Creating a Fictional Railroad | A Lazy Railfan's Guide

[@gamerfan8445]

I am going to say this, fictional railroads that take place during the steam era, is a difference beast compared to modern equipment.

[@Voucher765]

Hell yeah especially mine

[@gamerfan8445]

@Voucher765 same here

[@RailfanKian2014]

Loved your channel since you crashing wooden, model, and definitely can’t forget about the power trains! And this is how far your channel has gone for now!

[@yeoldeseawitch]

My fictional railroad is called the Atlantic Central. It was chartered in the 1898 in Northern New england and piqued in the 1920s with routes stretching all over maine, vermont, new hamprshire, upstate new york and even crossed into the border into Quebec, New Brunswick and a portion of Ontario. But since the great depression its slowly been needing to cut multiple routes until we arrive in the 1990s, when its only a small shortline called the Quebec, Vermont & Eastern.

[@BLUESKY.R.R.1]

My fictional railroad is named the “Blue Sky Railroad”. It was formed in 1861 by a man named “Thomas. L. Jan.” And the railroad opened in 1865. The mainline originally went from the fictional town of Blue Sky Pennsylvania, to Greenwich Connecticut (and later expanded to somewhere in Rhode Island). It had a bunch of branch lines, which the main one was to the fictional harbor town of Brighton New Jersey, which had a big coal mine and a harbor. In my head-cannon, it still exists to this day. I also have a few models for the railroad and im working on a layout that models the previously mentioned Brighton branch.

[@VintageRenewed]

Something that people don’t really think very often especially here in North America is that a really good option for making a fictional railroad is to have a tourist railroad By doing this you could paint stuff for your railroad but not required to. You’re not required to be specific to a certain era or anything because a museum/preserved line will usually take whatever they can get. Track doesn’t have to be as long or complicated to make sense, it isn’t gonna have anywhere near the operating complexity that you have with an all freight railroad By doing a tourist line it really makes having a fictional railroad easy due to a lot of simplifications and wide range of possibilities within that style of operation. Coming from a person who helps run a real life tourist railroad and also working for a shortline freight railroad

[@TheRonkonkomaRailfan]

When I was younger, I had a fictional transportation conglomerate called SMT(Stick Man Transit). It had an Airline(SMT Air), Railroad(SMT Rail), and Shipping Company(Blue Star Line). This eventually morphed into a different fictional railroad called SMTR(Sacramento Mainline Trenton Rail). It was formed in 1995 by the merger of the Sacramento Mainline Railroad and Trenton Rail Inc. This video has inspired me to think up a new universe with a new fictional railroad that I am still developing, I will add more when it has been developed.

[@omerolopez9741]

I can’t believe that this same person that crashed power trains back in 2018 has made my most favorite fictional railroads Time really goes by huh?

[@bladeobrian2144]

The art style your avatar has is so cute

[@Thenumbersthatareodd]

I have a railway named the Louisiana and Central Western, but I don't know what timeline I would choose, now I know, thanks man!

[@whitelionstudios1786]

My fictional is the White Lion Railways. We have two main sectors under the holding company, being our original American division, and then a modern take on the never finished Cape Town to Cairo in Africa. We are essentially a conglomerate at this point. And our main livery is a two-tone green, although some of our trains have special liveries depending on their service

[@AndrewTHECHESSIEGUY]

I made one with my friend called the VMRL, or the Virginia Maryland Rail Link. It’s a class 3 that runs between its namesake states, and bought its o.g. trackage from CSX. The scheme is based of of csx’s YN3 scheme with little differences. It’s been fun repainting old cars and giving them new life.

[@CentralCaliforniaAllTheWay]

i sat and watched this video at 2 AM in the morning this was very entertaining

[@hamiltonsullivan6563]

This vid is on point and passes the vibe check! I'm modeling a fictional railroad in 1 to 1

[@wesless1111]

My fictional is still a work in progress, it's called "Weastern Efficiency Services" probably set sometime in the 50s or 60s, and their whole shtick is taking in one off locomotives or building their own. They are a commuter/freight carrier and they have a special passenger train called the "Hump Day Special" that is hauled by a camelback, and only runs on Wednesdays. Like I said it's still a WIP

[@tropicalrailroadproduction5028]

This was a great video. I have a fictional railroad which was set at the start of 1885-1987. [EC&P RR.] My model railroad club runs a fictional RR as well. Called SFR&M.

[@thefuriousgamer2553]

My fictional railroad is The SP&MR (the Southern Pacific & Milwaukee Road) still running passenger trains to this day with the classic daylight and Hiawatha trains running around the clock

[@SouRwy4501Productions]

My fictional railroad, the BL&G railroad, is a coal-hauling short-line railroad that occupies roughly two (scale) miles of track in southeastern Tennessee. The railroad’s track was built in 1897 by the Southern Railway to connect the (fictional) towns of Bonesborough and Gravesfield. The BL&G later became a Southern subsidiary, and in the 1950s a separate entity. The railroad mainly ran steam until 1969, when the last steam engine was retired from coal service. However, they do keep an active fleet of six steam locomotives running for excursions. Among their six operational steamers are their only two E class 2-10-0 “Russian” locomotives, numbers 7 and 8. They also roster one USRA 0-6-0 (1094, acquired in 1941), a PRR K4 (5448, acquired in 1952), a USRA light 4-6-2 (1525, acquired in 1930), and the largest of all of the BL&G’s steamers, ex-New York Central J3a Hudson number 5438.

[@Shipwright1918]

Salutations from the Mule Valley Railroad, later the Mule Valley Lines system. Great video, thanks for sharing!

[@NYMR-Pacific]

This video would have been so useful for me when starting out, all of these are pretty much the exact things I always take into consideration when developing/updating my fictional railroads (NI&W, Illinois Midland, & a few others) & the world around them. I think one other thing that I notice alot (and have been guilty of myself) when it comes to making a fictional railroad is overpowering your roster with locomotives much larger than what is necessary for the workload or distance covered. I think this happens especially often with railroads that are set in the steam era, & its something I constantly double & triple check myself on before officially adding any new loco to a roster.

[@RailfannerJones]

My railroad is the WLine railroad, a railroad going since 1998. It’s based in the northeastern part of the US, and I might have made like 7 paint schemes for it.

[@slr_393p]

Two more additions to this video, Roster - What type of engines do you want, Numbers, Horns, Details? any specs that contain to your railroad. Industries, what kind do you serve, more than one? Nice video!

[@gamerfan8445]

@@slr_393p also era, and operations.

[@CitizensAreaTransit]

Since we’re talking about our fictionals, I’m gonna bring up mine: 1. Nevadan Pacific Railroad (NPRR, reporting mark NPRX) a class 1 railroad spanning what is now the UP overland line with 2 main lines and a few branches. Both main lines originate in Chicago with both splitting off at Salt Lake (One going south to Las Vegas/Los Angeles/& San Diego) (the other going west onwards to Reno, NV and the Bay Area), with the branches between Reno & Vegas (the Nevadan Northwestern Line) and the Nevadan Southeastern line from Vegas to Laughlin, NV via Boulder City 2. Southern Nevada Transit District (SNTD, reporting mark SNVX) is the primary commuter rail operator in the Las Vegas Metro Area, with lines radiation from Las Vegas Union Station out to the following towns (Laughlin, Pahrump, Indian Springs, Moapa Valley via Glendale, & Mesquite)

[@abuBrachiosaurus]

Maddie's fic spotted

[@2010train1]

I honestly like this style

[@FanoftrainsfromCA]

My fictional railroad goes by the name “king city and eastern” It is based in King city California, the line was originally opens in 1032 by the southern pacific, and it was taken over by the G&W in 1954, but the corporation it is now officially became its own company in febuary of 1974, it has 4 current locomotives, 3 GP60’s and 1 GP38-2, numbers 2118-2122, it also has a heritage roster, consisting of SD-9 2103, 2 former SP Pullman coaches, and 1 former Great northern observation car.

[@BNSF1848]

Mine is the Illinois Rail Link A Class II railroad Formed in the late 90s with the merger of the Chicago & Illinois Midland and the Illinois Rail net. Then later acquiring the Burlington junctions Illinois assets in the early 2000s Our paint scheme is based on the CB&Q Chinese red, and I have some “special paint locomotives” in the works You can find video of my railroad on my channel as I have modeled it in HO

[@chessiecat96]

Mine is the Oklahoma Southern, A class 2 railroad created in 1985 that slowly absorbed surrounding companies and expanded into Texas and Kansas before falling to corporate greed and cost cutting, which killed it in 2024 after a large train-truck collision that it couldn't recover from. Other railroads in the same universe include: Kansas State Railway (KSRX) Ferrovia Leasing (FVLX) Southwestern Spring Railway (Bought by Oklahoma Southern in 1989) Midcentral Grain Suppliers (MGSX, Bought by Oklahoma Southern in 1999) ITX Transportation (ITX)

[@pocoyomike8882]

I have a fictional railroad called the Chicago, California & Western Railroad, the railroad was founded in 1937 as a result of a merger of three railroads, the California & Nevada Railroad (Serves California and Nevada), the Denver and Western Railroad (Serves Utah and Colorado) and the Chicago & Midwest System Railroad (Serves Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas and Nebraska), it's a Class I Railroad and it used a a variety of paint schemes for their different services, the Passenger Service uses the Sunset scheme (Black, Magenta, Yellow, Sand, Yellow, Orange and Red) the Freight Service uses the Western Freight scheme (Black, Yellow and Blue) and the Commuter Service paint scheme is still WIP kinda, and yes i'm doing this all by myself (with a bit of opinions) i have a lot more but i think this is enough for now

[@HenryS226]

Ive got a railroad in my mind, the HP, or the Henry Pacific railroad heading from destinations such as Florida to Chicago, with other stops in the whole eastern region.

[@TPB-OPA]

I have a class 1 called Orlando, Colorado & Atlanta (it’s 3 main hubs, but still sounds weird) and I’m currently developing a smaller railroad, Penn Southern (I actually have a bunch of fictional railroads but it’s kinda hard to explain them all) OCA (in lore) was founded 1939, while Penn Southern in 2024 or something

[@TheTransportationFanfromCA]

Mines which is still in planning is an n scale 2x4ft called “Norte de Sonora y Arizona/Northern Sonora and Arizona.”It’s a branch line of the N de M when it merged in 1960, at the time it was still using steam. The engines I want on it are 2-8-0s for freight, 4-6-0s for passenger and 0-6-0s for switching, I am also planning for diesels.

[@firelynx1108]

Honestly, might make a Minecraft RR after watching this around the 1930s or 40s, which imo is peak steam era

[@Locomotive_Enjoyer_2011]

I have a fictional railway called the United States Railway. It was founded in 1904 and as it grew the railway saw other railways grow inside of it. These railways are the ones we see in real life, like CSX, BNSF, NS, AND UP. This fictional railway is still be worked on by me, and yes, I'm doing this alone XD So, Carter H, thanks for the advice. If I need more help, I'll be sure to comment on a random video or post :)

[@HenryS226]

With main colors such as blue and yellow, yellow on the nose and cab, and blue on the long hood

[@CrazyFilms2024]

The railroad name I came up with was B. L. & D. which means Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

[@RailfanKnexified]

It's so funny that I found this video because I already have a fictional HO Scale railroad of my own! I call it the Beanified Railroad (BRR for the abbriviated). And I may not have a huge layout, but I do have industries and an interchange. And as I'm watching this video, I'm currently working on repainting Pullman and Santa Fe passenger cars and renaming them "Beanified". So I pretty much have almost the whole 9 yards. I just need a locomotive with an unoriginal paint!

[@B2Pproduction]

Should also mention rental services such as GATX and Trinity. You won't need specific trackage if you're leasing power. I've gone with that for my freelance, just gotta make sure the reporting mark ends with an X though.

[@JustATeenageRailfan]

Mine was a spin off of the WC in the 90s in started with a GP30 (ex WC 711) and operates most of what the real world WOSR runs

[@Twprailfan]

thanks for the GMID reference

[@FSTM4003]

My fictional railroad is the Oklahoma & Pacific, running from Fort Smith, AR, to Los Angeles, CA, with most of its network being in the south and southwest.

[@ErieRailfan3977]

I am making a steam era railroad called the Cleveland, Pittsburg, and Chicago railroad, it was formed in 1899 when track from Chicago to Cleveland was bought along with a Prr 4-4-0, and I am still making the lore

[@BNSF4706]

I have a fictional railroad called the Moxie Pacific Railroad, which started in 1874, diesel paint was very simple, but 2024 and 2025 are bringing a new paint design.

[@HighballProductions940]

I have already done so, over a two years ago! It takes place in two different countries, known as Rail County, and Corvalon. The railroad is a class one, and recently had a merger with another class one. It was the Melbourne & Northwestern (MNW). Now known as the Melbourne, Lauren & Atlantic Railroad. I was wondering if anyone would want to partake in this, and if anyone would want to make a railroad in these fictional countries. I may make a discord server and I’ll keep everyone posted

[@ShukakuTheCrazy1]

Fascinating guide. I wouldn't mind if my model railroad had its own backstory, but Wilbert Awdry I am not

[@amtrakp4242]

I just learned to make the Saint Louis and Kansas City Class 2 Regional Railroad connecting Saint Louis, Poplar Bluff, Branson, Jefferson City, and Kansas City and most of their units are coated in Graffiti

[@TheRailfanofTexas]

Hey Carter. I am curios on how you can design a locomotive kind of how your profile pic is. I wanted to try to do something similar with my new profile pic.

[@tueypjr4823]

thanks for the advice finally making a new fictional as my last one was not great by any means.

[@Voucher765]

Mine is the Anthracite Central a railroad that is a homage to the Reading, CNJ and Lackawanna or DL&W railroads

[@urlocal._lemon78]

I have a a fictional railroad called Orange Coast (OCRR) which was formed after two of my other fictional railroads, OrangeWay and Coast-Coast RR merged

[@TheWarbonnet660]

I’ve been working on my own fictional, it’s the OT&MR (Ontario And Minnesota Railroad) for about a year know lol

[@natezanger248]

Mine is the Mohawk and Hudson valley it is a class two/heritage line that started after buying out contrail runs both passenger and freight trains with a mix of steam and diesel with nothing newer than 1971 being a sd45 interchangeing with the 4 class ones in the us and the two Canadian class ones with an expansion into Canada under way

[@gracie-C3]

Which railroad is that locomotive on the thumbnail?? I really like the paint scheme .

[@ThePacificRailfan777]

I named my railroad the Bryson & North Carolina Railroad or BNCR. For a game i play called Railroader but for my model railroad it is the Union Pacific railroad.

[@MidwesternRailfan]

Sunset Belt by my good friend Highway rahhhhh

[@alanabyss9246]

I got a 3ft narrow gauge railroad in Alaska that’s a rival to the white pass and Yukon

[@robisaviation412]

3:36 what railroad is this

[@spamcan5]

Those models are made by one of my good friends, it is called Sunset Belt

[@robisaviation412]

@@spamcan5 oh wow

[@MidwesternRailfan]

​@@spamcan5frick you, you beat me to it grrrrrr

[@abuBrachiosaurus]

​@@spamcan5 hi spamcan

[@trainlover0315]

Lol Ive see pictures of those units posted in a Discord Server by a guy who was painting them

[@CentralPARailfan28]

I have a railroad inspired by the Rio Grande and Santa Fe railways as a modern freight road

[@RTek1986]

One thing I would disagree on is your assertion that there are more opportunities to create a freelance railroad the further back in time you go. Many of today's shortlines and regionals were created because of larger railroads abandoning trackage for various reasons within the last 50 years. My own Armstrong Railway concept uses various Penn Central and Erie Lackawanna abandonments (mostly due to Hurricane Agnes in '72) to create an alternate Pittsburgh, PA to Buffalo, NY route.

[@General1855Mantua]

my fictional railroad is the “Salt Lake & Pacifc” started in 1861 N0:1 was named “Kingston Holeman” and was built by the railroad themselves at the Salt Lake City shops and the line went from Utah through Idaho Montana then terminates in Washington state

[@ThatRailGuy]

U an Utah rail fan?

[@General1855Mantua]

@@ThatRailGuy sorta I’m from Utah but I live in Washington

[@alandvaemergencyresponses2883]

Mines is the the shoal creek & overton railroad Yes

[@Backlitshitbox]

I KNOW THAT PERSON I KNOW THEM I KNOW THEM I KNOW HIGHWAY!!!!!

[@Carter_H]

very swag individual

[@SleepySalad]

@@Backlitshitbox highway is indeed a swagarino

[@GojiramusPrimeBug01]

Well I guess at this point the SPSF but that’s a failed merger and a big what if , I guess if I could make one up hmm 🤔

[@Canaandoestrains167]

Nice figure editing :)

[@Jessecolliton3992]

My Railroad is called the NJ&E or the New jersey Eastern and is a Class 1 Passenger Railroad and Was founded in 1987 its route goes between Trenton NJ-Tallahasse FL and has routes to Washington DC and Austin TX And has a fleet of 131 Engines Consisting of Emd F40ph Ge P42dc and Ge Dash 840bws The NJ&E was founded by the merger of the Conrail and NJ Dot and runs along many shortlines and has a mainline in Paradise PA

[@michalsiuda3234]

An interesting video this is, but i think these ideas will only work around america, as railroads in europe work a bit differently. Altho some points still can be usefull. : )

[@DTHESHARK]

Yeah, I have atleast 4 of them and the a few transit things also

[@Track_Tranzit]

when she fictional on my railroad until i nejr all over the place

[@Logansdumbstuff]

I just found out this is the same person that crashed power trains in 2018

[@ZanderDevisback]

Mines is NSR (northern south rail), Ro Pacific and colossal cargo Paint of nsr: Red and smoky gray Paint of ro pacific: deep blue, navy blue and black. Paint for colossal cargo: any color Lore: idk

[@ZanderDevisback]

How nsr was made: 2024 Time: idk

[@NW611]

3:34 What model railroad is that?

[@abuBrachiosaurus]

Sunset System, the creator goes by Highway online

[@722_productions]

BNCX after the Burlington Northern in the Santa Fe failed to merge the Burlington Northern went to the CSX and merged with them instead

[@everythingiscool6228]

im making my own fictional railroad idea that I'm calling the rio southern. a short line from Alamosa Colorado to Trinidad Colorado where it interchanges with UP. it works in conjunction with the Clorado and pacific san luis rio grande railorad. my railroad goes over a fictional pass to trinidad colorado. it was built to be a competitor to the rio grande southern with the hopes of reaching Durango by a route through wolf creek pass with the hopes one day it would be a new transcontinental railroad but the railroad ran out of funding anf was absorbed into the DR&G. then the line became a shortline railroad in 2003 but was run as a separate operaction the focused on freight and a small passeger service to small towns in the south with a connection to the tourist line in antinito.

[@Funky-FelineM]

I Made A Fictional Railway Call ZKRR ( Zeak Railway ) Cause thats my cats name

[@ninyaninjabrifsanovichthes45]

UNLIMITED VL80S AND M62S FOR MY RAILROAD RAAAAAAH

[@falfan7.62]

lemme over share about my fictional rq The Northumberland & Atlantic, opened in the early 1870s in new Brunswick (it replaces the international railway in this universe) is a 3ft gauge class 1 that interchanges with a group of physcopaths up north (The Plywood and Atlantic) the N&A is still running steam into the 2000s (under such innovations as the GPCS fire box, lempor ejector, computerized firing and other wonderful modern innovations i dont have anything else to add rn cuz im tired ok bye!!!

[@EntirelyTrains]

Yo it's Highway

[@Thatoneguynobodywatches]

Nah, I'm just gonna steal the B&LC

[@Krytobell]

omg railroader train tutorial!!!!

[@CHESSIErailfanning]

Bro put b&lc

[@abuBrachiosaurus]

Not gonna like half of these fics in these comments are horrible lmao

[@ShawnCalay]

With horizon hobbies not making kits or undecorated anymore best start stocking up on paint stripper....

[@abuBrachiosaurus]

paint stripper dissolved plastic models so have fun if (Use isopropyl alcohol if you actually wanna strip paint off models)

[@ShawnCalay]

@abuBrachiosaurus it's what I meant...ELO, brake fluid, powder blasting....

[@ShawnCalay]

@@abuBrachiosaurus been custom painting for 30 plus years....plus I still have to kitbash U20C, GT18 and GT22CUM

[@NathanSmith-z1v]

Are you a dev with horsethefie????

[@SleepySalad]

hes the owner lol

[@NathanSmith-z1v]

Wait actually

[@NathanSmith-z1v]

That’s so cool I used to watch his old vids

[@gabrielquinones3343]

Hey wait a minute I swear in the TRS discord server sorry southline district I swear I see those sunset railraod locomotives made by a user who’s called “highway

[@SleepySalad]

thats cause they are lol

[@gabrielquinones3343]

@@SleepySaladwait Charter H MADE those sunset system unit

[@SleepySalad]

@@gabrielquinones3343 no? thats literally my friend lol

[@highwayrailfan8725]

@gabrielquinones3343erm nuh uh

[@SleepySalad]

pngtuber

[@MBTA1067]

Like 404

[@JacobMakesStuff]

Bruh