Hosted by: PNR 5th Division
Dates: May 9 – 11, 2025
Location: Pasco, Washington
The 5th Division invites you to join us for the 2025 PNR Convention in Pasco, Washington! Come see old friends, make new acquaintances and share your love of the hobby with others. The Convention will offer self-guided layout tours, free-mo layouts, operating sessions, clinics, achievement program evaluations, and more!
Registration will be available in October 2024
Why the “Ainsworth Connector”?
Our convention’s location, Pasco, was originally founded as the result of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company’s attempt to find a route to the Puget Sound. The initial railroad camp was at Ainsworth, a depot named after John C. Ainsworth, President of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company. The Northern Pacific (NP) Railroad Company engineer recommended a bridge to be built there over the Snake River. This turned out to be perhaps the original “bridge to nowhere” and its cost of $1.3 million in 1879 bankrupted the NP Railroad Company, which was then taken over by the Northern Pacific (NP) Railway Company.
NP Railway engineer Virgil Bogue, who determined the NP route through Stampede Pass, moved the camp about 2 miles and (according to the most-favored version of how the city was named) christened the new location Pasco as it reminded him of a similar city where he had worked in Peru: Cerro de Pasco. (Meyer, 1959, p. 22-27)
We named the convention the “Ainsworth Connector” in recognition of the 140th anniversary of the railroad’s relocation from Ainsworth and the establishment of Pasco, Washington.
Source: Meyer, Delbert W., “A Study of the Development of the Tri-Cities, Pasco, Kennewick, and Richland, Washington” (1959). Masters Theses. 4683.
https://thekeep.eiu.edu/theses/4683
Thursday
May 8
Pre-Events
- Modeling with the Masters®
- Layout Tours “On the way There”
Friday
May 9
- Self-guided layout tours
- Free-mo layouts
- Operating Sessions
- Clinics
- Celebration Room
- Achievement Program Evaluation
Evening
Mix, Mingle, & Munch
(Heavy hors d’oeuvres, no-host bar)
Saturday
May 10
- Self-guided layout tours
- Free-mo layouts
- Operating Sessions
- Clinics
- Celebration Room
- Achievement Program Evaluation
- Plus-one Club
- Annual General Meeting
Sunday
May 11
- Clinics
- Free-mo Layouts
- Achievement Program Evaluation
- Awards Luncheon
- Keynote Speaker
- Raffles and Prizes
A block of rooms is available at $129 per night plus approximately $20 per night in taxes and fees.
Hotel guests will receive complimentary parking, airport shuttle, wi-fi, and hot breakfasts. The hotel has 24-hour business and fitness centers and Tesla charging stations.
**April 25, 2025 is the last day to book at these prices, subject to availability of the block of rooms.**