The James River Branch Z Scale Model Railroad: Names

Names

Most model railroaders love to name things on their layouts, and those who do often have specific reasons for their choices. The name selection process usually involves family members, old lovers, favorite vacation spots, or any number of personal experiences. I'm always fascinated by the stories behind the names—aren't you? Here are the origins for key features of the James River Branch.

The James River Branch itself got its start from the White River and Northern Railroad IV, where the James River divided the towns of Newton and Pennwell (see the track plan). James is the name of a brother I never knew, because he died at birth long before I was conceived. I named it for him, so it has nothing to do with the real James River in Virginia; nor does the railroad being modeled have anything to do with the Richmond, Fredericksburg and Potomac James River Branch, the Atlantic Coast Line James River Branch, the James River Branch of the Chesapeake and Ohio, or any other real James River Branch. To my knowledge the Reading never had a James River Branch, so the layout is entirely fictitious.

Naughtright went through several name changes. Originally it was Crooked Creek, which was not influenced by anything in real life; I simply liked the alliterative name and the rural image it conjured. After redesigning the layout, Crooked Creek just didn't feel right any more, so I sat studying maps of the Reading Railroad, looking for interesting whistle-stops along obscure branch lines. Lost Creek, Pennsylvania, was a contender for a while, but it seemed like a bit of a cliché.

Then I found Naughright near Lake Hopatcong in northern New Jersey, where quite a number of branch lines once mingled but are now nearly all gone. Naughright led to Naughtright (literally meaning "nothing right"), and given all of the problems I've experienced building the layout, it seemed fitting! All of Naughtright's street names are deliberately generic, chosen for believability.

Rick Spano's Service Station will be recognized by anyone who knows that Rick Spano and I have been friends and modeling collaborators for nearly forty years. He has been and remains the biggest influence in my modeling life, and there is usually something on my layout named for him—on the WR&N IV, it was the Spano Recycling Center.

Emma Emma's is a restaurant named for my beloved cat (RIP), who in turn was named after Emma Peel from The Avengers. Dick's Auto Salvage honors one of my two brothers, who worked as an auto mechanic while he was in college. Stephen A. Greene & Sons Building Supply is named for a wonderful elderly gentleman from Rhode Island who I'd adopted as the grandfather I never had. Sadly he's long dead, but I've named something for him on every layout I've built, from the Stephen A. Greene Charcoal Company of the WR&N I to the Stephen A. Greene Furniture Company of the WR&N IV.

I'd been going to Don and Stan's Barber Shop from the early seventies through 2006, when Don and Stan retired from the business. Seeing the shop closed left me quite sad—it marked the end of a little bit of stability in my otherwise convoluted life. While I was in high school, I worked at a hobby shop that happened to be next door to the barber shop; Jim's Trains on the layout is named for the hobby shop's owner.

Dot's Trackside Diner is something of a holdover from the WR&N IV, which (you'll think I'm absurd, here, but) was named after Dot's Diner from the cartoon series ReBoot. The show was a pioneering effort—the first regular television program to be 100% computer animated. Since I worked in Manhattan as a computer animator for a few years, CGI is an interest of mine.

O'Malley's Triangle Bar got its name from a combination of the triangular building and the Light Works sign that hangs out front. The East Theater got its name based on what sounded plausible and would also fit comfortably on the sign. The Gilmor Hotel was so named strictly due to the available signs from Light Works USA; I would have chosen differently. The F.W. Woolworth store provides Naughtright with something recognizable to give it credibility.

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