Inspiration for Long City Lines is drawn from historical interurban and streetcar systems, such as Twin City Rapid Transit, Kansas City Public Service, Oklahoma Railways, the Indiana Railroad, and the Pacific Electric.
The time period modeled is Spring-to-Summer 1945, so the traffic patterns are influenced by the needs of the World War 2 home front. Inspired by the wartime experience of Oklahoma Railways, Long City Lines had to purchase secondhand interurban equipment from many abandoned interurban systems across the U.S. to meet the needs of wartime traffic, which provides an opportunity to model a diverse range of interurban cars. The vision is to primarily model the interurban operations, but streetcars will not be left out, even though much of the streetcar system will remain on paper.
Interurban Lines
Bishop: Connects downtown Long City with the smaller town of Bishop. The length of the route is approximately 20 miles. Within the Long City city limits, the Bishop line overlaps with the Bowen streetcar line. Once outside city limits, the line passes through the towns of Newman and Paola before reaching Bishop. A regular source of traffic is students commuting to and from Coteau College. Long City Lines has developed a decent carload freight business on this line by attracting different companies to the area, in addition to serving as a short bridge route between the Great Northern railroad connection in Bishop and the railroads in Long City. With the ongoing war (World War 2), an Army training center is located on the Bishop line a couple miles outside of Long City, adding yet another source of traffic for the line.
Currie: Connects downtown Long City with the smaller town of Currie. The length of the route is approximately 9 miles, most of which overlaps with the Mettes line within the city limits of Long City, then uses private right-of-way to follow the southwest shore of Lake Shetek until the line enters Currie. With the ongoing war (World War 2), a U.S. War Department ammunition plant is located at the end of the Mettes line and, thus, the Currie line.
Streetcar Lines
Schwartz: The only stand-alone line on the system, due to the heavy traffic and needed frequency. Begins in downtown Long City, travels through wealthier neighborhoods on the immediate periphery of downtown, passes through the "suburban" campus of Long University, travels through more residential neighborhoods, and terminates at the popular Long City Lines amusement park at the edge of the city.
Irene: Through routed with Otto. The line serves a mix of residential areas and shopping districts.
Otto: Through routed with Irene. The line is mostly residential, but includes a major city park along its route that is a popular location for evening concerts and outdoor theater.
Richard: Through routed with James. Mostly residential, with little off-peak ridership.
James: Through routed with Richard. The line serves an industrial area immediately beyond downtown, and then transitions to residential and shopping areas, with its terminus at the city's major cemetery.
Bowen: Through routed with Mettes. Serves industrial sites on the immediate periphery of downtown and transitions to residential. The Bishop interurban line overlaps with the Bowen line.
Mettes: Through routed with Bowen. Serves shopping districts and residential areas beyond downtown, transitioning to industrial in the area around the city limits. The industrial area on the edge of the city is what attracted the placement of the U.S. War Department ammunition plant, due to the lower amounts of traffic when compared to the industrial areas closer to downtown. The Currie interurban line overlaps with the Mettes line.
Bus Lines
Hilary: An entirely residential line with little off-peak ridership. So far, this is the only line converted from streetcars to buses.
Pauline: The lone crosstown route on the Long City Lines system. Increasing economic activity in the few years leading up to the U.S. entry into World War 2 led to the creation of this line. Buses were chosen as building a streetcar line was uneconomical.
Defense: Express bus service between downtown Long City and the ammunition plant for the benefit of plant workers. This line relieves congestion that would be placed on the Mettes line to transport all plant workers using transit.