Model Railroading > Quisling CA, 1954

Three snaps of the module.

Thanks for looking.

Brian Moore
Plymouth, UK

---

---

---

Three more.

---

---

---

You guys across the pond are doing a very convincing job of modeling in California of some past time periods!

Kudos!

Cheers, Jim Fitch

Nice modelling and excellent photos. Even though I don't model SP, nice photos such as these inspire me to get back to work on my stuff.

Awesome!

~Ryan

Looks awesome as always. Great weathering too. Thanks Bruce

Superb photos of a fantastic layout! This is one of the very best depictions of the SP I have yet to see. What a pleasant surprise on my first visit to the TO Model Railroading Discussion! Having grown-up in the San Francisco Bay Area with the "Friendly Southern Pacific," allow me to add some background info on the California Airmotive (as it was known in Oakland, California) shown in the final image. Your work really has the "feel" of the Southern Pacific of that era...

That company had a warehouse about half a mile east of southern end of North Field -- i.e., the original Oakland Airport. North Field was located about a mile or so northwest of the small SP yard and depot at Mulford, on the main line from Oakland to San Jose. (A great place to see ALCO S-2's in the Tiger Stripe colors switching while passing freights made pick-ups and set-outs behind F-units, GP-9's, and later U25B's, GP35's, and other Coast Line power...)

The same red and white image of the DC-4 was painted prominently on that large building facing the field even though the company was removed from the airport itself. I recall going to the adjacent "Airport AutoMovies" drive-in theater many times with my parents, and that image could be seen from all over the drive-in. A side benefit to going to see films there was as a boy if I didn't care for the movie I could watch the United DC-6's, DC-7's, and Convair 340's, along with Pacific Airlines Martin 404's, Western Convair 240's and DC-4's, etc., landing a couple of blocks from the theater. The sign, faded and weathered, lasted for many decades, and I still think about it whenever I am back in Oakland around the airport.

Thanks for sharing these photos, which brought back some wonderful memories of both planes and trains to one who grew-up in sunny California with 1950's-era propliners and the colorful SP!

Best wishes,

ShastaDaylight

I had never heard of Quisling California so I tried googling it. Nothing comes up, only names of people. Is Quisling a fictitious city?

Cheers, Jim Fitch

SPDRGWfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I had never heard of Quisling California so I
> tried googling it. Nothing comes up, only names
> of people. Is Quisling a fictitious city?
>
> Cheers, Jim Fitch

Yes it is.

I lived in both southern and northern California from age 7 thru 24, so it was a little puzzling although I'm sure there are towns and bergs I have never heard of!

Thanks

Jim Fitch

PHall Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SPDRGWfan Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > I had never heard of Quisling California so I
> > tried googling it. Nothing comes up, only
> names
> > of people. Is Quisling a fictitious city?
> >
> > Cheers, Jim Fitch
>
> Yes it is.

Just down the road from Vidkin IIRC.

Thanks, everyone.

California Airframe is from a real picture that I got from SP author and modeller Tony Thompson - it really "nails" the location.

Quisling, as has been said, is fictitious. It is indeed down the road from Vidkin, turning left at Benito.

There are very few names that have not been applied to a settlement somewhere in the US. Quisling is one of them. Can't think why. Also, and prior to building the module, I had to abandon plans for a Donner Pass one, and I felt rather a traitor to the cause. That's initially where I got the idea from.

Brian



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/14 00:23 by bxmoore.

Donner Pass is a very nice and historical location scenically, and dear to my heart having made many a trip over it as a young adult going skiing and backpacking, and also having ridden the rails over it in 1976 and later in 1990. But the choice of the modules does provide more interest in terms of switching and industry etc. and running possibilities on a modular layout so ended up probably a better choice.

Cheers, Jim Fitch

bxmoore Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Quisling, as has been said, is fictitious. It is
> indeed down the road from Vidkin, turning left at
> Benito.
>
> There are very few names that have not been
> applied to a settlement somewhere in the US.
> Quisling is one of them. Can't think why. Also,
> and prior to building the module, I had to abandon
> plans for a Donner Pass one, and I felt rather a
> traitor to the cause. That's initially where I got
> the idea from.
>
> Brian

Obviously a play on World War 2 traitors in Nazi occupied Europe (Vidkin Quisling, the Norwegian Nazi politician who took over the Norwegian government during German occupation during the war, and of course Benito Mussolini in Italy).

Very nice modeling, I like your inclusion of a Greyhound bus that was ubiquitous to that era (though some might say that was "traitorous" as well!).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/26/14 16:55 by czephyr17.