ADAMS, Mass. — The Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum will run its first excursions with former New Haven Budd Rail Diesel Car this weekend, as RDC-1 No. 41 runs on Past Peak Fall Train Rides this Saturday, Oct. 28, and Halloween Costume trains on Sunday, Oct. 29. Trains will run on the Adams Branch, departing from Adams at 1 p.m. and 3 p.m. on Saturday. Sunday’s 1 p.m. train is sold out but tickets remain for the 3 p.m. trip. Tickets are available here.
No. 41 is one of five RDCs leased by the museum from the Budd RDC Foundation earlier this year and moved to the museum’s two sites. No. 41 and RDC-2 No. 1960, built for the Baltimore & Ohio, are at the Hoosac Valley Serivce in Adams; a three-unit set of the remaining equipment from the Roger Williams, the all-RDC passenger train built for the New Haven, is at the Lenox Station Museum in Lenox, Mass. [see “Berkshire Scenic to lease surviving ‘Roger Williams’ equipment …,” Trains News Wire, Aug. 19, 2023].
More information on the museum is available at its website.
Rode Budd cars from Buffalo to Toronto on the TH&B which connected to PC at Buffalo. Also rode them and their new cousins (SPVs) on the NH to Hartford line and of course in Boston commuter service on the lines out of North Station.
Am I the only person reading these pages who remembers riding New Haven’s Budd Cars? I loved the smooth ride and the 50’s- modern interiors. Back in the day when I was a kid, the Providence Local used Budd Cars on some schedules, but traditional consists on many Providence trains.
Across town, B+M Corporation was 100% Budd Cars.
No, you’re not the only one. I used to ride them from Beacon to Croton Harmon when I worked at Harmon Shop when it was still Conrail. We had a mix of ex-NYC and ex-NH cars. I was also lucky enough to ride the Crusader-Wall Streeter service from Reading Terminal in Philly to Newark. Amazing cars to ride in.
And B&O 1960 was not built as a stock RDC-2 (Baggage-Passenger). As built, 1960 had a baggage compartment, a kitchen, a 24-seat (6 tables) dining area and 24 coach seats. It was an end car of the Daylight Speedliner between Philadelphia (after April 1958, Baltimore) and Pittsburgh.
Keep alive and rolling against the clock, dear New Haven RDC-1 No. 41!
Dr. Güntürk Üstün