The RDC: Budd's Iconic Diesel Railcar

8:20 Ah yes, the “Seldomly Powered Vehicle”

We've put men on the moon, we've put machines on Mars, but we can't build a replacement for the Budd RDC.

The RDCs. A novelty at the time even today, but a pain in the ass as they age. You either loved them or threw hammers at em Still great cars and it's impressive how many are still out there.

As we know: 1. Budd don't break (the exception proves the rule) 2. Budd don't break 3. BUDD DON'T F%CKING BREAK!

Guys RDC for metrolink

RDCs are iconic. They could be found across the globe. There are many Budd RDCs preserved across the globe. The RDCs definitely will live on for a while.

the RDC is something that is a hidden gem.

In Canada the two, three and four Budd car passenger trains in the 50s, 60s and 70s were King. They made smaller communities accessible when the railway system was more extensive up until the early 80s. Now in 2024 with the pending eventuality of personal motor vehicle limited ownership and the sinister advent of everything Chinese battery powered. The Budd car may have new life.

Surprised you didn't mention the E&N Dayliner! Originally started as a CP service in the 50s when the Budd's were popular, it lasted all the way till 2011 when they shuttered most of the line due to poor/unsafe track condition, consist was 1 - 2 RDC's for the entire 60+ years non-stop!

There's two Cape-gauge RDC derivatives that were exported to Taiwan as well: the DR2700 and DR2800 series. The bodies were built under license by Tokyu Car, but used licensed Budd's process to build them, and the builder's plates have Budd's name on them. The DR2700 was a married pair that later had an unpowered trailer inserted into the middle, and still remains Taiwan's fastest diesel-powered train despite entering service in 1996. They lasted all the way until 2014 on diesel commuter services. The DR2800s came in 3-car trainsets (all of them powered), were Taiwan's first air conditioned diesel trains, introduced air suspension to the nation's railways, and are the true end of the line for Budd's self-propelled railcars: Tokyu outshopped the last of them in 1984, 3 years after the last SPV-2000 and 20 years after the last Budd-built RDC. They also had a ton of staying power, only being retired last year, and actually outlasting the follow-up DR2900/3000 series.

The "Budd Car" train out of Sudbury, ON is still very popular with hunters and outdoorsmen, as it is the only way to get to many hunt camps in the northern Ontario wilderness. I have never been around it as it operates on CP's line out of Sudbury, and the other hunt camps along the CN Ruel and Caramat subs are served by VIA's No.1 and 2 trains from Toronto to Winnipeg once a week.

The BUDD RDC is quite impressive in service even to this day. I did got to see a few of them preserved. Such as NSSR No. 9169 at the North Shore Scenic Railroad in Duluth, Minnesota, Lehigh Valley Railroad No. 40 displayed at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, Pennsylvania, Baltimore & Ohio No. 1961 displayed at the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum in Baltimore, Maryland, and Chicago & Northwestern 9933 (A.K.A MBTA #10) displayed at the Illinois Railway Museum in Union, Illinois.

VIA Rail tried to reintroduce RDCs to corridor service some years ago, but ultimately the tests didn't come out to much. CN crossings have a speed restriction of 30mph and 60mph for single and double car trains respectively because they weren't picking the trains up. That made it somewhat impractical for VIA as they didn't have many RDCs, and the line speed in the area they looked at was 80-100mph. They're still in use in Northern Ontario from Sudbury to White River, where the track speed is lower and there are practically no roads to cross because no one lives there lmao

Modern DMUs serve the San Diego Sprinter service, and the Sonoma-Marin County area is served by S.M.A.R.T (Sonoma-Marin Area Rail Transit), which uses Japanese-designed DMUs assembled in Illinois. These grandchildren of the Budd RDCs carry on the tradition of inexpensive passenger service that can afford lower passenger loads.

The Budds on the PRSL did a lot in their later years

The Chicago and Northwestern bought 3 of them in anticipation of utilizing many of them in commuter service in Chicago. They ultimately didn't pass the tests due to capacity issues (among others). Instead, they further developed bi-level gallery coaches to have a cab car, enabling push-pull service.

Brazilian state-owned railway RFFSA has a lot of 1600 mm-gauge RDC railcars, nicknamed "Littorinas". These cars operated only in Rio - São Paulo premium service. Also, RFFSA had many metre-gauge RDC railcars - their bodies were based of SEPTA Silverliner III. Two of these RDC are operating in a tourist line near Curitiba.

France's SNCF has a fleet of DMU's that run on many of their lesser-used lines in the Massif Central region. They're certainly more modern than the RDC's, but they're definitely not making money for SNCF.

Fun fact! CN 1501 is an RDC, it was also featured in AmtrakGuy365's video on Budd RDC's! ~ Branchline passenger trains were a troubling money burner for American railroads. Given their federal "common carrier" designation, most railroads were expected to provide some kind of passenger service, no matter how minimal. This came to a head after World War II when Americans were eagerly hitting the road once again. Passenger and commuter trains were facing drastic losses, especially on the branchlines. However, experienced passenger car builder, the Budd Company, had a potential answer to the passenger train woes in the form of the Rail Diesel Car, or RDC. Music: Kirby and The Forgotten Land - Waddle Dee's Weapons Shop Super Paper Mario - Mr. L Green Thunder Super Mario Galaxy 2 - Spin Dig Galaxy Super Mario RPG - Welcome to Booster Tower Super Mario RPG - Rose Town Yakuza 5 - VENDOR POP Yakuza: Like a Dragon - The Only Way Out Super Mario RPG - Lets Go Down the Wine River OMORI - Push & Shove Super Paper Mario - Fort Francis OMORI - The Last Resort Super Mario RPG - Lets Play "Geno" Super Mario Odyssey - New Donk City Cafe Links: Twitter: https://twitter.com/AmtrakGuy365 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amtrakguy365/ Flickr: https://www.flickr.com/people/1424538... RedBubble Shop: https://www.redbubble.com/people/Amtr... My Site: http://amtrakguy365.weebly.com/ Transcript Follow along using the transcript. Show transcript AmtrakGuy365 95.5K subscribers Videos About Twitter Instagram 83 Comment

Seminole golf has a few that they used on their scenic excursion trains when they ran those. I have always liked the RDC cars.