D&RGW's "5500" Series Stock Cars - UNBELIEVEABLE DETAIL from P-B-L in a Scale Big Enough to SEE, Big Enough for SMOOTH, RELIABLE OPERATION, yet Small Enough for Real Railroad type Operating Sessions in a Modest Sized Space ! Our latest all in house designed and engineered models have been produced from BRAND NEW TOOLING with the aid of our 21st century CAD/CAM/CNC technology to a level of detail that humbles even us ! You just have to see 'em to believe 'em, and the photos on this page will let you do just that ! Suffice it to say that these Ready-to-Operate beauties have delighted even the most critical modeler ! All in "Sn3", of course... "Sn3" = 3/16" = 1'-0" Scale

- PLEASE BE PATIENT - LARGE PHOTOS FOR SLIDE SHOWS LOADING -

~ Latest Revision - Thursday, February 03, 2011 ~

~ THE D&RGW "5500" CLASS STOCK CARS ! ~

PLEASE NOTE:
THIS PAGE MUST LOAD COMPLETELY FOR ZOOM FEATURE AND SLIDE SHOWS TO DISPLAY CORRECTLY.

Our first production run containing 12 of these unbelieveable models included no less than ELEVEN ACCURATELY MODELED UNIQUE VARIANTS of the Rio Grande's ubiquitous Stock Cars!

Though the photos below don't really do these models justice for the simple reason that BLACK is a difficult color to "shoot", our pal Jimmy Booth grabbed the one you see here and gave it one of his best efforts to date.

(No, it's not for sale! But you CAN get a hi-res PDF of it off our FTP site which you can then zoom in on infinitely to study not only Jimmy's work, but the DETAIL we've incorporated into these amazing models! ) The result is this stand-alone "Modeler's Model" that is not only staggeringly beautiful, but one that made for a much easier photographing session too!

See for yourself! Once the "wheel" stops spinning, you can run your mouse across the photo and it will act like a MAGNIFYING GLASS! Zoom in on the BOARD and ROOF EDGES! More hard to photograph stuff here, but the decks on these models actually overlap each other just as on the prototype! And how about the door trolley detail? And the Grabiron Ends? And those TRUCKS! And all of this in an off-the-shelf, ready-to-operate model you can enjoy TODAY! Not weeks from now, so what's holding you back ? SCROLL DOWN FOR MORE INFO !

TWELVE different road numbers, Eleven variations produced, displaying THREE different shades of paint !

Seven versions were suitable for 1930's era; Yet most were suitable for 1940's-up era modeling too!

Unbelieveable detail from Brand New Tooling created from in house SOLID MODEL drawings!

Flawless decorating from all new in-house created artwork! Each car modeled from an existing prototype or prototype photo!

The level of detail to be seen on these models was simply staggering.

CLICK ON ANY PHOTO BELOW FOR ENLARGED VIEWS AND BACKGROUND STORIES !

Each of these models was a faithful reproduction of its specific prototype, in miniature. Their decorating was not only incredibly accurate, it's flawlessly applied to boot!

Each was equipped with GENUINE KADEE@reg Couplers, and rolled on our own SUPER DETAILED,SUPER ROLLING TRUCKS WITH COINED, NICKEL PLATED, RIBBED BACK "GRIFFIN DENVER" WHEELSETS!

As delivered, with complete accurately scaled underbody detail these models were designed for operation on curves of 26" radius and larger.
( For operation on tighter radius curves, much of that beautiful brake rigging detail may require modification, or removal. A pity, eh ? )

Our goal was to produce 80 of each version. Except for cars numbered 5631 and 5803D, we failed to reach that goal. We only received 65 of #5652D. The others ranged into the low to mid seventies. THESE MODELS ARE NOW SOLD OUT. We do not intend to reproduce these particular cars ever again.

Note: These were complicated, highly detailed scale models that have been hand assembled by professional model builders, not machines. Besides paint shades, (intentional) some (unintentional) slight variations may have existed between like cars.