Because I’m the sort of person who gets obsessed by stupid wastes of time, I’ve spent far too many hours over the last couple of weeks plotting locations from the computer game Fallout: New Vegas into Google Earth. Not content with simply plotting the easy ones, I’ve been obsessively researching the more obscure places and turned up some interesting information that doesn’t seem to have been posted online previously. So what better place to put it than on my blog?
Gypsum Train Yard: The Gypsum Train Yard appears to be based on the Pabco Gypsum facility to the east of Las Vegas. This so obvious that I’m surprised it doesn’t seem to be recorded anywhere.
Morning Star Cavern: This cave is fairly close to the abandoned Morning Star Gold Mine.
Walking Box Cavern: This cave must have got its name from the nearby Walking Box Ranch.
Samson Rock Crushing Plant: This facility may well be based on the Las Vegas Paving Corp aggregate plant in Arden. It’s southwest of McCarran Airport and adjacent to the railway line, just as in the game.
Some other fun stuff I found. The entrance to Fort McCarran is based on the historic entrance to the airport – located on South Las Vegas Boulevard just south of the Fabulous Las Vegas sign. A bit further west on I-15 is a giant Miller Beer bottle, which might well have influenced the entrance to the Sunset Sasparilla factory. The game states that Freeside is located around the intersection of Freemont Street and Las Vegas Boulevard – what do you find there? A gateway just like the one near the Atomic Wrangler. Jacobstown is not just located on the slopes of Mount Charleston, but is clearly modeled on The Resort on Mount Charleston, even down to the big sign at the entrance.
There’s no doubt plenty of other stuff to be found, but I’m all burnt out on it now đŸ™‚
