Thursday, February 15, 2018

Terminating the Terminal

I'm an idiot.

I arrived at the name "Metaline Falls Terminal Railroad" after much care and consideration. (as outlined in this blog post here.) You see, naming a model railroad is important to me because a name can evoke an image or feeling in the mind of the viewer.  For artists (and yes, all model railroaders are artists) These images, these feelings become integral to the model.  Just consider what wells up inside you when you hear names like: Gorre and Daphetid, Utah Belt, Grimes Line, and Downtown Spur.  These names not only describe a location, but also evoke a sense of the type of railroading the viewer can expect to experience.

And so, before laying one bit of track, I buckled down and worked to come up with a great name.  One that would be unique, yet memorable and would evoke a sense of a tiny short-line struggling to survive with few customers, isolated and tucked away deep in the mountains and forests of north eastern Washington; The Metaline Falls Terminal Railroad...

...which is why I'm an idiot.

The word "Terminal"  Originally chosen because it "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" does NOT, infact mean what I THOUGHT it meant.  I thought "Terminal" meant "End of the line" "This railroad does not interchange with any other railroads besides the one." Nope. Not even close. Turns out "Terminal" means "Railroad that operates and interchanges cars at a railroad terminal."

So, I'm forced to change the name which also meant changing the blog URL which sucks because once you change the blogspot URL, anyone who has that original address saved will have no way of getting to your new one. It does not forward to your new URL nor does it inform the reader that the blog has moved and offers them a link to the new address.

This probably isn't as big a deal as I am making it out to be as I stopped blogging years ago really and whatever readership this thing once had has likely given up on me and moved on.  I also have not re-lettered any of my cars yet, so that saves some headaches and embarrassment there as well.

Anyway, lesson learned. Moving on.

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