Palm Trees

Model Railroader General Discussion (Model Railroader)
1

Hi from England [:)], i’m modelling a portion od the ex SF Surfline and I was wondering does anyone know of any kits for palm trees?

2

Jules,
Here’s the link to one source:
http://www.hartofthesouth.com/
There’s a hobby shop on the West Coast that has kits. It was mentioned in a post on this topic a few months ago. Use the Advanced version of the Search the forums . . .
function at the top of the page.
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

3

Here are a couple of links for palms and other trees. I don’t know exactly what kind you are looking for so I threw in a couple of different links. Good luck![:)]

http://www.aclsal.org/palmtree.htm
http://www.hobbylinc.com/prods/upj_3.htm
http://www.jttmicroscale.com/newproductlist.asp
http://www.hobbyhelper.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=590-18600&Category_Code=590
http://www.walthers.com/exec/search?category=&scale=&manu=&item=&keywords=palm+tree&instock=Q&split=30&Submit=Search

4

Thanks guys, but another stupid question but what are the most common type of Palm tree in So. CA

5

I included links for several type of palm trees, but it appears only one palm is native to So Cal (which one of the links is dedicated to). I don’t think that this was a stupid question as I don’t think many folks could rattle off the top of their heads palms common to So Cal. I had to research this stuff. I have been needing some palms anyhow, so it was a good thing. Enjoy.

http://www.junglemusic.net/palmadvice/palms-spiny-palms.htm
http://www.ocalmanac.com/Environment/ev19a.htm

6

I’ve bought all of my palms from Trainquest Model Trains and have been delighted with the quality, although the prices are a major obstacle to really capturing the “California” look. Having grown up in So Cal (57 yrs!), no one species of palm is necessarily predominant, but I would guess the Mexican Fan Palm is the one that really stands out (literally!) and would be most characteristic. These are usually found along streets and boulevards, while the shorter Canary Island Date Palm or the California Fan Palm might be used more in landscaping around buildings. Palms are prodigious growers and spread like weeds. Thus, are often found sprouting wherever there is vacant real estate e.g. rights of way. Here is the Trainquest link if you’re interested:

http://store.trainquest.net/StoreFront.bok

Mike

7

Indeed, palms are generally not native to California–but there was a huge fad of planting palm trees in California cities from the early 20th century on, so you see a lot of palms in cities, but generally nowhere outside of cities. If you’re planning on modeling rural areas, then don’t bother with the palm trees. If you want to model cities, any kind of palm tree is fair game–normally we don’t have the kind that actually grow coconuts, though.

8

Don’t know if you are still interested or have your Palm Trees and on to something else. Model Railroader Mag had a nice article in Dec 1968. Thay won’t let me scan it, but it is their site and maybe they know how to get this to you.

9

Anyone can obtain photocopies of John Lukesh’s article by contacting either Model Railroader:
customerservice@kalmbach.com
or the NMRA’s Kalmbach Memorial Library:
http://www.nmra.org/library/
The fees are reasonable, even if you’re not an NMRA member. Mr. Lukesh’s article is specifically about palm trees in California.
Here’s the link to a search at the Index of Magazines on the topic:
http://index.mrmag.com/tm.exe?opt=S&cmdtext=palm+tree&MAG=ANY
Bob
NMRA Life 0543