You know what one of the toughest decisions I've had to make while designing this railroad has been? Not choosing a location or theme or choosing which industries to model.  The toughest decision has been coming up with a name for the railroad.

I haven't spoken with other freelance modelers about how they had come up with their own railroad's names but I imagine that, much like me, they take on the task pretty seriously. Does one name their railroad after the region?  A prominent town or a significant geological feature? Should one choose a name with a personal meaning? Perhaps after a grandfather or a favorite vacation spot?

When it came to naming my model railroad, I first sat down with a pen and paper and laid out a few ground rules to help focus me in my efforts:

1. The name must be easy to say, spell, and remember for the purposes of easy "googling" for people looking for information on my railroad.

2. The name must be plausible and consistant with the naming conventions of other regional short line railroads.

3. The name must reinforce the theme of the layout which is that of a small, modern short line working hard to thrive during a difficult economic downturn.

With those three rules in place, I set to compiling a list of items that could be potential fodder for naming my layout.

Cities and towns in the area:

Newport

Usk

Cusick

Ione

Metaline Falls

Prominent bodies of water and geological features:

The Pend Oreille River Valley

Metaline Falls

Box Canyon

Sullivan Lake

Colville National Forrest

Cabinet Mountains

Famous residents, and other naming considerations:

Canadian trapper Dave Thompson

Steamboat Captain Elmer "Cap" Arnold

Entrepreneur Fredrick Blackwell

Panhandle Lumber

Diamond Match Co.

The Timber and Stone act of 1878

Vaagen Brothers

Lehigh Portland Cement Co.

Now, if you are familiar with the area, you will probably say that the most obvious name for my freelance model railroad would be the "Pend Orille Valley Railroad."  And you would be right.  The only problem is that name is already taken by the REAL shortline railroad that exists in that region. (more on why I don't simply model that railroad in later posts)  Plus, It's hard to say, and spell and doesn't evoke a real sense of the area in and of itself so it kinda violates a few of the rules I laid out for myself.

The layout itself attempts to depict industries and operations between the towns of Usk, Ione and Metaline falls and the modeled portion exists solely in the town of Ione, so perhaps a name like "The Usk, Ione and Metaline Falls Railroad"  But that is kinda a mouthful, plus I dislike the make "Usk" and Ione is scary close to the name of the company I work for which weirds me out a bit.

I could name the layout after the Lehigh Cement Co. which is the most prominent industry on the layout, but... nah.

Ultimately I settled on the name "Metaline Falls Terminal Railroad."  This meets my desires on several levels.  First, it is simple and catchy which satisfies rule #1.  The name feels plausible and consistant when compared to other short lines in the region (Kettle Falls International Railroad, Mount Vernon Terminal Railway, etc.) And finally, "Metaline Falls" refers to not only an area town, but also a section of very heavy rapids that once existed on the Pend Oreille River before the Boundary Dam was built, changing the water table and effectively burying the falls for good.  This idea of industrial progress and it's tendency to shape a region both physically and economically with both positive and negative outcomes is a central theme of the layout and satisfies rule #3.

The word "Terminal"  Also does well to both describe the type of railroad I'm modeling and evoke a sense of inevitability that seems to be so common with modern-era short lines.

Finally, after all of that, the first two letters in the MFTR's reporting marks are my initials! I take that as a sign of good luck, which I am very happy to have as I continue on my adventure in model railroading.