New D&M Rolling Stock: InterMountain PS 5277 Cu. Ft. Boxcars

Last week I posted some new Detroit & Mackinac boxcars that InterMountain was going to be releasing early next year. There are a total of six new road numbers being released, but one thing I noticed was that they had already released these at least once before. Looking at the actual part numbers, these start at -07 and run through -12, which means there was six more done at some point in the past. 

Anyway, I was doing some searching for these upcoming models and stumbled across a website that showed two of the earlier road numbers: 2217 and 2256. I called to inquire further and they were in fact in stock, so I decided to go ahead and get both of them because these things are impossible to find. In fact, these are the only two versions of this model that I have ever even seen for sale. Here is a look at them in their boxes:

D&M boxcar #'s 2217 and 2256

The store I bought these from is called Spring Creek Model Trains and they are based in Deshler, NE. I will say the service was excellent and the shipping time couldn't have been better. I placed the order on Friday and they were waiting for me when I got home on Monday. Together the two set me back $60 with shipping, which doesn't seem all that bad for a couple of quality models like these. I even saved a few bucks off the original sticker.

As you can see from the ends of the boxes, these are -01 and -04 from what I am assuming is the original run of six models. The store told me they had gotten them all the way back in 2007, so these are actually pretty old now. That's ok though, all that matters is that I have them now. Here are some pictures of the details on these cars:

An overall view of DM2217.

A look at the excellent decal work on these models.

A look at the details on the end of the car.

A look at both of the new boxcars together.

These two are exactly what I was looking for, plus I don't have to wait until early next year to get them. Now I just need to see if I can track down any of the others from the first six. I would like to get at least a few more of these to be able to build a decent consist of D&M rolling stock. Just for fun, here's what my entire D&M fleet looks like right now.

Seven cars isn't all that much, but its a good start if you ask me. These things are pretty hard to track down, so I will always take what I can get. Also on a side note, I think its kind of neat that InterMountain used 2217 as the stock image for the upcoming release and I was lucky enough to have that be one of the two I picked up.