Tis season

Tis season

`Tis the Season

It has begun. December is almost here and I can pretty much kiss off any quality time with the layout. All day long, Sherry has been sending me calendar dates for this party and that. I can't wait for the mandatory "white elephant" gift exchanges.

This led me on a quest looking for horrible railroad gifts. I believed the worst was this Precious Moments railroad crossing sign, but then Stan sent me this link to an auction he was sure I'd be interested in. If you read the listing, when the owner died in 1969, they put it away in a box. I'm not sure if they meant the dead guy or the sweater, but I'm pretty sure the sweater contributed to the death. After all, he was a real railroad conductor, and if I know Rails, I can bet they gave him a ton of crap when he showed up wearing that thing -- But guys, my wife made me wear it!With that same sense of compassion for my fellow man, you can understand how I much I enjoyed reading how this guy thinks that the work he does cleaning up railroad slides to scan for his web page is like the work Jesus does cleaning up souls. Must be Archbishop of the Church of Eastman Kodak.

What's in a Name?

What's in a Name?

I was recently asked why I named my modules (and my layout for that matter) with Spanish names. The answer is simply that it matches the prototype. The railroads predate California statehood, and before we were one of the United States of America, we were Alta California, a Mexican state. Even before the area was a Mexican territory, it was home to our Native Americans. From their languages we've got station names like Mojave (Mile Post 379.5) and Tehachapi (MP 360.5).

The Spanish missionaries brought us names like Friar (MP 264.1), and the names of the Saints, such as San Bernardino (MP 81.4). There were also Spanish explorers like Balboa (MP 25.3).

Of course there are as many stations with Spanish surnames as there are white railroad employee surnames. Names like Dominguez (MP 496.2) and Reyes (MP 495.3) are just as common as Edison (MP 320.1) and Smeltzer (MP 519.6).

Some names are Spanglish, a blending of Spanish and English. An example is Buena Park (MP 160.3).

Below is a list of some of the Station names and check points from the area timetables. It is interesting to imagine what they were noticing when they named these places.

• Los Alamitos = The little Aspen trees
• Aliso = Sycamore Trees
• Basta = Enough
• Brea = Oil
• Cajon = Footlocker or chest
• Caliente = Hot
• Casa Blanca = White House
• Corona = Crown
• Esperanza = Hope
• La Mirada = The Lookout
• Oro Grande = Big Gold
• Prado = Grassland
• Rana = Frog
• Redondo = Round (yes, there is a turntable there!)
• El Segundo = The Second (choice?)
• Sierra = Mountains
• Soledad = Solitude