Hi there, I wonder if anyone can help me with some information regarding HO scale Budd RDC units.
I model Cuban railways - with most of the stock being made up of American kit bashed or scratch built models, and one of the items I am intending to add to my fleet is a rake of Budd Railcars.
In Cuba the majority fo the Budd Railcars have been converted in loco hauled rolling stock, so I intend to build a similar rake.
I already have a Proto RDC which I have converted into a straight Cuban RDC, but I don’t really want to de-motor these units and make them into loco hauled stock seeing as it would be very expensive and a bit of a waste of a very good model. So I am looking at getting a few of the Athearn Models seeing as I understand you can purchase these unpowered - can someone please confirm this?
Also can someone give me some information as to how much better the Proto RDC’s are compared to the Athearn versions? Is there much of a difference in length and detail?
Hope someone can help!
With Kind Regards,
Stephen.
The P2K nodel are better detail and mor accurately scaled. If it is inconvenient to demotor the RDC’s, is the locomotive you want to “haul” available as a dummy, allowing you to pu***he horse with the cart?
Stephen - I have both - Athearn and LifeLike Proto 1000 RDC’s.
The Athearns are now sitting in a display case in my trainroom - only because the roads have been “retired” for my layout purposes (NH and B&M).
In my opinion, the LifeLike Proto 1000’s are much more representative of what RDC’s looked like and they are truly 85 ft to scale, whereas the Athearns are shorter (supposedly 11ft6in - 40mm - see http://espee.railfan.net/sprdc1.html ) and if one looks closely, not quite right when it comes to the overhead cooling and radiator placement.
By the way, there’s a great book available for those who appreciate RDC’s: RDC - “The Budd Rail Diesel Car,” by Donald Duke and Edmund Keilty. Published by Golden West Books; ISBN 0-87095-103-3. Even has a short chapter on RDC’s Around the World, including Cuba (with some great photos).
My advice regarding availability of those dummies you are looking for is to do an advanced search on any of the leading search engines - you’ll find all kinds of outlets who still stock what you are looking for.
My layout features VIA Rail and BC Rail RDC’s and I just can’t speak more highly of the LifeLike RDC’s …
See ya![tup]
Stephen,
If you are planning to depower an RDC, I would suggest that you check for one at a weekend train show. Some of the older ones are rubber band driven. A simple solution would be to just snip it.
I have a few of them; one of which was a promotional model, that was given out by “The Budd Company.”
Oh, you can talk them down in price at the shows. I have never paid more than $17.50 for one, and a rubber band can be easely replaced. I also have the three different types, so be aware of which prototype you want to copy. If it’s Cuba it’ll probably be an RDC 1.
Good hunting, that’s half the fun,
Bill
Stephen,
The Athearn RDC is not exactly accurate in that it is shorter than a true scale RDC and the radiator (or whatever the thing is called on the roof) is centered, vice off-centered.
You might want to try Trainworld (advertises in MRR and RMC). Last time I saw they were adverstising LL RDC2 and 3’s at a very very good price.