rail baron   

Updated Nov. 23, 2013

2013 WBC Report  

 2014 Status: pending 2014 GM commitment

Trella Bromley, FL

2013 Champion

 

Event History
1991    Chuck Foster        28
1992    Kevin Quirk        29
1993    Kevin Quirk        38
1994    Bill Fellin        37
1995    Heikki Thoen        63
1996    Heikki Thoen        46
1997    Kim Lemmons        94
1998    Eyal Mozes      100
1999    Heikki Thoen       58
2000    Steve Okonski       69
2001    Steve Okonski       56
2002    Ed Wrobel       75
2003    Mike Zorrer       59
2004     Doug Galullo       66
2005     William Duke       53
2006    Inger Henning       46
2007    Tom Dunning       40
2008    Eve Secunda       49
2009    Mark McCandless       35
2010    John Henry       34
2011    Sue Lanham       36
2012    Donna Balkan       40
2013    Trella Bromley       38

 Laurels

Rank  Name               From  Last  Total
  1.  Mark McCandless     LA    09    122
  2.  Ron Secunda         MD    13    121
  3.  Steve Okonski       MD    01    120
  4.  Donna Balkan        on    12    104
  5.  Mike Zorrer         DE    13     85
  6.  Mark Kennel         DE    11     80
  7.  Doug Galullo        FL    05     80
  8.  Brian Conlon        OK    04     74
  9.  Inger Henning       CT    10     66
 10.  John Henry          on    12     60
 11.  Angus McDonald      on    11     60
 12.  William Duke        MD    09     60
 13.  Chuck Foster        TX    08     60
 14.  Ed Wrobel           VA    02     60
 15.  Stan Buck           MD    02     60
 16.  Heikki Thoen        qc    99     60
 17.  Eve Secunda         MD    13     60
 18.  Charles Davis       WV    02     54
 19.  Trella Bromley      FL    13     50
 20.  Sue Lanham          MD    11     50
 21.  Tom Dunning         NY    07     50
 22.  Paul van Bloem      MD    12     47
 23.  Harald Henning      CT    10     45
 24.  Chester Lanham      MD    09     35
 25.  Norm Newton         on    13     30
 26.  Bill Crenshaw       VA    03     30
 27.  Brian Smith         NY    13     25
 28.  Larry Kratz         ID    04     24
 29.  David Weinstein     NY    02     24
 30.  Ed Rothenheber      MD    00     24
 31.  Sam Packwood        MN    12     20
 32.  Roderick Lee        CA    12     20
 33.  TJ Halberstadt      IN    06     20
 34.  Phil White          MD    04     18
 35.  James Wicht         NC    00     18
 36.  John Karr           PA    11     15
 37.  Sue Lanham          MD    10     15
 38.  Tony Newton         on    09     15
 39.  Gary Chamblee       GA    08     15
 40.  Mike Mullins        MD    05     15
 41.  Mike Brophy         NC    04     12
 42.  Mark Oldfield       CA    02     12
 43.  Eyal Mozes          NY    01     12
 44.  Dee Gehring         IN    99     12
 45.  Dave Steiner        DE    06     10
 46.  Stephane Dorais     qc    05     10
 47.  Carl Walling Jr     PA    03     10
 48.  Malcolm Robinson    NY    00      6
 49.  Charles Ellsworth   NY    03      5

2013 Laurelists                                                  Repeating Laurelists:

Mike Zorrer, DE
2nd

Ron Secunda, MD
3rd

Brian Smith, NY
4th

Norm Newton, on
5th

Eve Secunda, MD
6th

Past Winners

Chuck Foster, TX
1991

Bill Fellin, CT
1994

Heiki Thoen, qc
1995-1996, 1999

Kimberly Lemmons, TX
1997

Eyal Mozes, NY
1998

Steve Okonski, MD
2000-2001

Ed Wrobel, VA
2002

Mike Zorrer, DE
2003

Doug Galullo, FL
2004

William Duke, MD
2005

Inger Henning, CT
2006

Tom Dunning, NY
2007

Eve Secunda, MD
2008

Mark McCandless, LA
2009

John Henry, on
2010

Sue Lanham, MD
2011

Donna Balkan, on
2012

Trella Bromley, FL
2013
   

Paul Van Bloem, 2011 champ Sue Lanham and Trella Bromley

Chester Lanham and Dan Leader

 2006 champ Inger Henning and Bob Stribula

 Walter Hnatiw and 2008 champ Eve Secunda

Ladies First ...

Once again, I'm forced to examine the "battle-of-the-sexes" aspect of our event. Although women were outnumbered 33 to 5 in 2013, it was again one of the ladies who went home with the "Gold." Since 2006, five ladies (Inger Henning, Eve Secunda, Sue Lanham, Donna Balkan, and now, Trella Bromley) have demonstrated they have the "right stuff" as opposed to only two men. My personal congratulations to Trella, who is no stranger to train games (and runs her own Rail Baron tournament, as does Donna).

This year, there were three double winners in the peliminaies: Mike Zorrer, Inger, and myself. Since one of our semifinal winners chose not to advance further, we had an opening (as we did last year) for an alternate. I was able to secure the alternate seat for the Final by having a slightly higher total net worth in the heats than Inger. Mike didn't need to be considered for the alternate seat, as he won his semifinal game, as did Brian, Norm, and Trella. Since I got to play for a change, Assistant GM Paul Van Bloem officiated the Final.

As is pretty much always the case, one of the five players struggles in the Final, usually early on, and, it doesn't get any better. In this case, calamity stalked Norm. 14 of his 21 destinations were hostile, including all of his last 11. Norm was forced to auction off two properties, the RF&P and the N&W, which were grabbed by Trella. In contrast, Trella visited five hostile destinations, and I, Brian, and Mike all visited six or seven. As you can see from the cash holdings at the end of the game, Mike and I were right behind Trella, who had just enough to declare for Home. Sitting at her last destination, St. Louis, with me in striking distance en route to that same city, she needed to roll a "9" to reach her (hostile) home, Buffalo, and rolled a "10!" Outnumbered 4 to 1 in the Final, the lady again emerged triumphant.

The Final end-of-game holdings of the five players were:
Trella: $340K: $204K cash, B&O, B&M, RF&P, GN, NP, CRI&P, SAL, L&N, and N&W.
Mike: $315K: $195K cash, PA, ACL, CMSTP&P, AT&SF, SOU.
Ron: $306K: $193K cash, NYC, MP, UP, C&NW, T&P.
Brian: $256K: $145K cash, C&O, SP, SLSF, IC, GM&O, NYNH&H
Norm: $53.5K: $19.5K cash, CB&Q, WP, D&RGW.

On a personal note, I have to tell you, the Canadian contingent is great. Last year, Norm donated a little brown bag of "Canadian Wild Moose Droppings" (chocolate-covered almonds). So, this year, I reciprocated with a little brown bag of "Adirondack Moose Droppings." However, this year, Norm provided me with a little brown bag of "Canadian Polar Bear Droppings" (chocolate-covered pecans, I think... rather, I hope...), AND a little brown bag of Canadian Beaver Droppings ("Maple-flavoured Roasted Peanuts"). Where will this end?

My apologies to all, as this year I wasn't able to secure the usual group photo - maybe I can arrange a remedial photo session next year. I have a feeling all of us will be back next year (some shooting for the grand prize, others for a second bite at the apple).

Thanks to my assistants, Paul, Chester Lanham, and my wife for their assistance.

Defending champ Donna Balkan and 2009 champ Mark McCandless

GM Ron Secunda and his fellow finalists.
 GM      Ron Secunda  [11th Year]   NA
    roneve@secundaland.com    NA 

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