The Freight Yard - 2208H - Trailer, 40 Foot, Box - Royal American Shows - 1333

Model Information: These models go back to the early days of Atlas. They first appear as loads on Roco-made Atlas flatcars in the 1969 catalog. Later Atlas acquired the tooling for both the flatcars and the trailer loads from Roco and started producing them in their New Jersey facility. In 2004, Atlas decided to market the trailer loads as a standalone product in 2-unit blister packs.

Prototype History: 40-foot trailers are still widely used as inter-rail containers. 40 foot is a good length to fit on a 50 foot TOFC flatcar as they provide some room on both ends for safety and sloppy loading. They generally come with a 96" width and are rated for 55,000 pounds. They were never as popular as 48 foot trailers because of the more limited load size. Even 48 foot trailers gave way to 53' models when the laws governing highway transportation changed.

Box vans are known as such for their rectilinear proportions. Their simple design makes them easy to manufacture and maintain.

Road Name History: Royal American Shows was founded by Carl J. Sedlmayr, who was born in Nebraska in 1886, Royal American Shows was one of the largest American carnivals throughout most of the twentieth century. Although Royal American's first contract with the Calgary Stampede was in 1934, the company was unable to travel to Canada from 1942 to 1945, during the Second World War, as it relied on a large train (up to 90 rail cars) for transportation. During the war, use of the rail system was restricted by the United States government to the movement of military personnel and equipment.

In 1967 Royal American Shows was at its pinnacle in terms of size, over 800 people along with livestock and equipment and over 80 railroad cars in 1971. Royal American Shows carried the greatest number of flatcars ever carried by any traveling amusement organization in the world. The show traveled with a full complement of carpenters, canvas men, electricians, painters, full working machine shops with mills, lathes, drills, welders, mechanics, cookhouse, portable showers, and mail department.

Royal American Shows faced the changing economy in the 1970's that would have a huge impact on continuing to stay in business. Towards the end of the 1970's there was a tremendous loss of revenue for Royal American Shows caused by greater distances traveled with ever increasing costs with railroad transportation just to move the show from place to place. In addition, Royal America Shows lost its Canadian route in 1977 during a tax issue causing Royal American to lose all of that revenue on top of mounting expenses.

The carnival equipment seized from the 1975 tax issue at Edmonton and Regina was held in storage until the mid-1990's, at which time the assets were sold at auction and the proceeds were used to pay the outstanding fines. Royal American Shows continued to operate in the United States for the next twenty years, diminishing in size over time; Royal American Show's last spot was in Lubbock, Texas, in October 1997.

Brand/Importer Information: The Freight Yard was a hobby shop that did custom decoration and special runs of other manufacturers' N Scale products. It sold its custom products under several brands or collections: Premiere Editions, by The Freight Yard and Dreams Design.
It was located in Anaheim, California and then moved to 2006 in Phoenix, Arizona.
Established in the late 1980s, it stopped business under this name by the end of the 2000s.
The Freight Yard was owned and operated by Darren J. Cohen. Darren is now operating North Valley Trains.
The Freight Yard / Premiere Editions runs are usually available in series of two to twelve different numbers (suffixed A to M, with I not used).
The first two digits of the stock number correspond to the release year (9x being 199x, and 2x being 200x).