USA - Tony Koester, Ted Pamperin and Ron Klaiss - Jim & Rosslyn

Well the "train" (model and 12" to foot) related activities continues...

Ted Pamperin's C&O New River Division and Tony Koester's Nickle Plate Road were the next part of the tour.  We were so busy taking detail photos that we forgot to run the video camera...

Tony Koester's Nickle Plate Road.

This layout is a real show piece, his yardmaster is required to weigh all not standard loads and trains run to weight / locomotive power guidelines.  He uses realistic road rules for all his operations.  I think it would take me a long time to learn the majority of his rules…

Thanks for allowing us to come vist your outstanding layout Tony.

Ted Pamperin's C&O New River Division

Ted’s layout is set during the autumn of 1943 while WWII was raging on. It was moving coal, freight and troops in Virginia and West Virginia.  Ted started building at age 65 when he took the hobby up again.  He has done a very good job!

Afterwards at Ted's we enjoyed some adult beverages whilst taking in the great views from the back patio...

Thanks Ted for hosting us we appreciated our time with you.

Dinner

When we got back to Craig’s Rossco & I headed to our hotel to book in.  That done we headed to a Spanish restaurant named Segovia after checking the address with a person attending. However, when we arrive they were not at the restaurant!   So I actually had to turn on mobile data to find out where they actually were through Facebook chat. Well it turned out this restaurant must not be confused with the other Spanish restaurant named Segovia that's only a mile down another road... Well we did eventually find the right place when the GPS had the correct address to guide us. Hey I had great steak and Rossco a seafood Paella, so everyone was happy.


A big thank you must go to Craig and Jim for organising a great day which went will into the evening.  We both had a fantastic day.

Ron Klaiss's 

Ron like me has his own modelling room and separate layout room. I had been following the building of a very nice bridge and it was a pleasure to see in person. On his workbench were sawmill interior detail kits he is building.  The work completed to date looks very nice.  It was nice to see Ron’s daughter's efforts too – well done!

The workbench

The Layout Room

Thanks for letting us come see your work Ron..

Stay tuned for the next installment!

-ooOOOoo-