Searching for Large Scale Durango & Silverton Passenger Cars

[Plow_Bender]

Hey guys,
I've been looking for Bachmann's Durango & Silverton passengers cars Alamosa and North Star.  The cars I'm looking for are pictured below.



After researching Bachmann's large scale products, I found that all their D&S stock has been discontinued other than the fire suppression tank car.  Since that was the case, I also looked through their passenger car and train set selections, but there's really nothing there.  eBay hasn't really been that reliable either.  Does anyone know where I could find these 2 cars?  I have looked other places online and everyone seems to have the D&S passenger set, but it's since long been sold out.  Any help would be very much appreciated.

-Rusty

[Chuck N]

Rusty

If you can't find the yellow D&S cars and you can find yellow D&RGW cars you could remove the lettering and add Durango and Silverton decals.  I have used custom decals made by Stan Cedarleaf on a number of projects.  They are excellent and he can do any car name and number you want.

He advertises over on <mylargescale.com>.  When I can get on my computer, I'll post some pictures of a 4 car rake of Bachmann passenger cars that I relettered for the Colorado & Southern with Stan's decals.

He has an extensive library of railroad lettering and logos.  He also will help you create custom lettering and logo for a railroad that doesn't have a prototype.  Like my "Clear Lake Lumber Co."

Chuck







I also had him do decals for 32 iron ore cars.





Custom decals

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Rusty,

The D&S Passenger set 90058 with those cars came out in 2006 and lasted in the catalog until 2011.  The set had limited sales success and was discontinued when stock ran out.  The other problem you have is that the cars were not sold separately and only in the set. The passenger set was more popular than the freight set which lasted a little longer due to slow sales.  These are the main reasons the cars are so hard to come by, but your patience will be rewarded down the line. 

I would set up a search on Ebay that will email you when some of the Durango & Silverton items show up.   I have seen that the whole set comes up more often that the individual cars, but there are still sellers who break up sets trying for a better overall price.  If price is not critical you may have to get the whole set, and if the price is right why not??

The Ebay search method has worked great for me and has saved me many hours just checking listings.

God luck in your hunt!!

Loco Bill

[Plow_Bender]

Hey again,
Thanks for the reply.  I think the best bet is to go with what Bill suggested and hunt them down on eBay.  It may take a while, but as he said, "Patience will be rewarded down the line."

I think it was back Christmas of 2012 when I got the Durango & Silverton freight set.  Other than the black and yellow (Bumble Bee) paint scheme, I don't think there was any particular reason I got the set.  Shame I didn't get into large scale sooner, but hopefully I can get the matching passenger cars to go with this set sometime in the near future.





-Rusty

[Chuck N]

Rusty

If you can't find Bachmann cars, may I suggest LGB.  Since Bachmann no longer has these cars for sale I hope I'm not violating the rules.

They are very similar in size.  The major difference is the number of windows.





Chuck

PS the yellow engine and car are LGB.

[Plow_Bender]

Hey Chuck,
I've seen the Durango & Silverton LGB cars on eBay, but they want $250 for it.  The D&RGW cars are plentiful though and are hovering around the $70-$100 mark.  If I can't get the D&S ones by Bachmann, I'll take your advice and see if I can decal some other ones.

-Rusty

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Rusty,

One thing I did not mention is that if you buy a Passenger set the locomotive has a different number (177) than the one in the freight set.

90058   D&S   Durango & Silverton (Pass Set)   2006   2011    Pass   177   Ver 5   Coach 361 "North Star"   Observation #350 Alamosa   
90058   Notes:   New for 2006 in Catalog Loco has Bumblebee Paint. Cars are Rio Grande Yellow & Black Paint Scheme  Some sets were packed with the wrong Locomotive (D&RGW #177)                        

If you do find a 90058 Set, be sure you get one with the D&S lettering on the locomotive.  I remember the fuss when the set first came out with the D&RGW locomotive instead of the D&S Locomotive

Bill

[Plow_Bender]

I really don't need another D&S locomotive.  Maybe for the right price.  I've upgraded to brass track instead of the steel alloy that's included in the set, so if I were to get the set I'm left with a locomotive and track that I really have no use for.  I think I'm better off trying to get the cars separately, but at the same time I probably wouldn't want to let the set slip by if it happens to pop up.

-Rusty

[Chuck N]

There is nothing wrong with a backup engine, incase there is a problem with your primary engine.

Chuck

[RkyGriz]

If you still need the cars, there's a complete set with loco and tender on Ebay right now with the cars you're looking for. $185 with shipping . It was just listed and is up for bid. I'd bid on it myself if I had the money.
Andrew

[Ted Yarbrough]

Rusty,
Also check out the new for 2016 products from **B as they have two new paint scheme passenger cars in the maroon for the Durango & Silverton coming, with a hint of more to come. As stated above, these cars mix and match well with the Bachmann cars and locos. Bachmann should take notice, people do still want D & S and D&RGW equipment!
Ted

[Plow_Bender]

Good morning everyone,
I'm happy to announce that I snatched up the Durango & Silverton passenger set along with some extra track on eBay last night in auction for $135.  The locomotive has seen better days, but the passenger cars are in like new condition with the exception of 1 light not working.  My plan is to keep the cars and sell the locomotive and track.  Here's a couple pics.




Also earlier in the week I snatched up a Denver & Rio Grande Western baggage car at a buy it now.  It's missing 1 of the railings and needs some new couplers, but at $30, how could you go wrong.  Here it is as well.



I'll make another post once everything arrives.  Thanks for all the advice and helpful comments.  I especially want to thank Bill for the tip he gave me about setting up a search on eBay.  Definitely helped me out a lot.

-Rusty

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Rusty,

Glad you got them. Quicker than I thought even!!!  Saved search has always been a winner for me!

The loco will have the Version 5 chassis. 

Bill

[Plow_Bender]

I'm happy to announce that I received all my passenger cars this week.  The D&RGW baggage car had to have the bathroom wall put back in, new couplers added, and I still need to order a new railing and break wheel for it, but overall was very good for the price I paid.



The D&S passenger cars were pretty good overall.  I had to do some soldering to the North Star to get the lights working properly and also had to replace a damaged knuckle coupler.  The Alamosa had a bad bulb in the roof, so I pulled the one out of the back of the car for now and will order a new one later on.  I also have to replace a missing break wheel on the car.  Both cars were dusty and dirty and looked a lot better after they were cleaned. 




I took the time to get some photos of everything today.  Since I already have D&S Locomotive #179 from the D&S freight set, I'll be using it with this train.







Since the D&S cars came in a set from eBay, I also got a few extras with them.  Locomotive (#177) is in rough shape with a broken and poorly reglued cowcatcher, missing parts, but does run.  A lot of steel alloy track (21 curves, 17 straights) was included, but I don't care for this kind of track and have upgraded to brass track.  Also a power pack and 1 amp speed controller, connection wires, and power connectors were included.  All this is going to be sold since I can't use any of it.





Once again I'd like to thank everyone for their help and I'm really glad to finally have these D&S cars in my collection.  It's taken me a couple years to get them, but it was well worth the wait.  Again, thanks everyone.

-Rusty

[Loco Bill Canelos]

Rusty,

Glad you got what you want.  Unless your budget is a problem, I always recommend having a second locomotive.  You never know when a locomotive will have a problem.  If it does it will likely happen when you are showing off your trains to friend.  The loco you got is a great running Version 5 chassis locomotive.  The damage didn't look too bad in the pictures.  Replacement cow catchers are available:

http://estore.bachmanntrains.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=66_69_671_148&products_id=8502

You can always peddle the other stuff on Ebay.

Bill