Micro-Trains - 993 01 350 - Boxed Set, Runner Pack - Royal American Shows

Model Information: Many times since Micro-Trains/Kadee first started producing cars in 1972, they have sold 'multipacks' of cars in shrink-wrapped bundles. These releases have bundles several different items with the same theme together in a single shrink-wrapped packaged. However, in April of 2007, due to demand for groups of cars with the same paint scheme yet with different road numbers, the "Runner Pack" was born.

Runner pack number one got a special presentation box instead of simple shrink wrap and contained four different Pennsy boxcars with identical paint schemes yet different road numbers. These releases were intended for people who like to "run" their cars yet like each car to have a different road number. The 4-car runner packs have been very successful and were joined later by 8-car packs as well as 3-packs of larger, more expensive cars. Over 100 different box sets in this series have been produced by MTL as of 2017.

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: Micro-Trains is the brand name used by both Kadee Quality Products and Micro-Trains Line. For a history of the relationship between the brand and the two companies, please consult our Micro-Trains Collector's Guide.

Manufacturer Information: Micro-Trains Line split off from Kadee Quality Products in 1990. Kadee Quality Products originally got involved in N-Scale by producing a scaled-down version of their successful HO Magne-Matic knuckle coupler system. This coupler was superior to the ubiquitous 'Rapido' style coupler due to two primary factors: superior realistic appearance and the ability to automatically uncouple when stopped over a magnet embedded in a section of track. The success of these couplers in N-Scale quickly translated to the production of trucks, wheels and in 1972 a release of ready-to-run box cars.

Micro-Trains Line Co. split off from Kadee in 1990 to form a completely independent company. For this reason, products from this company can appear with labels from both enterprises. Due to the nature of production idiosyncrasies and various random factors, the rolling stock from Micro-Trains can have all sorts of interesting variations in both their packaging as well as the products themselves. When acquiring an MTL product it is very important to understand these important production variations that can greatly enhance (or decrease) the value of your purchase.

Please consult our Micro-Trains Collector's Guide