9/06/10 - Just a brief update following my return from the National Narrow Gauge Convention in St. Louis, my display is shown below. I need to take just a moment to acknowledge the outstanding job that was done by the organizers in planning for and running the event. Not a detail was missed, including the two-sided credential that eliminated the need for constantly making sure your name tag was visible. The attendance was great every day and evening, with many tables full of unique and interesting products for all aspects of the hobby. Many thanks to those that stopped by to discuss our current and potential future projects, the time spent was very enjoyable.

Part of the trip to St. Louis included a visit to the Museum of Transportation to do some research and a run over to Bolton, Missouri which is near Kansas City, to visit a preserved Union Pacific CA-1 caboose. I will comment further on the individual project sites regarding the research completed.

I also have to mention that Kohs & Company models continue to do very well on the secondary market. The average appreciation for the most recent sales examples is over 50%, a testament to the desirability of the line of models we have produced, which is unique in the industry. Our models are certainly not intended simply for resale, but it's a nice side benefit to know that should it become necessary, that the investment has been a sound one.

8/28/10 - A big thank you to Muncel Chang of Portola, California for sharing the photos below which show a special excursion train that made a run from Oakland, California to Muncel's new home town, Portola, California. The excursion retraced the Western Pacific's 'California Zephyr' route through the Feather River Canyon. You may recognize the observation car from the 'Zephyr' consist, this train has captured considerable interest recently with Atlas 'O' offering some very nice cars.

I again encourage anyone that has had a fun railfan experience to share some photos. Muncel was also kind enough to share photos relating to the newly announced Union Pacific caboose project. Feedback and input from our very active customer base makes all the difference in the world in our efforts to get it right with our projects.

8/03/10 - The next installment of information regarding wheel profiles and gauging will be presented in the technical pages for simplicity sake. The information on the 'Wheel Profile & Gauging' page has to be updated so a combined effort will save time and prevent confusion. You can bookmark this page and save some time if this is a subject of interest. The presentation of information will continue tomorrow.

Just one additional sidelight for current customers that are hands-on modelers; I am currently working on some special opportunities for you regarding painting equipment, paints and shop equipment. This is a developing situation so stay tuned for the developments as they come together.

8/01/10 - Carrying on from 7/30........A major commitment has been made in the last several months to research the performance of standard gauge O scale models regarding track, turnouts, wheel gauging and wheel profiles. Spurred on by the fact that the NMRA has finally caught up to what I have been doing with wheel profiles for more than twenty years, the focus has been on further advancing Kohs & Company standards to include the use of true 'scale' wheel profiles on all future models. The obvious advantage of scale wheels is the more realistic appearance of the overall model, but there have been some unanticipated rewards from this design approach as well and they will be discussed in due course. Although my primary concern has been with standard gauge O scale, during the course of the research I looked at the potential for better addressing the issue of and interest in P:48 standards and that too will be discussed.

With all of the chatter there has been in recent months regarding wheel gauging and problems associated it, most of which has been uneducated in nature, the real chore was to decide how to approach the research. Certainly, I have had to be concerned with the performance of Kohs & Company models since I have delivered all of my models with wheel profiles the closest to scale available. Self evaluation has been an ongoing effort from my first experience in O scale while associated with Fine Art Models, so that has been routine. To have data as useful as possible, it has been important to solicit feedback from as broad a cross section of users as possible, not just from one or two hand-picked operators, and to be as mindful of their expectations as possible. When I say expectations, what do I mean? In short, are the operators in question knowledgeable about standards, specifications and problem solvers by nature or do they just enjoy operating model railroads and leave the details to others. The issue of expectations is only important in trying to determine root causes when a problem is documented, it's not a matter of whether a model should operate any better or worse from one operator to another, the bottom line is whether or not the feedback is valid and useful.

In addition to my first-hand experience, I have received feedback from as broad a group as I believe possible at this point. On one end of the spectrum I have data from operators that only run their equipment on 'club' of 'club type' layouts with minimal regard for the inherent specifications of the layout. On the other end of my knowledgebase, information has come from owner/operators that are hand-laying absolute scale trackwork and driving spikes on each and every tie. Factors taken into consideration have been: track components and specifications, models as a manufacturer/importer group as well as individual models and their specifications.

While there are many conclusions to be drawn from the data compiled, my focus has been on; how have Kohs & Company models performed with the specifications used to date and how these conclusions should shape the creation of our 'scale' test sample. I should add that many of the conclusions drawn will also be recorded in the technical area of my web site.

The next phase of this update will share some of what has been learned........so please keep checking this page for more information from this running update.

7/30/10 - My web updates have taken a back seat lately to an effort of getting a considerable amount of behind the scenes project work done, but I will attempt to bring things up to date as I go through the next day or so. I am currently using a new software package just installed for the production of the web site and quite frankly it is causing some problems. The update dated for today will be a running update with new information added as I go through the day in an effort to get information posted between software crashes.

Before I get into other update subjects let me briefly mention the NMRA National Train Show, I have received a number of inquiries as a result of the photos I posted and there has been a general interest in the proceedings of the show. While I never heard an official attendance announced at the show, I have been told since my return that it was in the area of 8,000 people. While considerably lower than usual, the show was of great benefit to both Mr. Lee my builder and myself from a sales standpoint. During the course of the show, Mr. Lee was able to book ten (10) reservations for his 1:16 scale Big Boy. The reservations came from a group of overseas investor/collectors about whom I can not elaborate on, but several of my regular customers and people in the industry witnessed what was thought to be an impossible achievement based on the cost of the models. I am happy to report that some of that success carried over to Kohs & Company as well! UPS did not make getting the model to and from the show very easy and it was only through the above and beyond efforts of three customer services people at UPS working after hours that we were able to make it happen at all. In the end all of the effort was certainly worth while and away from the show there was certainly some great food and drink to be had and we had more than our share. If you're ever in Milwaukee be sure to visit Mo's -A Place for Steaks and also Mo's Irish Pub.

Regarding our Union Pacific Challenger and PRR N5/N5b projects, updates for both projects are being processed for mailing as of this writing and will be in the mail to all reservation holders in the next couple of days. These updates have been long delayed due to developments with each project and even though reservation holders have been extremely patient, we need to get these out.....finally! In that same regard, there have been a flood of new reservation orders in the last 3-4 weeks and I have been behind in getting confirmation letters out to the new customers due to travel commitments. There has been some concern since orders have not been processed, but that situation will be up to date so all new reservation holders will receive the new updates on time with their confirmation letters. Some details of the updates will be posted to the individual project sites shortly and the balance of information will be posted once the reservation holders have received their printed updates.

There is a new update posted to the C&O caboose site, be sure to check it out by clicking HERE.

There are two new caboose projects being added to our production schedule, one for the Union Pacific Railroad and one for the Souther Pacific. These two new projects are needed to compliment the locomotives we have already produced, are producing or will be producing in the near future. There will be individual project sites set up shortly to discuss the versions and solicit feedback.

Kohs & Company models continue to be a great investment, although that is not the main reason I suggest that customers purchase our models. Based on published resale prices the value of previous projects continues to appreciate. Our Secondary Market page has had a couple of updated prices that may be of interest and there is now an average appreciation figure that will be periodically updated.

Next...........an update on our wheel profile and gauging research.

7/16/10 - Just a brief update from the 2010 NMRA National Train Show, There was a great turnout on the first day of the show today and I would highly recommend trying to attend if you are in the area of Milwaukee during the next two days. The first photo below shows the Kohs & Company booth at the show, in case you can make it to the show I am in booth #482. The second photos shows me with Mr. Lee from S.J. Models with his 1:16 scale Big Boy, seeing this model definitely makes attending the show worthwhile! The third photo shows Mr. Lee with his local translator, Esther, who has been doing a wonderful job of handling the extremely high volume of questions and comments that Mr. Lee has been receiving.

There will be further updates from the show as we progress through the weekend, so check back tomorrow evening for some of the highlights.

7/01/10 - I will be doing a general update later today covering a number of subjects, but I wanted to get the news out this morning that Kohs & Company will not make it to the O Scale Nationals this weekend. My locomotive builder, Mr. Lee at S.J. Models, has decided to bring his 1:16 scale Union Pacific 'Big Boy' to the NMRA National Train Show in Milwaukee and this has me scrambling to make the necessary arrangements so that can happen. I regret missing the opportunity to meet with the many O scalers on the west coast that are interested in and supporting what Kohs & Company is doing, but I seem to always find myself having to make choices based on time and my capacity for getting 'things' done.

There will be more news later today including our latest testing results regarding the move to scale wheelsets. Again, my apologies to those that had planned on meeting with me in Santa Clara!

5/19/10 - Just a couple of brief updates for today. Several weeks back the idea of creating a blog site associated with the Kohs & Company web site was posed. After evaluating different software packages for ease of use and the feedback that I have received on the subject, I have decided not to move forward with the idea, at least at this point. The biggest issue is the time required to moderate and respond to questions that are posed within the proposed blog in addition to the high volume of E-mail that I respond to on a regular basis. This situation may change if I can get another pair of hands involved with my daily 'chores' on an ongoing basis.

There is new information to be posted to both the UP Challenger and PRR N5/N5b project sites and that will happen in the next couple of days. Project updates are going out to reservation holders for both of these projects directly as well.

The reservation processes for our new projects, the PRR FD-2/FW-1 flat cars, C&O cabooses and N&W class A's are all moving ahead in varying stages. The start of reservations for the flat cars and new caboose projects is imminent.

Finally, I know that we have a number of customers and web visitors that are involved in large scale modeling as well as O scale based on the number of gauge one models that have sold through our 'Roundhouse' page. Just a head ups for those modelers; I will be posting a new listing of gauge one models in our Roundhouse, this is a significant collection that includes models from: Fine Art Models, Samhongsa, Garden Railways, Eastern Railways, Wendell Row, Aster, Robert's Lines and Accucraft. This collection will be handled by Kohs & Company directly. The new listing should be available by weeks end.

4/28/10 - The development work for the new Kohs wheel standard is progressing smoothly and without incident, which is the very best that can be hoped for. There have been no unexpected problems and the situation has been very predictable thus far based on our previous development work almost twenty years ago. I have received a great deal of feedback regarding track, track components and various models and wheelsets, the information has been interesting as well as very helpful in understanding what modelers are using for trackwork.

So far I have experienced or received feedback on track from seven different manufacturers not including the custom components used to hand-lay track and build turnouts. Although my purpose has been to better understand modelers trackwork, the feedback has provided insight into what other importers and manufacturers have been doing with their wheelsets, some of which has been very surprising. Once my primary purpose has been achieved, I have decided to do a 'white paper' of sorts to share the information and data that has been compiled.

The comments so far have been universally positive regarding adopting scale wheelsets, although in some cases there has also been an element of concern. As a better understanding of the controlling factors is achieved, the level of concern diminishes which is the purpose of the development work. Stay tuned as the experimenting continues, hopefully this effort will begin building a 'bridge' between the standard O and Proto 48 communities.

4/27/10 - Another TCA meet in York, Pennsylvania has come and gone, while it appeared that the attendance was down a bit, I did see a lot of attendees with boxes under both arms. It was great to see so many of our owners during the meet, there were many more than usual. One owner, William Pike, introduced me to an artist friend that previewed several pieces of his art for me. Cameron Sargent created the two original pencil drawings shown below, the H-8 Allegheny scene was a commissioned piece of art inspired by Bill Pike's Kohs H-8 model, the bottom Boston & Maine drawings is one of Cam's earlier works. It was a pleasure meeting Cam and if you would like more information on his work, he has just launched his own web site at the following address: www.cameronsargent.com.

4/08/10 - There have been several inquires regarding the availability of 'Allegheny' models from our recent project since I have started posting the new production model photos, this project remains sold out. The reason for posting the new photos is to bring that project site up to date as promised, not to promote the project anew. Back when the project was active it was sold out before the delivery of the models so there was little reason to get the production model photos posted. The new photos will also be included in a new publication which will be discussed in the near future.

4/03/10 - There has been a substantial amount of reorganization on our web site in the last couple of days in an effort to make accessing various features and content on a regular basis easier while also adding new content. Unfortunately, as a result you may have to redo some of your bookmarks for specific pages, for that I apologize. As the site continues to grow to more than five thousand files, effective organization is fundamental to reliable operation and user access. Please let me know if you should happen on any broken links between pages.

3/24/10 - I decided to post the three photos below simply as a matter of interest in the 'good ole' days'. The first photo was taken just a month or so ago in the town where I grew up and still spend time. When I was a kid growing up the bridge was for a C&O mainline that ran through Plymouth, Michigan into Northville where I grew up and then on to the west side of the state. I just found it interesting that the bridge still carries the old C&O logo after all these years. T he line is currently used by CSX.

The two boxcar photos further down were taken just a couple of days ago, also in Northville, Michigan. This old car has been on the siding, unmoved for more than forty years. The siding is next to an old lumber yard and cider mill, both of which are still in business. The track in the foreground is part of the mainline that runs across the bridge in the first photo. This is a case of extreme weathering to the maximum!

3/21/10 - A few days have now passed since the O Scale March Meet in Chicago and I have to say, it was a great show for me. The time that I choose to invest in attending shows at this point is for one purpose, the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas with current and potential new owners. That purpose was fully met in Chicago. Many thanks to the Hill family for a great effort in organizing the show in a new location this year, all of the comments that I heard were extremely positive.

The most common discussions I had at the meet, except for providing project updates, were regarding the new wheel profiles that I have proposed for Kohs & Company models and the information provided on the technical information pages of the Kohs & Company web site. Regarding the issue of wheel profiles, while a final decision has not been made, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Some concern has been expressed, because the new dimensions are certainly less forgiving than the standards of old, but no more so than the standards Kohs & Company has used since day one based on the experience thus far. It is a reasonable expectation that a standard O scale gauged model be compatible with commercially available track and likewise, the proper operation of a model should be dependent on the integrity of the trackwork. The only documented issues to date have involved custom turnouts built tighter than specifications called for, would a model built to the old standards successfully negotiate the turnouts? The answer is often times yes, but that is the tradeoff, a compromised model that will allow for such deficiencies. Our testing continues and your feedback is appreciated.

Regarding the web site information; what I have been able to get posted thus far seems to be of great interest to serious modelers, whether currently customers or not. The pages covering model construction are the most often visited and appreciated. A number of conversations made reference to the fact that much of what I have presented so far has never been covered by any of the model railroading publications, at least in recent years and that is unfortunate. It is not difficult to understand why some publications would not present such information based on the unethical behavior we have seen with at least one, it would only highlight the shortcomings of their advertisers. It does take a great deal of time to prepare information for posting so I have to approach this task on a time available basis. The information has led to a greater understanding of what differentiates a Kohs & Company model from others so the effort will continue. Let me know if there are specific topics you would like to see covered.

I have posted a new information page which has been long overdue, titled 'Secondary Market', it provides pricing information for Kohs & Company models that have been sold on the secondary market. The prices listed for each model are the highest we have documented and they serve as a guidepost for what can be expected under the appropriate circumstances. The page will be regularly updated as new prices are reported.

Due to numerous requests Kohs & Company will in the future be providing modification and repair services for not only models we produce, but for models from other companies as well. It has taken some time to get an arrangement in place to deal with our backlog of models requiring DCC installations, but we are almost caught up. In the future we will offer DCC installations, general repair services as well as weathering. An area of specialty will be gauge one models from Fine Art Models. More information will be provided in the coming days.

3/08/10 - You may have already read that I am working on incorporating scale wheel profiles into our locomotive production and have been track testing with that in mind. It has been decided to do the same with our rolling stock and testing has now begun. If all goes as I anticipate, future rolling stock will have scale wheel profiles typically seen in use on Proto48 equipment, but the gauging will be appropriate for standard O scale track. A further advancement is also being evaluated which would allow owners to adjust the gauging of the new scale wheelsets to Proto48 specifications.

Anticipating a couple of questions; if I do adopt this new Kohs & Company standard, I will make replacement wheelsets with scale wheel profiles available to customers so that existing Kohs & Company models can be retrofitted without truck modifications. Also, the wheelsets supplied with our new line of separate trucks would have adjustable scale wheelsets as well.

I will continue to update as the testing proceeds and I am considering which project would be the starting point if this concept moves into production.

2/14/10 - Continuing the stream of information regarding projects and future project selection, I again confirm that none of the currently listed projects are being deleted and their current status will be routinely updated within the individual project sites.

I am announcing my intent to promote two new projects that will be developed on a concurrent basis with our primary projects; the Norfolk & Western M/M-1 class and the Rio Grande K-36 locomotives represent two diverse, historically significant and deserving subjects that will hopefully find favor with those modelers/collectors seeking alternatives to the large 'road' locomotives that we have typically been developing. Timing and prototype selection will be critical to any concurrent project and I will do my best to make these projects as accessible as possible. Additional information will be forthcoming explaining these choices.

In addition, the Chesapeake & Ohio K-4 / Virginian BA are being added as a future project with the production timing to be announced in the very near future. This project has been discussed at great lengths with a number of customers and resulting from that feedback it will now be a project. I am happy to say that I already have adequate reference material to make this project doable, but I will continue to add to it as the project proceeds. I look forward to having one of the most knowledgeable individuals available assisting with this project, more information will be offered in that regard as our discussions continue.

2/12/10 - Just a brief clarification regarding my comments yesterday. When I refer to 'larger road locomotives' this does not rule out the production of 'Pacific', 'Mountain' and similar types of locomotives and point exclusively to articulated types. When it comes to considering 'small' locomotive projects, the real issue is achieving a consensus among buying enthusiasts. If I become aware that there is a simmering hoard of enthusiasts dying to purchase a OBFERR 0-6-0, it's an easy decision to push the OBFERR 0-6-0 as a project. When I post lists of locomotives as potential projects and in response I receive feedback suggesting Big Boys, H-8's, Challengers, AC's, K-4's and the like, deciding what to produce is pretty predictable.

New announcements will be forthcoming to fill gaps that exist while I continue to search for data on previously announced projects. Check back for the details.

2/11/10 - The evaluation of currently announced and potential projects has continued and all of the feedback received thus far has been taken into consideration. One conclusion has definitely been reached, that larger 'road' locomotives need to remain as the main focus of our production. Although I personally would like to include smaller steam locomotives in our production and I continually receive suggestions for various smaller power, a consensus has not developed to the point that such a project would command our full attention as a primary project..

The alternative to developing our primary projects on a consecutive basis as we have been doing is to include a smaller power project on a concurrent basis. Although a number of importers are searching for builders that can supply models of adequate quality and features, I am lucky enough at this point to have the capacity available to develop multiple independent locomotive projects. A serious issue in considering this plan is whether enough viable support exists and based on my experience with feedback, the only way to make this determination is to formally pursue the possibility. Project selection and timing are the next decision points.

At the same time data has been collected for our announced projects, I have been compiling information for prototypes that seemed to be good possibilities for future projects. Based on my more informed perspective now, a number of these potential projects are being set aside. To free up some archive space, I'll be offering a lot of the collected reference date on these prototypes for sale on the 'Library' page in this site. This material ranges from a hand-full of photos of a particular locomotive to several hundred drawings and photos of others. This material will be listed as I find the time to catalog it for easy evaluation.

2/02/10 - Just a couple of 'housekeeping' topics to cover in this update. I just received some new photos from a photographer that attended the convention in Switzerland and he was kind enough to forward copies to me. The first photo shows a portion of Kohs & Company display which was located at the main entrance to the main building. The second photo is of Mr. Werner Meer, the show organizer, presenting me the special award previously mentioned. I would like to thank Ferdinand Rat for his kind consideration.

In the course of doing updates on the web site and speaking with many of you on the phone or at shows, there have been numerous conversations about and photos provided from my visits to Korea to work with my builders. Although 2009 was difficult year from a personal standpoint with many days away from the business as previously explained, I did manage to fly my millionth mile with Northwest/Delta Airlines in December. While I was able to let my wife select from a nice assortment of Tiffany gifts that the airlines offered, I don't believe that she found that to be just reward for my time away and I would have to agree. The reward for me has been the development of lasting relationships with some fabulous craftsman and counting them among a select group of friends. As you might imagine, jumping on a plane to anywhere is not a favorite thing for me to do at this point, but the commitment to what 'we' as a group are doing to develop our Kohs & Company models requires that effort and it will continue.

The effort to 'clean up' the web site continues as many of the older pages are reformatted to our newer layout. Please let me know if you experience any broken links or other irregularities as you go through the pages and download files. The newest web browsers are throwing some kinks in my efforts to keep the access to the material presented as simple and computer-resource friendly as possible. If you have any suggestions for the site (other than getting things done faster!) please pass them along, it would be appreciated.

1/25/10 - An interesting note regarding the continuing great performance of Kohs & Company models on the secondary market; one of the PRR GLe cement cars we produced just sold on eBay for $930! The original selling price was $375 so the original owner should be very happy. This is a new high for percentage of appreciation for a Kohs & Company model. The PRR GLe continues to be a highly sought after model so it is understandable that the prices are going through the roof. I hope to get the page showing representative values for all of our models posted soon so there will be an ongoing reference for people shopping for our previously produced models.

1/19/10 - Our work in the new year is picking up steam (pun intended) and a number of projects, both big and small are moving forward from where we were last year. The photos below show the latest samples from our freight truck project, the PRR 2D-F8 in the top photo and the National type 'B' in the bottom. A dedicated project site will be set up within our web home shortly, but I was anxious to share photos of what we are working on. The common features for our trucks will be: prototypical scale dimensioning, raised lettering cast side frames, double-insulated 'stainless' steel wheelsets, ball-bearing journals, prototypical springing andcomplete brake rigging detail. More details will be offered once the project site is established.

1/09/10 - New information has been posted to our Norfolk & Western class 'A' project site and that project will begin to move forward at a rapid pace from this point forward. Two new projects will added to our site in the next couple of days as I continue the project review process, there will be further information posted regarding that process as well. I am excited about the potential that 2010 holds, but I have to be realistic and very careful in doing our planning with all 'things' considered. I appreciate and continue to look forward to the input I receive from those of you that take the time to provide your insight into the hobby.

1/02/10 - I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of you that sent Christmas or seasons greetings in the last couple of weeks, I greatly appreciate the expression of friendship. I am looking forward to sharing our modeling adventures in the coming year!