The Royce Files

I acquired an assembled version of the Lionel lumber shed structure last year and blogged about it here . It is still ridiculous how much these are going for on the market. Do not get me wrong, it is a good model, but shelling out $20 - $30 dollars for one is extravagant. It just does not have much collectible value. Since it gets attached to the Lionel name some sellers assume it is something akin to precious metal. So it is ideal to find these outside the typical Lionel searches. I would think that if the Lionel name were not attached this would be just another mass produced plastic structure. While at the October Fargo Toy and Train show I found the lumber shed in a modified form. I am not entirely sure what scale the alteration was intended- I am guessing N since most of the other items around it were for N. It certainly is a bit of a scale stretch to plausibly utilize the structure in the smaller scales. The work bench and the storage bin would have to be removed to...

KUMM Studio A (thanks to Cory Funk) I was a DJ on KUMM in Morris, MN for 4 years plus a short summer gig in 2001. It is a college station that was very eclectic back in the day. I did news and hosted the Minnesota music show for number of years. It was a tremendous experience. KUMM definitely camped around the alternative music trend of the early 90s. Still broadcasting alternative music on the prairie now at 700 watts (according to wiki ) on the FM, KUMM also has extended its reach streaming on the internets. It appears they have automated a bit as I have yet to hear a live host on the stream today. Their website seems to be a bit stale. DJ list is current. Looks like preferred communications come via Facebook . Being alternative as we were, a handful of other KUMM DJs and I decided to do a live radio drama based upon a Thanksgiving theme. Pretty alternative for 1994, huh? The details are sketchy, but I wrote up a script which seems to be a riff off the Charlie Brown specials...

Peanuts is a popular comic strip in the states and possibly elsewhere, but I have no idea how well it is translated into other cultures. It is still syndicated in numerous newspapers although new strips have not come out since creator Charles Schulz died back in 2000. I would say most are unfamiliar with the comic strip and that seems like a contradiction of first line of this post. If you has a line up of cartoon characters, I am certain most would be able to identify Snoopy and Charlie Brown but would not be able to articulate their relationship or misadventures. For your reference:  Snoopy is a dog, but a dog with a wild imagination. Often he has imagined himself as a World War I flying ace in combat with the Red Baron. Other times he just acts more human than canine from playing baseball to riding a motorcycle.   Charlie Brown is Snoopy's owner. He is a kind hearted boy who struggles with self confidence despite being called upon to lead. His most famous predicam...

It being National Model Railroad Month , I am going to post some images of my O gauge 3 rail layout. This layout  has been around for 4 years. It has been in this particular format for about 3 years. Previously I just ran trains on floor.  I am modeling a fictional area along the Great Northern Railway in northern Minnesota. A mix of vintage and new equipment make up my collection from many companies. Structures are mostly from Lionel and Bachmann Plasticville. I have a few Post-War Lionel pieces thanks to my father and good finds at shows. I am an operator so I do not buy to keep items on the shelf or in boxes. I have not found time to scenic the layout- but that is mostly because I do not think I have the skills. Plus, I have not come up with a track layout I like. Right now it is just track around the table. See how many items you can recognize in the photos. Small station and saw mill Town area with larger station and yard. Another angle of the s...

I passed through the old Fargo Great Northern yard en route to marathon activities and noticed a blue big nosed diesel with Santa Fe markings intact and a patched number 1885. According to online sources the 1885 is a SD40-2. 2 different SD40-2s It is working in with another SD40-2 in the H3 paint without a long nose. 1788 had been in the Burlington Northern colors up to around 2016 when it got new paint.  Both these engines have seen local service in the Fargo region going back and forth from the Fargo Yard to Dilworth and occasionally out to Jamestown on the former Northern Pacific line. Previously, both saw time around of the Twin Cities area. 

The old watching corner now devoid of activity Nothing but praises for the 2017 edition of Fargo Marathon. There are two items which could be taken as indirectly bad. Once is rather subjective. First, our old marathon viewing area on the corner of 9th St and 8th Ave now fully devoid of spectators. In years past half the block was out on near the curbs watching and cheering. I guess that is what happens as the neighborhood changes. Second, a few blocks north of the spot above a robbery took place in the hours prior to the start of the marathon . High end audio equipment was pilfered from the yard in the early morning of May 20th. The owner traditionally has piped out tunes to runners since the inaugural marathon year. This perhaps the first crime with some relationship to the marathon. I suppose most may ask why the owner had the equipment in his yard overnight. Not sure, but he does has video surveillance. I think the culprits may be on the lam for a while lest their mugs be...

Once of the stunts I think the marathon could pull off would be to have a celebrity run the race. And I don't mean Dom Izzo or Doug Burgum. The closest we get to this in Fargo is celebrity lookalikes as I noted in a post last year in addition to the guy who runs dressed as Superman and that Elvis impersonator just south of the 13th. Also concerning the Governor (aka Doug Burgum), he did run both the 5K and 10K instead of stroll this year. Dom also kept decent pace in 5K. One can always depend on Coach GP being in Fargo for the race. Coach GP Just learned that GP Pearlberg was the voice of the marathon. I knew he had something to do in Fargo besides coach runners. I think a local guy named Guy shared the voice responsibility in the past. Not sure that is still the case although I did see Guy at the Fargo Dome. Anyways, Coach GP does lend his renowned in the running world to our event and has a great story. I need to go to one of his talks in the future.  Speaking of voice...

Marathon Expo Corporate support, reliable volunteer pool, local enthusiasm, and a flat friendly course have been the bedrock of the Fargo Marathon's success and smooth operation. So well executed was this week of events I never even saw the race director once and I was in the midst of many of the going ons. I am sure he was there, somewhere...perhaps behind the scenes. I continue to see corporate support not just in the marketing but also out on the route with sponsored miles with a volunteer brigade. Corporations had already been supplying groups of volunteers for a many years. This action maintains that valuable set of volunteers which help make this race function. Local enthusiasm continues to remain high. Just stroll the length of 8th and 9th Avenue South on race day morning and afternoon and you can experience the energy. Over in Moorhead, MSUM continues to make the part of the course through their campus a fiery good mile for runners. The Cobbers also took time to chee...

beyond 4 hours and still south of the dome  I was beginning to dread having to stand in the rain for hours to cover this year's marathon earlier this week. However a slight shift in the weather system pushed the rains off until the afternoon. Still, it was a cooler event that mostly hovered in the mid to upper 40s. After working 2 volunteer shifts last night I decided to ease into things Saturday morning. We did not get over to the old watching spot on 8th Ave until late in the morning. The victors (for the marathon Tuwei and Tesafaye) had sped through well before our arrival on the course. Now we were there to cheer the unsung runners bringing up the tail end of the marathon. Fortunately the party was still going on along 8th and 9th. We saw at least 5 bands in addition to many DJs and people just pumping music from their supped up stereos. Many of the spectators were already gone or hovering near the houses and tents. Elvis was sauntering through "Kentucky Rain"...

This is from my very early works. It is appears to be a print of some kind. I think it was from Styrofoam etching. It is either a rainbow or a jump rope. Or it could be a representation of a Native American pictograph.

Less than 1 month until the start of the umpteenth Fargo Marathon and Fargo welcomes an early spring snow storm. I ran in it this morn. Sort of a soft and wet mix. Beats running in the rain. Snow accumulates on April 27 Not sure of the Fargo accumulations but looks like it will melt up by the weekend as temperatures start to rise above 30s. Still this is a bit of a surprise after having some pleasant days above touching the 60s and 70s in previous weeks. Participants need not to worry about running in the snow. Only once in the history of the race has it snowed- that being the first year - and there was hardly a trace. This is not to say it will not be cool come race time. I expect starting line temperatures on May 20 to be in the low to mid 40s warming up quickly into the early afternoon. No flood impacts this year too. Very little to report at this time concerning the marathon and all its related events. Registrations were reportedly done a bit but that is not strange consid...

As far as I know the Greater East Area Model Railroad Club (aka Newport Club ) has been around since the early 1980s. I recall visiting their layout sometime in that period but do not remember much. My attempts at modeling in HO were rather clumsy, but what do you expect of a kid. I had little knowledge of the craft of modeling.   I recently visited it a few years ago and they were beginning a new update to the layout. Quite an impressive railroad. This entry is about the shows they put on in Woodbury. More accurately they are fleamarkets since there are no layouts on display but mostly vendors and citizens with train items to sell. 4 times a year the club sponsors the show up at Woodbury High School in the cafeteria. From some archival footage on the YouTube, it appears these fleamarkets have been going on since the late 1980s. Check this footage out. Look at that line, this appears to be one serious fleamarket. According to the poster it was one of the largest at the time ...

Fargo Main Ave- Block6 My mostly Finnish wife painted the above picture in oil and few years ago. It is of the eastern portion of block 6 on Main Avenue just across from the NP depot. Businesses at time of painting from left to right- Babb's Coffee, Rhombus Guys, Harvest Community Church, and Kittsona. Today I think Kittsona has absorbed the space that was the church.

West of of Dilworth yard  a few miles, the BNSF mainline makes its way into Moorhead and then over the Red River into Fargo. I captured these somewhat boring shots of grain hoppers off of US 10 not far from Moorhead High School on a frigid afternoon. They were sitting still but there was an approaching train heading west on the adjacent track.    Going west just about a mile you encounter a large junction referred to as Moorhead Junction.  Dilworth was a former Northern Pacific yard on the Staples sub-division of the St Paul division. It was also the point where the Fargo division began. I seem to recall that unit trains of coal from the Powder River basin were routed over these lines. It was in an article from an old Trains magazine I had lying around.

Lionel produced a trio of smaller building kits in the MPC era: The Watchman's Shanty, The Barrel Platform, and the Lumber Shed. None of these structures gets much press but you see them at the shows either un-assembled in box or removed from a layout. They make for a good evening project that can be personalize with a little paint and weathering. Lionel Lumber Shed 6-2720 There is nothing really fancy about either of these models but they have a few little intriguing details. All of them came with a figure and a handful of detail pieces such as barrels, a ladder, or hand tools. The Watchman's Shanty is probably the only Lionel branded building to include a dog. Of the three I really like the Lumber Shed best. The workbench area is especially interesting. workbench area has some tools The Lionel Lumber Shed first appeared sometime in the MPC era. My 1978 catalog has it as 6-2720 with a painted plastic workman. The shed shows up in later years as kit too. It was cata...