What About the Name?

One of the first things we did in planning our model railroad empire was to consider what to call it.  It turns out, this wasn't all that simple, even though the final result now seems a little obvious to us.  We started by building a list of possible names, mostly having to do with the area in which we live.  That list grew quite long, around 30 possibilities if memory serves.  After building the list, we took a vote on the 10 names each of us favored the most.  Our wives were included in the voting.  Based on the voting, we identified those names that garnered the most support.  Our final selection was made from that list.

It might have been an obvious choice to select North Fork & Crooked Run Railway for our model railroad, despite the fact that it took that convoluted route to get there.  You see, Jeff and Norm live about an hour apart from each other.  Jeff lives near New Market, Virginia, in the Shenandoah Valley.  The North Fork of the Shenandoah River flows within a mile of his home on its way north to Front Royal, where it joins the larger South Fork and becomes the mighty Shenandoah River that in turn empties into the Potomac River at Harper's Ferry, West Virginia. 

Crooked Run is less impressive, but notable in its own way.  It wends its way back and forth across U.S. 17 just north of Delaplane, Virginia, in the midst of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Norm's home.  Crooked Run is a small stream that joins the larger Goose Creek near Delaplane, which in turn flows north to empty into the Potomac River.

So the choice of this name--North Fork & Crooked Run Railway--is a way of joining together our two home locations in a single title.  It symbolizes the joint effort that is making this dreamed-of layout become a reality.

Norm