This is a picture I took of the Roger Williams set in Amtrak Phase II paint, circa 1979.
Where was this pictured taken?
New Haven, CT… Union Station.
Interesting, if ugly.
I saw one of the center Roger Williams cars in a set of RDCs at Washington Union Station in 1978.This was the most successful of the lightweight trains built in the mid 50s.One Roger Williams cab car is in a museum in the Northeast,IIRC in Connecticut.
Funny how the Roger Williams trainset managed to outlive the other experimental passenger trainsets owned by the New Haven.
The two cars in this picture are now at the railroad museum in Danbury CT. They are back in New Haven colors.
All I can say is Im glad the original RDC’c didnt have a cab like that ! Whooo,Thats oooogly
Danny
I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. I like the cabs.
People can do very interesting things with Adobie Photo or Corel Draw.
Yes they can…but in this case they are (or at least were) VERY REAL and did actually look just like the picture…I know because I lived in the area back then and saw them myself.
What are you implying? Might want to do some research before you post. These are real.
Today they are at the Danbury Museum.
OK! OK! but it sure looks like a cut and paste.
LOL - If I could match grain and perspective that well… I’d be making a fortune as a graphic artist.
If I did not trust the honesty of the several people who verify the photo. I sure would have doubts.
Look at the roof just ahead of the door. Look at the line behind the nose and the rest of the body. Total mismatch But!
I attempted to see the other photos. I am on a very slow dial up and could not wait for the entire photo gallery to down load.
It would make an interesting KIT BASH. Like me nobody would believe it unless they seen the real thing. Which I still may have to do. But then Nobody would see it on my layout. It would be hidden in the box.
What’s funny to me is that it’s a real picture, unaltered, and yet you see “obvious” signs of alteration. Weird. I guess when I look at it from that perspective, I can see your point
What’s also odd of course is the fact that I’ve known about these units since 1970 (nine years before I took this picture), from reading about them in TRAINS and many different books. To realize someone is not familiar with them is surprising. When you’re aware of something for 37 years, you don’t realize it may be new to others.
Good Morning All
Over the years I’ve seen plenty of RDC’s. I’ve never seen anything like these ‘Roger Williams’ cabs here in Canada. What was the design rationale for this type of cab in the first place?? I always thought one of the primary advantages of RDC’s, among others, was their flexibility, light weight and ability to be MU’d so easily (and bi-directionally) as most if not all RDC’s as I understand it, had their own control cab(s). I also understood that individual cars could be cut away as necessary from longer passenger trains (in transit) to service lightly travelled passenger branches or were they run more in dedicated sets? By the look of the pictures the RW cabs appear to be a later ‘shop add on’ as evidenced by the colour of the roof sheathing. I certainly could stand corrected on this last observation. Did Budd and others actually design and build RDC’s with this cab feature? I’ll also reserve any aesthetic comments I might have about their appearance. Looking forward to any information from the older and wiser heads out there on this subject.
Charlie
Chilliwack, BC
They were built as you see them by Budd Company in Philadelphia (just like any other RDC).
They came from the period when lightweight train sets were all the rage (EMD Aerotrain, Baldwin Train X, Fairbanks Morse and Talgo). The New Haven was big on the idea of using snazzy new lightweight trains to freshen up the Boston to New York market. Besides buying the FM/Talgo train, they bought this set from Budd, which at the time of construction in 1956 included four other RDCs without the snout cab. This was a custom-built order and was called the Roger Williams. The cab units had third-rail shoes, electric traction motors, and could run into Grand Central Terminal as electrics. The train didn’t last long in Roger Williams service though and was broken up, and used as regular RDCs. Penn Central and Amtrak continued to use them this way… The two cab units and one intermediate car are now at the Danbury Railway Museum.
I have no doubt they are real - but the added cab has a very ‘homebuilt’ look to it.