The Leadville Shops DSP&P and CC Freight Car Kits | 14 Comments - Click Here :

Derrell Poole Photo 

(note: this is a pre production kit and not all parts shown belong to the kit)

    Derrell Poole - If I recall, the first stock car I ever built from scratch was a DSP&P 26’ car in HO scale. There wasn't a kit and certainly there wasn't anything R-T-R. The next scratch built stock car I made – was a 26’ DSP&P car in O scale. There still wasn't a kit available. In fact, the only stock cars I've ever built from scratch were DSP&P 26’ cars.

    To my knowledge, with the exception of the Cimarron Works resin kit in S scale there has never been a kit of these cars in any scale. But I haven’t paid much attention to large scale so maybe I’m wrong.

    I've built several Tiffany refrigerators both from kits and from scratch in several scales. And there have been plenty of kits to choose from. So what difference would one more kit make here?

    Pa-Lenty! Study the photos and observe the high end production and laser sharp accuracy. And, if you are like me, the idea of a wooden kit that goes together like a plastic injected kit excites you, little more needs to be said about what difference one more kit makes.  The two kits in the photos are brand new releases – in fact at this writing they have not actually been released yet. They come from a new company, The Leadville Shops.

Derrell Poole Photo (note this is a pre production kit and not all parts shown belong to the kit. 

Only the upper half of the brass etching fret belongs with the kit)

     The Leadville Shops is the brainchild of Robert Stears, Bill Meredith, and Doug Junda – 3 Modelers with a huge amount of manufacturing experience between them. They are the principles of The Cimarron Works so while TLS is a new company with a completely new direction they are not a bunch of amateurs. Bob and Bill are high quality craftsmen with a dedication to accuracy AND a penchant for development that is oriented to the modeler who doesn't always have time to invest in an award winning historically accurate model. In other words they know we all want the very most from our models but sometimes we have real lives that get in the way.

    Doug Junda has been the promoter and manager of Cimarron Works for more than 4 years and the former owner of Design Tech Models. He certainly has plenty of experience in what it takes to run a Model Railroad business. Nor is that to suggest he isn’t a consummate modeler as well. Doug will be handling your orders and you can find the company’s contact information below.

“The Leadville Shops goal is to produce the finest and most accurate models and components possible…. We also appreciate the importance of providing an enjoyable modeling experience… We are modelers with high standards, just like you” - excerpts from the introduction of the Kit instruction set.

    I could not say it better. I must warn you, however, that these are VERY limited run kits. Let me explain so that you will understand how important it is for you to act as quickly as you can IF you want any of the kits offered. You will notice that at least one kit in the list below is already “sold out”. How is that possible? When they tell me that these are limited run kits they mean just that! There is no set number of each kit they intend to produce BUT, being modelers themselves, their first interest is to fill their own rosters for their own layouts. That may sound like an abandonment of a market-driven compulsion to produce kits  - guess what? That is exactly what it is. Let’s face it; the DSP&P as well as the Colorado Central AND the early D&RG are not leading the pack when it comes to modeler interest. So this isn’t a high volume venture to begin with. In all honesty the primary purpose is just what I said it was, yet, in their interest to help like minded modelers enjoy the hobby, they hope; A) to give back to the community high quality kits that perhaps other modelers can enjoy and; B) like all specialize ventures that costs lots of money to produce, they hope to defray some of their costs and perhaps offer more new kits in the future.

Derrell Poole Photo (note this is a pre production kit and not all parts shown belong to the kit. 

Only the upper half of the brass etching fret belongs with the kit)

     Naturally if there is enough solid interest they are willing to produce more of these kits as well as future new releases. But there is no commitment on their part to do so and it will be our “interest of substance” that will determine what the company does in the future. Bill has shared with me some of his ideas – how many Peninsular 30’ cars have your seen produced in O scale let alone S? So. Is this what we want?

    This entire strategy is built on the philosophy that for small specialized markets like this one, where we all know each other and speak the same NG language, it is better to commit only offering the fruit of our skills to those folk who will truly appreciate them rather than a blanket appeal to a mass market. No one gets rich doing this sort of thing – and that isn’t the point here either. If there are modeler who don’t really understand or appreciate this philosophy perhaps we should all wish them happiness with the Athearn-esque mass produced products. We are talking about fine scale modeling at it’s best. (Narrow Gauge modelers were the original Proto Modelers before Proto modeling was cool!)

Derrell Poole Photo - A close look at the Brass etchings for the South Park Freight cars. 

The extra parts in the pre production kits will not be included in production kits.

     The kits are what I call composites because they supply parts in several materials; wood, plastic, resin and brass. But this isn’t a bunch of sticks and brass castings. A great deal of the mundane prep work has already been done for you. The brass consists of very finely done etchings and the wood is precision laser-cut plywood. Only the body bolsters are nicely cast resin. Grandt Line supplied the plastic parts and decals are provided by 

The Cimarron Works - they are crisp, complete, and accurate. The instruction sheets appear to be complete with diagrams of the parts, elevations and technical drawings to aid in assembly. In talking with Bill I am told the kits go together really quickly yet result in an assuredly accurate and handsome model; in spite of what appears to be a rather intense degree of complexity. I am not surprised to hear this as I've noted that even the drill holes are already made for you.

    In the next few weeks I hope to build each of the two South Park kits in S scale and experience for myself the pleasure of building a laser-cut composite project. I’m not completely familiar with this type of kit since I've never built one before. So this will be a new experience to me and hopefully an exciting one to you. Of course, the objective is to finish with an accurate and presentable model I’ll be proud to run on my slowly developing layout. Nevertheless, I am truly excited about the “doing” of the kits purely for the sake of doing. I plan to build the first 2 kits stock-out-of-the-box per the instructions but I will also be getting more of each and updating them to my C&S era.

Bill Meredith Photo – S scale and O scale car bodies.

     Study the photos, absorb the obvious quality, imagine these beautiful cars on your layout – or at the very least on your own Fermentation Shelf (where it may take yeeeears for a kit to finally reach its “time”).

    Below is a list of what is about to be offered and how to order. Yes, they are pricey, perhaps when compared to other products by other less specialized companies. If this bothers you then I hope you will be happy scratch building your own – and doing the type of research this kind of quality and accuracy demands. For me? My time bills out at a set shop rate and while these would be for pleasure I still expend my time at the same consistent pace. The time I save here should make them a real bargain to me – and I've DONE the research!

The following O kits are $75 each:

(all kits less trucks and couplers)

LSO-1 DSP&P/CC 26’ Stock car

LSO-2 DSP&P/DL&G 27’ Tiffany Reefer

LSO-3 D&RG/RGS/SRR 24’ Boxcar (September availability)

LSO-5 CC 24’ Boxcar #4 (contact for availability, very limited numbers)

LSO-5 CC 24’ Boxcar #1620 (Sold out)

LSO-5 CC MOW/caboose #26552 (contact for availability, very limited numbers)

The following S kits are $60 each:

(all kits less trucks and couplers)

LSS-1 DSP&P/CC 26’ Stock car

LSS-2 DSP&P/DL&G 27’ Tiffany Reefer

LSS-3 D&RG/RGS/SRR 24’ Boxcar (September availability)

The following S kits are $65 each:

(all kits less trucks and couplers)

LSS-5 CC 24’ Boxcar #4 (contact for availability, very limited numbers)

LSS-5 CC 24’ Boxcar #1620 (contact for availability, very limited numbers)

LSS-5 CC MOW/caboose #26552 (contact for availability, very limited numbers)

O scale trucks

Union Pacific Type A and B Swing Beam Colorado Central available from Coronado Scale Models

D&RG 10 ton – Price TBA

S scale Trucks

(Trucks come with Berlyn Wheel sets)

Union Pacific Type A – 25.00pr.

Union Pacific Type B – 25.00pr.

D&RG 10 ton – 25.00pr.

Please note that the details of this listing are subject to correction by the Leadville Shops and only a final word from them constitutes a correct amount due on an order. 

Contact The Leadville Shops:

Email doug@theleadvilleshops.com
phone (720) 213-4758
Paypal payments to djunda@pdtnetworks.org

Orders will start shipping Aug 1st.

Please watch this blog for my description on how I build these cars in the near future.