12/31/15 - Another year is coming to a close and it has been an interesting one to say the least. A great deal of effort has gone into wrapping up our two 'Pennsy' projects that have lingered seemingly forever and it is a huge relief to bring them to a very successful conclusion while at the same time advancing our standards for future projects. We have also advanced three locomotive projects the first of which is our Union Pacific Big Boy which we will be delivering in the new year. There were again tens of thousands of miles of travel to the other side of the world to work first-hand with the skilled technicians that are building our models and that did include some new stops along the way which was exciting. For added excitement, there was a week-long hospital visit over the Thanksgiving holiday, but I am very grateful that all ended well and I am back to the usual labor of love developing our projects.

The interest in our projects has never been stronger and in that regard alone, it has been an extremely successful year. The last two months have recorded the highest number of visits to our website since the beginning of our modeling efforts. In addition, while there are fewer active websites in the world this year compared to 2014, the Kohs & Company website ranking has moved up to the top 0.11% of all websites (approximately 980,000,000) in the world. This results from the incredibly reliable and loyal customer base that has developed over the years that believes in our modeling results even when they are less than timely. For that I am extremely grateful and appreciative, these are the people that make our work possible and that are an integral part of advancing the O scale hobby in general and brass modeling in particular. You owners know who you are and again this year, I extend my sincerest thanks for your patience, understanding and appreciation of our collective efforts!

It is difficult to close out the year without mentioning the 'Haters' that have spread rumors and lies about Kohs & Company, just let it be said that they have again been proven to be the liars and troubled individuals that they are. Beware of these individuals as you pursue your interest in the hobby and never hesitate to contact me for the facts. I'll continue to highlight the worst of these individuals as they make efforts to affect Kohs & Company and/or our supporters.

Stay tuned for 2016, the best is yet to come!!

12/30/15 - Just a brief note regarding access to our website on January 1st, 2016. Between the hours of 1am (EST) and approximately 2am (EST) our network administrators will be upgrading security services, this may cause brief interruptions in access, but hopefully for no more than 5 minutes as all legs of the network are configured with the new security. Thanking you in advance for your patience and understanding.

12/21/15 - One of the bonus situations when traveling to shows around the world is that routinely provides the opportunity to experience the modeling efforts of numerous very dedicated individuals. The most recent situation was at the TCA York Fall Meet in York, Pennsylvania where I had the opportunity to meet Glenn Holland, a college age student who is responsible for the images below.

Being a real fan of Legos (a snap together building system for those not familiar) and having spent many hours building all sorts of structures with my two daughters and admittedly for myself, it was a real treat to see the Crusader model created by Glenn. You may have seen some of the traveling Lego exhibits that have made their way around the world in recent years featuring some very large and impressive recreations of famous landmarks and structures, but I have to tell you that Glenn's Crusader is among the most impressive I have seen. Built from approximately 1,360 Lego parts which also included just a few custom parts, the Crusader obviously captures the character of the prototype loco in near O scale size. in addition, it runs! The Crusader also recently received an upgrade that included the installation of a Dallee Electronics sound system to enhance it's operation. If you have ever 'worked' with Legos, you can appreciate the effort that was required to plan and execute this build.

I was surprised to learn that there is a segment of Lego world that specializes in model railroading using the Lego technology and that there are clubs organized by college age students that have meets or gatherings to have operating sessions. If you are interested in learning more about the Crusader or the Lego railroading groups, Glenn Holland would be happy to communicate with you at: 6widebricks@gmail.com

12/11/15 - Over the last couple of weeks I had heard the rumors of the death of Henry Bultman who was known for his modeling endeavors under the name of Car & Locomotive Shops and just recently received confirmation of his passing.  Henry and I started in the O scale business at just about the same time and met for the first time at one of the O Scale National Conventions back in the late 90's and in those early days we regularly conferred with one another. While Henry and I had what seemed to be common goals for our efforts, we took about pursuing those goals with dissimilar approaches and there is little secret that we were not particularly friendly when Henry left the hobby, which is of little importance at this point. It needs to be acknowledged that Henry did achieve some very nice results with his projects and in fact they were better than most. Henry put a great deal of effort into his work and cared greatly about satisfying his customers for which he deserves a great deal of credit.

It is my sincere hope that Henry in his passing realizes the peace and comfort that he never seemed to in life. Your efforts will be missed Henry.......

12/03/15 - Just a brief update particularly for those that have been trying to contact me. I just escaped from the hospital following a very unexpected week-long stay. All is now well and matter of recovering strength from being confined to a bed for that length of time. I will be wading through the E-mail and voice-mail messages that have accumulated just as quickly as possible. I appreciate your patience and offer my thanks in advance!

10/19/15 - I just received the latest newsletter (English language) from Zimo in Austria and I thought that due to the great interest in their products with our customers I would pass it along at this LINK. There is also new software available for the Zimo MX32/MX10 control system, if you acquired a system from Kohs & Company, feel free to contact me regarding this update which is available for download at this LINK.

Just a brief mention of the PRR N5 cabin car situation and the updating that I have done regarding the reject models; many thanks go out to all of you that have provided very positive feedback and support regarding this situation, it has been greatly appreciated. Seemingly the concept of commitment to principles is very easily understood by those that practice it in their own lives. In response to a very common question whether American Scale Models is using the same reject builder for a new project, it is best that you contact that importer directly for an answer to that question.

More project updates coming shortly, check back soon!

9/29/15 - I need to provide a bit of a service advisory tonight for people that have contacted me by E-mail in the last few days. Due to the incompetence of Comcast/Xfinity or whatever they choose to call themselves these days and also AT&T Wireless, I have been unable to respond to a number of individuals. The IP addresses for my Internet services with those two providers for cable and wireless access have been 'Blacklisted' so Hotmail.com and Outlook.com are blocking my messages. This has happened with Comcast/Xfinity before, but I have never had this experience with AT&T Wireless nor have I heard of this problem with anyones wireless service. Who knows how long it will take to rectify the problem, the last time with Comcast it was almost two weeks. Please be patient as I look for alternative services and spread the bad words about Comcast/Xfinity and AT&T Wireless!!

8/27/15 - Just back from another trip to Asia and I wanted to share one of the more interesting experiences I have had in my many trips to and from the other side of the world. The image below is one that I took during a seven hour layover in Shanghai, it's the arrival of one of the Maglev trains at the Shanghai airport station. For those not familiar with the acronym Maglev, it stands for magnetic levitation, the technology that this train uses for it's tracking and propulsion. The train in Shanghai is the only commercially operated train utilizing this technology in the world. Capable of speeds on this line of up to 420km/h, during my ride we only reached a speed of approximately 360km/h (223mph) due to the weather, which as you can see in the photo was pretty sloppy. The ride was incredibly smooth and the acceleration was amazing, it felt effortless as we reached speeds over 200mph.

If you ever have the opportunity to experience a Maglev train, do not pass it up. If you're interested in more information about the train or the technology visit the following LINK. I should mention that there are efforts underway to bring this technology to the United States, imagine what Amtrak could do with one of these!

You will see more about the purpose of the latest trip in the project update pages in just a day or two as I get caught up with lagging issues as a result of the trip.

8/11/15 - A couple of notes of importance; later this week our networking and phone services will be expanded and while hopefully this will not lead to any interruptions in daily communication, that is certainly a possibility. Just be aware that if you experience any unusual situations when you try to contact me Thursday through Saturday of this week, it should HOPEFULLY be a temporary situation.

On the subject of communication, the response to E-mails and voice-mails is slower than usual in recent days as I am trying to make serious headway on shipping our PRR FD-2 flat and FW-1 well cars. Please be patient, I will respond and I am reviewing all of the received messages on a timely basis, so only the response is being delayed. If an emergent situation arise, they will be dealt with quickly.

Updates for newer projects underway will be coming very soon!

7/19/15 - Just a brief note of explanation prior to some changes being made to our locomotive project schedule. As our production processes continue to gain speed or at least move at a faster pace, our research work has to be in place that much sooner so that delays do not occur as information is gathered and developed. There are three projects in particular that have been on our list for an extended period of time and with time have moved further down in the order. This is in no part due to a lack of interest either on my part or that of our client base, on the contrary, all three have been deemed 'winners' from day one and remain so. Efforts will continue to secure the data necessary to move forward with these projects on an individual basis, but in the meantime, I'm not going to take a fill-in-the-blank approach to designing these projects just to get them done

Going forward, you will notice a couple of new additions to our project list that will move ahead of the last three locomotive projects that are currently listed. There will be a new 'GS' class Southern Pacific project and a new C&O project. More details about these additions will be forthcoming soon and again, I will continue to source information on the Erie 'S' class, C&O K3/K3a and Southern Pacific GS-1.

7/04/15 - Happy 4th of July to all, especially to all of our extraordinary service men and women serving to protect our freedom, despite the obstacles placed in their way. We should all be proud of what they represent and how they represent us.

6/08/15 - As most of you who follow this site know, I am typically not in the business of regularly dealing in after-market sales. Due to a request from a long valued client, I anticipate having a selection of previous Kohs projects available for purchase, both locomotives and rolling stock. These models are reported to be in new condition, so if you have an interest in filling out your Kohs collection be sure to check the Roundhouse page in the coming days. In addition, I also expect to have several very collectible pieces built by Sofue and Bill Lenoir, the details will be posted soon. If you would like advance notice regarding these pending postings as they are being prepared for sale or are looking for something in particular, Kohs or otherwise, please let me know by E-mail.

6/03/15 - Just a brief general piece of news to share; I had planned on attending the Union Pacific Historical Society Convention in Omaha, Nebraska this coming weekend, but that will not be possible. The delivery of our latest project is imminent and that will take priority. It has been several years since my last visit to Omaha and I was genuinely looking forward to seeing the city again in addition to the special UP activities during the convention. Apologies to those that had planned on speaking with me during the convention.

5/23/15 - SERVICE NOTICE - Beginning Tuesday May 26th our hosting network will be undergoing a security upgrade that will provide for a more secure and robust defense against hackers and other mischief makers. The work will be done between the hours of 11:00PM EST and 4:00AM EST so it so it should have little affect on our domestic visitors. For those overseas, I apologize in advance for any inconvenience this work may cause during your visits to the Kohs & Company website.

5/14/15 - Just a brief update or comment regarding E-mail communication with Kohs & Company. I have previously mentioned that the hosting arrangement for this website had been changed just before the new year and with that change came new capabilities of managing out kohs-dot-com messaging. I am pretty sure that we all struggle with controlling SPAM in our E-mail accounts, but with the new hosting I have been able to filter out the vast majority of the SPAM we use to receive. My hope is that customers and interested visitors have not been having difficulty is sending E-mail to Kohs & Company as a result of filtering out some of the good with the bad! If you have had any problems communicating with me, please let me know by phone or other means, I can provide an alternate address to use so we can diagnose the problems experienced.

It is again worth mentioning that with the great proliferation of SPAM around the world, many service providers hosting E-mail accounts have had their servers compromised by the spammers. In other words, the domain servers used to host your E-mail have been hacked into and used to send illegal SPAM. This results in you and I having messages returned being tagged as SPAM because our messages came from the same servers that were reported to have been sending illegal SPAM. This can happen to any ISP (Internet Service Provider), I experienced this problem with my Comcast accounts and it took the better part of a week to get the problem resolved. There is a simple tool to use to check your E-mail account one of which you can reach at the following link http://mxtoolbox.com. There are a number of these tools available online and I am not necessarily recommending this one, but I am mentioning it because you can use either your E-mail server IP address which many of us do not typically know or simply enter the domain name potion of your E-mail address to check the status that way.

This information is simply meant to keep our mutual communication as trouble free as possible.

5/10/15 - With the latest inspection visit completed, I will be posting updates on projects other than just the PRR FD-2/FW-1 project as soon as I catch up on all the correspondence that has been received during my travels, that is always the down side to being away, but be sure to check the site in the next few days for more news. Your patience is appreciated regarding replies to your messages as well as coming updates.

4/26/15 - I have noticed in the stats related to the Kohs & Company website that access by mobile devices has continued to increase which is no surprise. It would be nice if the entire site was mobile-friendly in terms of text size a link spacing, but since the original portion of the site dates back to 1988 when there was no mobile access and has now grown to almost two thousand pages, rebuilding the site to mobile-friendly specifications is not practical. I will continue to make the most commonly accessed portions of the site mobile-friendly and this will happen on an ongoing as time allows basis. There will be no interruption of service by either means, you will simply notice that some new areas of the site will become easily accessible on your mobile device. Much of the site is heavily reliant on images and to compromise that for mobile access would be a terrible mistake, so general and project update pages will be the first of the new additions to mobile-friendly status and it will expand from there.

If you have followed our Union Pacific 'Big  Boy' project at all, you know that I recently did a postal mailing to all existing Kohs & Company customers. I have received some returned pieces of mail that could not be delivered and in those instances, I have tried to contact the affected customer by E-mail in an attempt to update their postal mailing address. If you are an existing customer and have not received this mailing, either the postal service is at fault or you have not updated your delivery information with me. This being the case, you will be eliminated from future mailings.

New updates have been posted to our current project sites, so be sure not to miss the latest information.

3/25/15 - For anyone looking for a quality analog DC power supply/transformer, I have a brief interesting update. I currently have for sale a new Dallee Electronics Engineer throttle, which has a rated 4A, 18V output. These units have been unavailable for several years and are highly sought after due to their quality and the lack of equivalent units. The customer's asking price is $750 including domestic shipping. Contact Kohs & Company if you are interested.

3/16/15 - Another Chicago March Meet has successfully concluded and it was a great time as usual, actually more fun than usual for reasons that will follow. First of all, many thanks to the Hill family and in particular Mellisa for her great organization of the many details required to stage such an event. There are a couple of 'promoters' that should take some lessons rather than just show goer's money.

It was a great pleasure to have helped facilitate the visit of Lee Marsh and his family representing his company from Scotland. The extremely positive feedback regarding not only his models, but him personally as well, that I have received has made me very proud of our association. We are all hoping that Lee and his family will make a return visit in the future. If you did not attend the show and have not seen Lee's work, be sure to visit his web site: http://www.leemarshmodelco.com

It was great to see many old friends some of which only come to Chicago and my sincere thanks goes out to all of you that continue to support and/or maintain an interest in what Kohs & Company is working very hard to accomplish. On-site entertainment was provided by the rumor mill run-a-muck; on Saturday I heard that Kohs & Company produced only fifty 50 Challenger models and on Sunday, I heard that we had actually produced 150! There were other assorted lies being spread by no less than an O Scale Kings Board Member and Hall of Fame nominee, so I guess I should be honored. It seems that in any business if you are at all successful the under-achievers will be working hard to distinguish themselves by diminishing what they could not achieve themselves.

Many extremely positive comments were received from visitors that saw our Challenger model running on the tabletop track. The technology used in our Challenger is just the starting point for how our new Big Boy will be equipped and operate. This was also an opportunity for people interested in DCC to see the new Zimo MX10 Command Station and MX32 Cab in action, this lead to many rethinking their position regarding DCC and /or the equipment they are currently using. Many thanks to Zimo for making the system available.

In addition to a good show, the weather was fantastic and Chicago is always a great place to visit, eat and drink! Make sure that you take note of the March Meet dates for next year, it's going to be held in April due to a schedule conflict at the hotel. Mellisa will be looking for comments on whether or not this change may be good on a permanent basis.

3/14/15 - Many thanks to all that attended the gathering at the March Meet earlier this evening. Time is valuable to everyone and to those who took their time to attend, it was sincerely appreciated, For me, it was the most constructive discussion of the issues related to brass model importation that I have ever been involved in. It was wonderful to have an international perspective shared with the group by Lee Marsh of Lee Marsh Model Company based in Scotland and it was interesting to hear that many of the negative issues impacting the hobby are shared experiences. Hopefully those who attended also have a much better understanding of the day to day issues we as importers deal with and also the path forward that Kohs & Company will be following in the coming months.

3/11/15 - Our Saturday evening gathering is growing in scope with a couple of like-minded people agreeing to participate in the discussions and answer questions. Lee Marsh of Lee Marsh Model Company will has be on hand to provide an international perspective on importing and modeling in general and Erik Stott from Midwestern Model Works will be available to discuss his custom model work and the challenge of starting an importing operation. We're hoping for a nice turnout, so please spread the word to anyone attending the March Meet.

3/10/15 - Arrangements have been made for a gathering space at the March Meet Westin Hotel. Anyone interested in what Kohs & Company is doing with old and new projects, the issues and problems related to past and current model production and a host of other issues as well as open questions can gather in Magnolia Room C at 8:00PM Saturday evening. I selected the time to allow people to get out for a leisurely dinner and have some drinks following the end of the day at the show. Perhaps we can share some more drinks following the discussions!

3/09/15 - Regarding the March Meet in Chicago this coming weekend, I have had inquiries regarding whether I will be arranging a get together for show attendees interested in discussing the goings on at Kohs & Company, in short, I am trying to make the necessary arrangements for adequate space to host such a gathering. I currently have a room for Friday evening, but I believe that Saturday evening would be better. If you will be attending the March Meet and would be interested in participating in a discussion of our projects, future planning and other related issues, please E-mail me to let me know so I can make sure to have space to accommodate the size of the gathering. I do anticipate arranging this gathering for Saturday evening after the dinner hour and I will have further information available during the day on Saturday at the show.

In the last posting I mentioned the pending arrival of the new Zimo MX10 Command Control/MX32 Radio Cab DCC system, I now have the instruction manuals in digital form available for download. You cannot begin to understand just how comprehensive the features are for this new system until you review the manuals. I should mention that the MX10 manual is an 'Interim' version still featuring photos with German labeling, the text is English, the full English version will be available in the near future. You may access the manuals HERE.

3/05/15 - The Chicago O Scale March Meet is just a little over a week away and I know there are a lot of modelers looking forward to the show this year. Regarding the show, I have confirmed two matters of interest; first, Lee Marsh of Lee Marsh Models fame will be attending the show as previously hoped and will be displaying some of his beautiful British profile models in the Kohs & Company display. Lee has many years of experience in the model business both as a custom builder and now importer. Be sure to take this opportunity to meet Lee and see examples of his fine work. I have also confirmed that I will have one of the new Zimo MX32/MX10 DCC cab and command units to demo at the show, I believe this will be the first unit in the United States. I'll also have additional information regarding further availability and I anticipate starting to take active orders at the show.

With a little luck, the weather will break and will actually start to warm up at least a bit before the show weekend! I look forward to seeing many of you at the show.

2/20/15 - This is the weekend that the Rail 2015 Netherlands Exposition is being held in The Netherlands, but unfortunately I cannot be there. Thanks to some very dedicated Kohs model owners, I am there in spirit and so are some Kohs & Company models. A special thank you to Frits Thies and Edwin Moolenaar for their effort in sharing their pride of ownership. I sincerely appreciate and am humbled by their long-time support of my modeling efforts.

2/19/15 - Following the delivery of the Challenger models, since they were DCC equipped, I made mention of the pending availability of the latest Zimo control system and there has been a great deal of interest expressed about that system by customers since then. I previously mentioned that I had the opportunity to see the system in action while at the show in Cologne, Germany and the final development has been completed since that show. I am happy to say that I expect to be demonstrating the new system in Chicago at the O Scale March Meet, one of the first systems to arrive in North America has been promised to me so that I can provide first-hand information to all of my customers. If you're at the Chicago meet, make a point of stopping by to see what I consider to be the finest control system available for DCC models.

2/16/15 - In this brief update I want to acknowledge the very high level of feedback that I received regarding my comments concerning the Warbonnet F7 diesel that I viewed at the California State Railroad Museum and the modeling efforts related to that prototype in recent years. To answer in mass the most frequent question; as of this moment I do not have plans to produce EMD 'F' or 'E' units. What I am doing is evaluating the processes for producing the components related to the three critical characteristics of these locomotives to see just how much better they can be modeled, until now they have been very poorly executed. If the results are positive, there may be more to talk about in the coming weeks.

Another interesting and somewhat surprising question evolved from weekend discussions and I do not have an answer at the moment. The question was essentially, why don't all importers provide pricing information for their active projects? I have to say that I was not aware that many do not, but I am surprised since pricing is among the first issues to be dealt with when I start a project. As a potential consumer of any product, I would find it to be very difficult to seriously consider the purchase of an item whether it be a model train or a bird bath without knowing the price early on in the consideration process. To ask for reservations on a model project without providing pricing information seems really unusual if a project is 'real'. I would be very interested if anyone can pass along explanations that they have heard.

2/11/15 - Another research trip is in the books which included a return visit to the California State Railroad Museum in Sacramento, California. I have to extend a special thank you to several people that are responsible for making the museum a fantastic resource for anyone that is interested in the railroading history of the United States and the many companies that have operated on the extensive rail system country wide.

The museum falls under the operating control of the California Department of Parks and Recreation, Capital District, a sincere thank you goes out to Ms. Ellen Halteman, Director of Collections, Ms. Cara Randall, Librarian, Ms. Kathryn Santos, Archivist and Mr. Kyle Wyatt, Historian who is pictured below with Southern Pacific AC-12 #4294, the only surviving example of this locomotive class. If you have not made a visit to the museum and you are interested in railroading, you need to make this stop a priority if you are anywhere near northern California. There are many online accessible research resource that can be used from the comfort of your home or office in addition to the experience available on site. It's also worth checking our the membership program that helps to support the museum foundation and makes the many ever changing exhibits possible.

Speaking of exhibits, although my primary purpose in making my return visit was to document specific details of the AC-12 on display, much to my surprise and pleasure, the museum is currently exhibiting a beautiful Santa Fe F7A locomotive in full 'Warbonnet' dress. My absolute favorite diesel locomotive and paint scheme, it left me again thinking about putting the recently acquired EMD 'F' unit drawings to good use in the form of a correctly developed and built O scale model. There has never been a really well done Warbonnet 'F' unit, so my small personal collection is still wanting! From what I understand, F7A #347C and it's mating 'B' unit are the sole surviving Warbonnet F units in existence and 347C will only be on open display through the spring of this year.

Following the visit to the museum since the timing was right, I went on to participate in the O Scale West show in Santa Clara on the weekend. It was great to see many faces that I have not seen since my last visit to this show in 2011. Thank you to the many that offered very favorable comments about the Challenger model and Pennsy flat car samples that were on display. Needless to say, there was a great deal of interest in and excitement about our upcoming Big Boy project that will be delivered later this year. All things considered, with what was accomplished during the museum visit, searching a private collection and participating in the show, it was a great few days with far more accomplished that I had hoped for.

More details about my cab-forward research efforts will be shared on that project site over the next few days.

1/29/15 - Just a brief advisory about upcoming service upgrades that will be taking place on our web site hosting platform. Beginning February 2nd through February 6th, between the hours of 11PM EDT and 4AM EDT you may experience brief periods of service interruption. This should not be a problem for our visitors in the Western Hemisphere, but for our friends on the other side of the globe it may present some inconvenience. I am assured that this will lead to more reliable and faster service for our web home. Thanking you in advance for your patience!

1/27/15 - I'm happy to advise that I finally have some new photos to post in the In-Service Photos page. It's been a long time since I have any new photos to post and I would like to remind all Kohs & Company model owners that you are welcome to share photos of your layouts or however you display your models so other owners and modelers can share your experience.

1/26/15 - The new hosting arrangement for Kohs.com seems to be working out really well with access time to the site better than ever before. All of my E-mail difficulties seem to have been rectified as well, but I have experienced a new problem on a couple of occasions. The IT environment is far more secure than when the site and E-mail were being hosted by Network Solutions and a couple of customers have had their messages returned and identified as SPAM by my new server network. After further investigation, I determined that their E-mail server IP addresses had been Blacklisted which was the reason for their rejection. This is becoming an ever growing problem and that was the reason for Kohs & Company moving to new servers. I even found that our E-mail accounts handled by Comcast, one of the largest providers in the country, had been blacklisted by overseas SPAM monitoring agencies. If you have an E-mail returned to you and identified as SPAM by Kohs.com, give me a call and I will provide an alternate address for you to send the rejected message to so I can help you identify the exact cause. This is an issue that all ISP's (Internet Service Providers) seem to be struggling with these days.

On a happy note, we made great progress with all of our projects even during the holidays and you may have already seen some of the results in the project updates. Heading into this new year things will be spooling up even more so stay tuned for an exciting year.

1/05/15 - I have been monitoring the visits to this web site and I can tell that many visitors need to empty the caches on their browsers. This is something that I routinely suggest, but it is now very important if you want to have a positive experience revisiting the Kohs & Company web site. In the course of moving the web site to a new server, approximately 4,000 files had to be renamed to be compatible with the new hosting platform. All of the older project sites have also been updated with larger images for easier viewing as well. As a result of the name changes, if your web browser is trying to load information from this site based on old data held in the browser cache from previous visits, you are likely going to receive error messages regarding missing files or broken file links. The default setting for most browsers it to load data from cache, but it is a good idea to change this setting to check for new information with each visit if you want the latest information from any web site you visit. The load time for some sites may be longer, but at least you will be seeing the latest information available. The procedure to change your browser setting varies with each browser type so I won't explain here the process, but if you need help, feel free to ask and I'll do my best to guide you through the change.

As we are now a few days into the new year, my focus is to catch up on outstanding paperwork that has taken a back seat to other matters of immediate importance. Apologies to anyone that has been waiting for order confirmations or updates, they will be dealt with near term at this point. I will also be working on preparing final payment information for our PRR FD-2/FW-1 flat cars that are nearing completion.

More project updates will follow soon, so please stay tuned!

1/01/15 - Happy New Year to all of our customers and web site visitors, thank you for taking the time to check in on us during the holidays. With the progress that we collectively made during the last year in terms of 'cleaning up' old projects and advancing new ones, everyone involved in our project research, development and production have very high hopes for 2015. Many of the issues faced and dealt with in 2014 were among the most serious encountered since the beginning of Kohs & Company; what to do about the escalating costs and staffing issues in Korea were at the top of the list. At the same time planning not only not to back-slide in terms of the new standards sets with our Union Pacific Challenger models, but to find new ways to advance the art of brass modeling while maintaining manageable project pricing.

With the information that has already been shared about our projects as 2014 wrapped up, I believe that we have shown that the challenges have been met and that Kohs & Company is on the road to even more significant results in 2015. As we move ahead in the new year, I'll be sharing more details about the changes that have been made in our project processes by focusing on the actual new project development and how is it proceeding. There has always been a very high level of interest in how 'we' do things and that is illustrated in many ways, most significantly in the numbers generated by visitors to this web site. With nearly 300,000 visitors and approximately 750,000 pages viewed in 2014, this web site is currently ranked in the top 0.14% of all web sites in the world. If anyone says that the interest in quality model trains is waining, they should get a better grip on the facts and if they're producing related products, reconsider their offerings.

I have to again thank my many customers that have shown incredible patience in waiting for the overdo projects to come to fruition, the soon to arrive results will hoping justify your loyalty and I feel quite certain they will. I also have to thank many of you that responded to my regular requests for feedback and ideas, I have not always agreed 100% with what was offered, but the effort has been sincerely appreciated. I again renew my request for feedback and input on our efforts, even if I do not always agree in total, the impact is greater than you may ever realize. The bottom line is that the support and loyalty that I experience from many of you interested in the efforts of Kohs & Company is very humbling!

One final note in passing; now that the Kohs & Company web site has found a new home on dedicated servers and established a new E-mail system, I feel a great relief from the IT issues that have been so troublesome in the last few months. The issues of web site hacking and email blacklisting are hopefully behind me with just a few configuration issues remaining with the new service. If you have faced some of these same issues and would like share in what I have learned in recent weeks, feel free to contact me, I can definitely tell you what providers to avoid!

Again, wishing you all a great and prosperous New Year!!