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Photo: DRGW #488 is an Overland K-36, here easing past a burn on the trackside (Mick Moignard)
Division Point have also made runs of the D&RGWs 4 large K classes; all nice models but enormously expensive. They’ve also made some selected rolling stock, again very nicely done, but expensive.
Outside of D&RGW/RGS Colorado prototypes there has been quite a few offerings. PFM in the 1970s and 1980s made a huge number of two and three truck geared locomotives, as did Westside Models. PFM also offered locomotives and some passenger cars and cabooses for the Sumpter Valley railroad in Washington state. Hallmark models offered EBT locomotives – all the steamers plus the M1 Gas-mechanical doodlebug, as well as a range of EBT rolling stock. PFM made White Pass steam, and PSC made White Pass diesels, both the Alcos and the GEs. PFM and Westside offered Southern Pacific narrow gauge locos, steam and diesel, and Union Terminal Imports have a new run of steam and diesel SP narrow gauge locos and some rolling stock on the way as I write. There have been models of even more obscure lines, too.
The same goes for brass rolling stock. There are some shockers out there, but there are also some lovely models available.
Empire Midland offered a range of D&RGW freight cars back in the 70s. These are proportionally OK but have sparse and poor detailing and worse trucks. I’d suggest avoiding these as there are better models around, mainly in kit form.
Various manufacturers have offered tank cars in brass, and this is almost the only way to get HOn3 tank cars other than the UTLX models done as RTR by Blackstone or the PSC kits. There are some quite decent models about from Westside of the Texaco tanks, and from Division Point and Berlyn, if you can find them, of the Conoco tanks. CONX 5 and 8 have also been done by PSC, and appear occasionally.
PSC have also done C&S stock cars in brass, which are of interest too to RGS fans, but beware here as they’re not very good representations of the prototypes. PSC have also done various Colorado cabooses. These are, in the main, very decent models, unlike some earlier brass cabooses
Photo: DRGW #268 passes the Trout Creek “facilities” on the RGS (Mick Moignard)
from other manufacturers. These PSC models do cover various D&RGW and RGS cabooses that haven’t been done as kits or by Blackstone.. Division Point have also done some of the more obscure D&RGW cabeese in brass. Overland have made some steam shovels with HOn3 trucks, specifically the RGS 030 shovel.
There have been a lot of D&RGW coaches done in brass, too, and apart from some fairly awful trucks on earlier models, by and large these are pretty decent models. Look out for vehicles from PFM, make by Ski, Custom Brass and Soho. Key Imports have made good train sets for both the San Juan and Shavano sets – there are two runs of these, one unpainted and one factory painted. PSC have done just about every D&RGW passenger car, including baggage, RPO and parlour cars as well as open and closed vestibule models. I have no hesitation in recommending the PSC and Key models, or, if you can find them, Berlyn’s Silver Vista observation car and their business cars.
There’s a lot outside of D&RGW & RGS prototypes. Quite a few Colorado & Southern passenger vehicles have been made by Custom Brass and NSWL, and the latter also made Ohio River and Western coaches. CB made a bunch of Sumpter Valley cars, and SV cabooses can also be found. PSC have made some White Pass vehicles in the past. Overland’s steam shovels have also appeared rigged as pile drivers, as used by various roads.
Parts and Details
Along with all of this, you’re possibly going to need details parts, and then you’ll need structures. We are of course in HO Scale, so all the usual manufacturers apply. But specifically:
• Grandt Line, under its new owners, have always had a huge range of detail parts in plastic, aimed at NG modellers of Colorado and California prototypes, mainly. Car parts, structure details and general scenic details fill out this range.
ROUNDHOUSE - March/April 2020
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