I’ve been wondering this, since I’ve seen pics of an NP RDC, but not one of a BN one.
I’m asking, since I happen to have 2 station buildings, and an RDC would fit the short, low volume run better than an F or E unit with some passenger cars. (would also save me some money too, and look better on a small layout)
If they didn’t, then what do you think they might have looked like?
I may be mistaken but I believe the BN had one RDC 3 the former GN car that operated between Great Falls and Havre. In any event this car was eventually sold to the British Columbia Railway after Amtrak came along. Amtrak had no need for any RDC3 models and did not purchase any that I am aware of. Amtrak did purchase RDC1 and RDC 2 models.
Google " Burlington Northern RDC" Click on the link for “The early days of the Burlington Northern” website. It shows a pic of NP RDC B31 stored at King Street Station in Seattle, Wa in June 1972.
Doug
Well both NP and GN had RDC’s, so it’s certainly possible BN inherited at least one. I guess the question is whether they were still in use or not, and if so, were any of them repainted in BN lettering?? My guess would be they weren’t being used by the BN merger, and if so, they weren’t repainted.
Keep in mind we’re talking about a brief period here - there was only about 14 months from the creation of BN to the creation of Amtrak, March 1970 to May 1971 IIRC. Unless you’re modelling that specific period, you could always go post-May 1971 and use an Amtrak RDC running on a BN freight line.
Well I’m modeling 1975-1981, so either would work.
How were amtrak’s painted?
Also is the athearn RDC any good? I could get the P1K, but it may look odd on the small radius turns on my layout since it’s scale lenght.
My 1971 BN Motive Power Annual lists GN 2350 as the only RDC to poerate on BN after the merger. It looks like 6 former NP RDCs where on the NP roster on merger day but had already been placed in storage and never used in service before being disposed. Its probably safe to bet that these were never given a coat of Cascade Green. I can also see no indication of a BN assigned number.
Regarding GN 2350, odds are that it was not used after May 1 1971 which was Amtrak creation day. The picture in the annual is dated 03/13/71 from Great Falls MT.
Just to follow-up, I checked my “NP Diesel Era” book last night. NP’s RDC’s were all put in storage in 1969 as local trains were eliminated. All 6 went to BN who sold them to Amtrak in 1972 or 1973 without having ever used them. Most went east and were used in New England, but a few came back to the midwest to work out of Chicago. By the end of the seventies they were sold to British Colombia.
The NP Budd cars were all stainless steel silver with black NP lettering and a herald on the front door. IF BN had used them, I’m sure it would have just put a BN herald on the front and changed the lettering to Burlington Northern. A few railroads did paint their RDC’s but most just left them silver.
IIRC Amtrak added the red white and blue striping along the windows with the “pointless arrow”, like they did their passenger cars. That’s how and RDC would have looked in your late seventies era more than likely.
If you can possibly fit them in, the Proto RDC’s are much better than the Athearn ones, including having an interior.
The 1972 BN Motive Power Annual shows ALL RDCs as being sold to Amtrak on 08/01/72. It does not show a BN assigned number to any of the RDCs. it is highly unlikely that any of them, even the lone RDC that was operated, would have received any paint or re-lettering post merger.
I did a Yahoo search for “Amtrak RDC” under “Images” and came up with five pages of pics like this:
http://www.3rdrail.com/images/RDC-AMTRAK.JPG
BTW Proto did make an Amtrak RDC, don’t think they still make it but you can find it on ebay, a flea market or the LHS pretty easily I suspect.