The Royce Files

I found some additional photos of the BNSF 1885, a SD40-2 with a snoot nose that plies the yard in Fargo and occassional pulls a train west and visits Northtown Yard. That distinctive snoot and blueboonet  freightbonnet* Santa Fe scheme makes it easy to spot. I think I took these from Great Northern Drive near the throat of the yard.  Formerly SF 5121 and then BNSF 6805 after the merge. Built in November  1979 with builder number  786223-7. On the Santa Fe this engine saw time out west in California then made its way to the Midwest in the early 2000s and then to Minnesota and North Dakota around 2010. Sometime between spring 2019 and Fall of 2021, the BNSF 1885 was repainted in what looks like the H4 scheme (see here  BNSF 1885 in Oct 2021 ). Looks like they added an air conditioning unit or two too. From the angle of the photo I cannot tell if they reduced the nose size as well. *It came to my attention that bluebonnet was a color scheme only on passenger engin...

  Lionel's foray in the G-Scale realm between late 80s to early 90s, produced a few buildings. In fact 4 buildings were produced and they were near duplicates of kits that were produced for the O scale line. These are really fine looking models and the difference between them and their O scale counterparts is they are wood kits and include a bit more details including some brass on the doors of the engine house and shingles and window glazing, . The watchmen's shanty in O did include a figure and a dog  but all the O scale kits were plastic. I would enjoy assembling one of these kits. Like their O scale little brothers, these are sadly out of production and have been so for a long time. They occasional show up on Ebay and I suspect you may find them in some old stock at a hobby shop that has not sold off its old Lionel dead stock. Scale Model Supply in St. Paul, MN comes to mind but I am sure there are others disbursed across America. I actually have 3 of the O-scale versions....

My Lionel Large Scale Gold Rush Special on display  I found very little about Lionel's Large Scale products online so I decided to post something. In the late 1980s Lionel decided to produce a very small selection of 'G' scale trains. Lionel marketed them as Lionel Large Scale. From what I can tell from online sources, this Lionel scale was more akin to the size of the Lionel's standard gauge trains from the pre-war era and a bit smaller than the typical G trains from makers like LGB, Bachmann, or Piko. G is a sort of a catch all for those big trains you typically see in outdoor layouts- the scale can range anywhere between 1:13 up to 1:32.  The 1:32 scale is where standard gauge falls. They seem to also have been rereleasing standard gauge trains under the Lionel Classics moniker in the early Kughn era. MTH had produced standard scale trains under the Lionel brand between 2009 and 2019 and  G scale under the Rail King 1 Gauge  From reports I have seen online, L...

 Mid-October means another Spud Valley Hobby Show.  Trains, toy tractors, die cast cars and assorted modeling items are offered for sale. This year the model airplanes did not make an appearance. And of course a few tables of railroad memorabilia. Notably a few tables with railroad lanterns- very popular but on the high end for an antique that can be well worn. A good flea market and display show. I found a few items worth buying- a Lionel GP-38 for repairing, 2 Lionel automatic switches, N-scale interurban, a box of wires and electrical items for layout. Here is the GP-38. It was missing a pilot, some screws, and needed a new coupler with a spring. The parts was slightly difficult to find- although it is amazing how much some vendors charge for such small parts. The challenge was finding a good deal. Shipping charges are crazy for parts that only weigh a few ounces. The engine runs very good.  Model stationary steam engines are pretty rare at shows. I saw one last y...

 It has been a while since I dispersed camped in the Chippewa National Forest. I am thinking maybe nine years and that was a pretty bad trip when the go to spot at Shingobee was occupied. I found a rather slanted spot somewhere further into the forest. I was not pleased- but I was on foot and there was little light left to hike further.  So what is dispersed camping?  It is camping outside of established campground or campsites. In Minnesota, the 2 National Forests and numerous state forests allow it with some stipulations. I believe one of those stipulations is it needs to be a certain distance away from designated campgrounds- state forests it is 1 mile. National forests have similar rules. Generally, dispersed camping is primitive, however I have found a few dispersed sites that are quite comfortable and have a table, a fire grate, and a pit toilet, and are by a lake. More common are sites that are just a pull out from a forest road and nothing more than a clearing to ...

I think I have owned over a dozen pairs of New Balance shoes in my lifetime.  That is not much by some standards, but I have found the shoes to be durable more or less and have worn out many pairs. Plus New Balance shoes tend to fit better for people like me who have wide feet.  That is probably why I gravitate toward the brand when looking for running shoes.  My first pair of New Balance I believe were a gray and blue pair of NB574s my mother purchased for me when I took up track and field in the seventh grade. They lasted through my greatest athletic period- junior high. I grew out of them by high school, left track behind, and wore Converse All-Stars instead.  I do not recall when I returned to the New Balance fold. I remember using quite a few junky sneakers through college for sports that did not fit my feet well or breathe. Those shoes may have been from Wal-Mart or Pamida. I also started wearing more luggy outdoor recreation style shoes- Nike All Condition Ge...

 As the cases increased in the Dakota-land (and Minnesota too) the previous Fall, one annual train event did not want to fade away. The Spud Valley Model Show went on as scheduled in October 2020 with the common public wardrobe amendment. I arrived early and the place was hopping despite the additional face coverings. Many of the same vendors displayed their model trains and hobby wares with one addition from the Twin Cities. Mass gatherings like model train shows in Minnesota pretty much got the kibash, so this one in Fargo was of particular interest to modelers and train enthusiasts. I think it may have been the only show to go on in the 5 state region (ND,MN,SD,IA,WI) since February 2020. A lot of the shows cancelled like Granite City down in St. Cloud, that Upper Midwest show at Century College in the Twin Cities, and the Trains at Christmas Show in Sioux Falls. So what did I see? Let's take a look. A Marx set. Seems like a double switcher set. K-line acquired the molding of th...