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Rio Grande Southern RR - Models, Kits, and Decals

Ridgway

Dallas Divide

Saw Pit

Vance Junction

Placerville

Telluride

Ophir

Lizard Head

Trout Lake

Burns

Rico

Dolores

McPhee

Mancos

Hesperus

Ute Junction

West Durango

Durango

• Banta Modelworks has transferred it's Ridgway outbuildings to McCarville Studios, who will continue to produce them - along with all his other NEW Rgs kits. And Mike did a limited run of the Roundhouse as well. His list of kits is growing rapidly!

• Campbell Scale Models and Narrow Gauge Colorado have both shut down their business, in early 2023.

• San Juan Model Co has purchased a number of companies and product lines. They purchased Grandt Line's entire line - now called San Juan Details'. They also handle San Juan Decals, The Leadville Shops, American Limited Models, San Juan Car Company.

• Rusty Rails has an amazing line of O and HO scale castings and details, as well as structure kits.

• Rusty Stumps has sold it's line of lasercut windows and doors, to Rail Scale Models, and now focuses on a limited line of kits and amazing, huge line of 3D-printed details.

• Sep 2017: Bershire Valley Models has purchased Anvil Mountain Models line of structures (HO, S, O) and horses / wagons (O).

• Sep 2017: Black Bear Scale Models's owner has passed away, and his site and business (which produced RGS, DRGW, and related trestle jibs) are closed now. But - and this is why this archive site is AMAZING - you can see find the articles and reference documentation from that site today, on the Web Archive of his old site.

• Bill Banta purchased the many small laser-cut structure kits formerly made by the Building & Structure Company.

• Raggs to Riches has closed his business. The references on this page have been updated appropriately. His website is still up, for reference. These are amazing kits - worth finding if you can!

• Builders-in-Scale has been purchased by CC Crow, and now has a new website.

• JL Innovative Design purchased the old Durango Press line of HO kits.

• Wiseman Model Services has purchased a number of model lines, including the old Durango Press line of On3 kits, Sn3 Triangle Scale kits, Rogers Locomotive Works kits, V&T Shops kits, the HO and O gauge kits of Smoky Mountain Model Works, Railway Engineering Agency, and National Motor Company HO and O scale kits. They carry some of the Durango Press kits as well.

• Trout Creek Engineering has acquired the Classic Miniatures and Taurus line of structures, cars & parts, and still produce the Tomalco line in HO, S and O. They also handle the BK Enterprises line of turnout kits and parts.

• LaBelle Models purchased the old Ye Olde Huff-n-Puff, which included Main Line Models, Silver Streak, Sugar Pine Models, AC Models, LW Models, and Steward Products. They carry both car kits and structures, HO, HOn3, S, O and On3. Other products include Silver Streak parts, and YOHP turnout links. I'm not sure what's currently still available of these old lines, but at least LaBelle's own kits are all available (Feb 2023).

• Turner Model Wrks purchased Sequoia Scale Models some years back. The Sequoia link included HO structures and details, and numerous details appropriate for narrow gauge layouts, ash pits and other small structures, and a metal detail set for the Pro Patria mill. They are still active; see the link above (Feb 2023).

• Narrow Gauge Colorado closed in early 2023, and their website is gone now. They did a number of nice RGS kits on their own, as well as selling related kits which others did.

• I'm trying to limit this page to kits specific to RGS and (where relevant) D&RGW. I have more general listings of model companies for scenery, structures, paint, decals etc on my links page.

Fun Details

• A posting on the RGS groups.io list early in 2024 shared some details about RGS depot interiors, who is friends with the daughter of the last station agent in Rico, Colorado. He asked her about the interior of the depot as she remembers it. This is her response:
  
  "As you have seen depot through time upstairs and lobby had a wains-coat of wood. It was a honey golden brown. Above it the walls (as I think I remember) were honey golden paint. The freight room had no wood just paint; a golden yellow paint only. There were shelves on east and west walls, 4 layers of shelving. A wide system of shelves in the middle - 4 layers. We could walk completely around the middle system. It was absolutely beautiful upstairs and in the lobby."
  
  The posting added that that above the agent's desk, there was a large steel grate in the ceiling. And thus, in the floor of the residence above. She stated that she could lower paper dolls down on a thread to tease her mother!

Links to Other Resources

• A recent find for me was the JLC razor saw, which is made in the Czech Republic but is much finer than other saws I've used. It includes a tiny mitor box that's great for precision cuts in scaled-sized stripwood.
  
  
• Amazing little Proxxon saw, perfect for scratching building trestles, and cutting your own stripwood. The Modeler'sGuild on FB had a great discussion on using this for HO scale projects, on Dec-2-2017.
  
  
• Books, Reference Works, Videos
• Modeling Books, Workbooks, Plans
• Manufacturer Listing

• There are some amazing resources on RGS trestles. Here's two very detailed articles on RGS trestle construction, by Bob Hyman and Bill White. Bob has a second section on building model trestles in general, and an article on building bridge 45-B specifically. And Duane Richardson has a clinic on building RGS-style trestles. And finally, here's some D&RG Standard Plans for lots of items, including bridges.

• Paul Richardson has a clinic on building turntables economically.

• Custom decails in any lettering style, for example older period rolling stock, is available from Leadville Designs.

• Tom Troughton had a great site with lots of modeling notes and articles on building NG and RGS kits, (saved here on Wayback Machine) including plaster kits and building many RGS-specific kits. He passed away in April 2016.

• CC Crow has various notes on model building.

• Mike Blazek has VERY detailed workbooks & plans for most of the RGS. His granddaughter Katelyn Blazek is handling orders now but plans are still available; see his website http://blazeksplan.com.

• Western Scale Models is back in production, now owned by Wild West Models.

• Real coal! Mike Conder is selling bags of screened, cleaned coal appropriate for tenders, gondolas, etc. It's real coal from a number of narrow gauge locations, so you can get actual D&RG coal, RGS, coal, etc. Cost is very reasonable for a bag that'll fill about a dozen gondolas. Email him for details, at:

• And how about a shirt or hat? The Galloping Goose Historical Society has a great selection available.

General - Structures

General - Bridges

General - Misc

Locos, Rolling Stock, Related Details, Etc

RGS Decals