also will be a small sawmill to deliver the logs to), a brewery, and iron ore (haven't decided yet if there will be a mine on the existing layout or "off stage". Local way freight of various kinds and limited passenger traffic will round out the picture. A number of details are up in the air, but the location, setting, and logging theme in particular are fairly definite. A friend who is an angler recalls passenger trains that took people up north in years gone by during the fishing season, so that might be part of the mix, too.

Power will be smaller steam; the largest might be a 2-8-2 for freight or 4-6-2 for passenger service, but mainly it will be 2-6-0s, 2-6-2s, and probably a Consolidation (2-8-0). And at least one or more geared locos mainly serving the logging and perhaps mining traffic.