What’s in a name?

I had numerous choices when deciding on the name for this new layout.

The Cedar Rapids and Iowa City Railway (the owner of the line) officially uses CIC for its reporting marks. But everyone knows it as the CRANDIC, a simple but catchy combination of the railroad’s namesake cities. Formally, my modeled portion is the CIC First Subdivision, which is as good a name as any for a prototype-based model railroad.

Informally, the route from Iowa City to Hills is known as the Hills Line. I would have been content in naming the layout the CIC First Subdivision and referring to it as the CRANDIC’s Hills Line.

But this is a IAIS layout, and I’m an IAIS modeler, so their naming convention has to win out. The Iowa Interstate, who leased and operated my modeled segment from 2012 to 2016, chose to identify their newly-acquired portion as the Hills Industrial Spur.

Still, the CRANDIC’s history plays a significant role in the design and operation of both the prototype and the model. Shouldn’t I honor, or at least acknowledge that history and influence, and choose a name that works for both prototypes?

Welcome to The Hills Line. Note the capital T.