Rod Stewart visits ITLA HQ



We were recently humbled by an experience here at ITLA ... we were honoured to meet a most famous and skilled modeller ... a true ambassador of our hobby ... Sir Rod Stewart.
 
We had the family honour of being guests at his recent show in our area. Nicholas, Renée, Rod, Nick and Ryan.


We're fortunate to have had him as a customer for many years, and we've been proud to provide him with our ITLA structure kits and wall components ... which he enjoys kitbashing into the 1940's New York skyline of his stunning HO scale Grand Street & Three Rivers Railroad.

As it's been rumoured, yes, he does take many of his tools, paints and kits on tour with him, spending his off hours doing what he loves the most ... building model structures. 

So, we brought along more ITLA products to keep him busy between shows (above).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If seeing his show and meeting him wasn't enough, we were honoured to host his visit to ITLA "Headquarters" afterwards.
Getting into the details with Rod Stewart at ITLA Scale Models

He enjoyed touring our display, layout, and production areas, taking in all the details with the intense focus of a true modeller.

We spoke a lot about the hobby, the models, and the fun in creating structures.  He did say more than once ... "I don't like it when people call it a train set!" 
 
Just a couple of model train guys in front of the ITLA display (I'm on the left ... LOL)

Rod looking through the junk on my 1950's era HO scale Algoma Central layout workbench ... he specifically wanted to show off his Celtic jacket ... he's a Super Fan of the  Scottish Premiership football club.

 

We can personally tell you that he's a very down-to-earth, genuine guy...a true gentleman.

He was not shy in telling us how much he enjoys building our ITLA kits, a lot of which occurs while he's "on the road". 

In his own words, he graciously summed it up and autographed our company banner below ...
In Rod's own words, we are most appreciative.

He also sent us this recent photo of his Grand Street & Three Rivers Railroad below, which was recently relocated from California to his home in the UK. 

He created some of the large structures you see behind him with our ITLA kits. 
His vision and skills as a scale model builder are outstanding.

One of the structures in the centre of the photo is a custom build he requested of us.  We shared some of that project previously in our newsletter (we called it the "one and done" ), and we'll finish up that story in a future edition.
Sir Rod Stewart in front of his Grand Street & Three Rivers Railroad (2022)

Overall, a humbling, lifetime experience for us here at ITLA.

We are very grateful to all of you for being our valued customers,
just as we are to Rod.