Besides Budd, did any other manufacturer build RDCs?
What book(s) would depict RDCs?
Only Budd made the Rail Diesel Car (in four or five versions).
A book was published detailing all of the RDCs, perhaps ten years ago. I can’t remember the author or title, unfortunately. Should have bought it when it was available.
There are two books on RDCs it is doubtful if these are still in print, but that’s why eBay is out there.
The better of the two is “RDC” By Donald Duke and Edmund Keilty from Golden West, 1990
Also OK is “Budd Car-The RDC Story” by Chuck Crouse From Weekend Chief, 1990
Consider, too books on indivdual owner’s equipment.(Too many to list here.)
RDC was a trademark of Budd if I am not mistaken. The big breakthrough was when Budd figured out how to shotweld stainless steel. This resulted in the Zephyr and RDC’s. Since they are 100% stainless they should last for 100s of years barring accidents. EMD and Brill also made self propelled cars generally called doodlebugs by the modeling fraternity. Bachman makes or made a version of the EMD model. No one has ever made a plastic Brill car to the best of my knowledge. A variety of engines were used including diesel and gasoline power. If you really want to go back the Rio Grande Southern made the galloping geese from fairly exotic motor cars. They held about ten people and one or more was rigid frame attached to a box car. So the bottomm line is there are other self propelled passenegr cars that existed but they weren’t called RDC’s.
Now, if you reword the question to “self-propelled railcars,” you open up the field…
I am not aware of the SRG’s galloping geese, but what I saw in 1963 had all the appearances of a Budd RDC. I asked the question I did because I was not certain of other makers of such equipment.
(I have found photos of the Galloping Geese on the Internet. Definitely what I saw in 1963 was not one of those. I think I would rather walk than ride one of those geese.)
I would prefer to keep the thrust of this thread on Budd RDC’s only. Thanks.
how many versions of Budd RDC’s did Amtrak operate ?
two , broke and working.
No problem. Just wanted to make sure the specific designator wasn’t being used to describe a generic subject. It happens.
Anyone around here ever ride on an RDC? What are they like – is it pretty much like any other Budd passenger car, or are they growling and noisy like a bus inside? Did they have a lot of get up and go? I heard it said that they could use more power – that an RDC had a hard time getting out of its own way. But I also heard they had a sophisticated disk brake system and they had the stopping power of a streetcar.
Did any of the RDCs have really nice seats and interiors, or were the pretty much all plain vinyl bench seats like commuter cars?
My dad rode a Budd car into New Haven from my hometown of Guilford, CT every morning. It was an actual named “train” with one car, called “The Rocket”… known to the regular commuters as “The Rattler.” I don’t know if a bad ride was common for Budd cars, but it sure was common on the New Haven Railroad in 1968, regardless of what you were riding.
The interior of this particular Budd car was standard New Haven commuter seating; just comfortable enough to get you there and not comfortable enough to make you want to stay. The seats were not cloth, as I recall.
The other thing I remember about the Budd Car was that, on a raised platform like my hometown, you could wave to the engineer at practically eye level. He was stuffed into a little compartment on his own at the right front of the car, perfect for a 13 year old to say Hey. In the summertime, this particular engineer always ran his car with the top part of the ‘door’ open… I guess they didn’t have air conditioning for the engineer.
I don’t recall whether this particular car had much in the way of get up and go, but it didn’t need it. Stops were about ten to fifteen minutes apart and didn’t last long. I do know that the car took it’s sweet time coming down the track, unlike the blistering 40 mph speed limit of THE PATRIOT going to New York from Boston.
Speed was not an issue for the NHRR, and they discontinued service on THE ROCKET right before the PC merger. I do know that bus service into New Haven took 45 minutes from my hometown… and that the ROCKET took only 30 minutes. It was convenient in that it made (mostly) a timely connection with the train into New York City (Penn Station); changing was done right across the platform.
Commuter rail is back into my hometown now. Metro North transit runs three trains out to the burbs when last I checked their schedule. Since it has been electrified for Acela, I wonder what they are using now on the line.
This is a query that, to me, is as important as the original one.
I realise how much new arrivals to the hobby missed from an earlier time. Not only regular steam operation is unknown to them but stuff like this. I think some books I have seen have interior pictures, but, sadly, many photographers fail to take interior shots.
And, yes, please can people who rode trains give their impressions of an era that has gone for ever? In this case, tell us what RDC rides were like? - main-line runs, branch lines and commuter runs.
Eric Stuart
I used to have a brochure from Budd that was used to seel the RDC but I can’t find it since I moved. The RDC was revolutionary in many ways: all stainless construction, disk brakes and self propelled. They were not designed to pull trailers. Railroads that did pull other cars soon burned up transmissions and other parts. Because each was self propelled each one had a control stand at each end. I rode the PRSL cars which would leave Philadelphia in groups of six or more. At various points cars would be cut off for different seashore destinations and an engineer would board and continue the journey. Pity the poor passenger who wasn’t paying attention and was in the wrong car. He might wind up in Cape May instead of Ocean City! Acceleration was excellent and faster than locomotive pulled trains. I suspect that was do to “all wheel drive”. They used GM transmissions with a drive shaft from the diesel. Not as smooth riding as I would have prefered but adequate for short trips like the 100 miles or less from Phiily to the shore. I never detected a diesel smell as I recall and the air conditioning was first rate. The PRSL cars were beige on the walls and ceiling and had light green tile on the floors. The seats were something like naugahyde and were brown. Railfans used to stand in the front door and watch the motorman through the window to the right in the privacy door that sealed his compartment. Later I used to ride a Reading RDC from Fox Chase to Reading Terminal before electrification. The only problem as I recall was at Olney station where the track is superelevated. When the train would stop it was difficult to stay in the seat if you were on the uphill side. The train would vibrate as it started and tried to find the center of the curve instead of riding the inside flange around it. Other then lack of patronage I don’t think the railroads ever were disappointed in them.
One minor point concerning RDC builders, many (most?) Canadian RDCs were built by Canadian Car & Foundry under a license from Budd. There were five different models of RDCs as built, but within these designs, the railroads did specify minor seating differences
RDC-1 was all passenger with control cabs.
RDC-2 Had a small baggage compartment and slightly fewer seats
RDC-3 Had a small bagage section, small mail compartment, and 40 -50 seats
RDC-4 Had a larger mail section and larger baggage section and carried no passengers.
RDC-9 was all passenger with no control cabs hence a few more seats than an RDC-1, had to operate with a control cab equipped RDC.
Many RDC owners later modified these designs.
I rode the PRSL Budd cars up Ocean City one day back in 1976 and watched them go by on other days. They would really fly between Tuckahoe and Winslow. My best seat of the pants guestimate would have been the low 80s (on track were they were allowed 70!). I believe the theoretical balance speed for a 3 car set of Budd cars was in the mid 80s. Each car had a pair of messy Detroit 6-71s, each driving a single axle through a torque converter - no transmission - four position throttle - nothing fancy! The Cape May car on the train I rode in had one of it’s engine compartments start on fire just out of Tuckahoe. We stopped so the conductor could put out the fire and then away we went! I gather it wasn’t an unusual happening. I hung out a the “railfan” window most of the trip, but was warned by the conductor to watch out for the engineer should he decide to bail out for the car’s interior in the case of an impending road Xing crash…
Cape May Seashore Lines has collected most of the remaining PRSL fleet and has polished up a few for excursion service.
The Cape May Seashore Lines runs two car trains pulled by a Geep. The train may still run down to Tuckahoe but only goes as far as Richland on Route 40, not to Winslow, even though the track is still in place and used occasionally, as evidenced by the diesel horn I have heard on occasion late at night.
Thanks Beauleau
I was unaware there was an RDC-4 and RDC-9 Our family used to take the ferry from Saint John, NB to Digby NS and the Budd care would be waiting at the dock to take us to Halifax. Our son who was 7 at the time was invited y the engineer to sit in the cab with with for a long portion of the trip. We also used to the the ferry from Vancouver to Nanaimo and the budd car down the Malahat to Victoria. It’s interesting to note the extensive list of countries around the world that operated Budds.
I had the pleasure of riding CP/VIA RDCs on the Toronto-Buffalo run via Welland on the TH&B, which was a delightful experience, and numerous rides on the CN Niagara Falls ON-Toronto, and back, which were anything but that at one extreme, to a close-as -you-can get cab ride on both of the routes mentioned. Riding B&M RDCs into Boston in the early-mid’70’s was, well[sigh] not that great.They were called roach coaches with reason.[:P] The same could be said of NHs RDCs on the Springfield-Hartford-New Haven run. The windows that were not broken were almost opaque, having turned brown-greenish mold being blamed, along with UVB rays! All RDCs I rode in vibrated like crazy and sounded like a GMC bus from the 1946-75 era. There is a reason for this. Same engine. A Detroit 6-71. They were exceptionally rugged and reliable, a real asset to the bankrupt B&M and NH!
Actually RDCs (as built) used a 6-110 Detroit Diesel, also 2-stroke, so it sounded similar to a 53-series or 71-series Jimmy. 110s were only built as 6-cylinders. This up-to-350-hp engine was manufactured from 1945 to 1965, according to several sources. Cummins powerplants were a fairly common repowering choice for RDCs.
A very good discussion of the 6-110 is at this link:
http://www.modelrailroadnews.com/pages/letAprl02.html
And another interesting discussion at http://www.vannattabros.com/dozer.html (click on AC HD-20)
S. Hadid