Visit
On March 7, 2023, Gary Eames and I visited Ron Hoess in Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania and also got a nice tour of scenic Kennett Square followed by a great lunch at a local restaurant. Ron was a great host - he was even kind enough to share with me his copy of RMC that featured my HO scale Montauk Branch on its cover. Ron's HO layout was recently the subject of a great article in the Kalmbach's 2023 Model Railroad Planning. Ron's layout - situated in his basement, as most East Coast layouts are - was even more impressive in person than it appears in print. Stay tuned - there is one last unfinished section that awaits Hoess' handiwork.
Ron models the PRR's Chestnut Hill, Stifftown and Midvale branches as they appeared in the late 1950s.
Every building on this layout is scratch built and it shows. While every building is superb, my favorite is Frank's Grocery (Photo 2). Why? Well, while the industries modeled are superb, one rarely sees such a corner grocery on a model railroad. As a person who grew up in an urban area, Ron's corner grocery just spoke to me. More importantly, Ron reminds us that urban scenes are more than just row houses and places of employment - residents need a place to purchase their groceries. While others model neat rows of storefronts, models often neglect the interesting businesses boast a corner location with a doorway recessed just a bit at the corner of the building as we see here. Makes sense - with a corner entrance the proprietor is attracting shoppers from two streets rather than just one.
A close second is Ron's General Motors stamping plant which is "sliced" at the fascia to display the activities therein. This model obviously required a great deal of careful work to bring it to fruition.
I learned today that Ron Hoess has at one time delivered a clinic on his research and construction steps that went into the overpass we see in Photo 1 - I wish I had caught it.
Revised April 21, 2023
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