LENOX, Mass. — The Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum will celebrate its 40th anniversary with a celebration on July 27 and and a concert on July 28, the museum has announced.
It also is launching a new capital campaign to support its continued operation.
“We’re holding these events to celeb rate the work we’ve done and to hopefully kick off many more decades of educating and entertaining our visitors,” said museum president Tom Delasco.
The July 27 event will be held from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. at the Lenox Station Museum, 10 Willow Creek Road in Lenox. Guests can enjoy hors d’oeuvres and drinks, remarks from special guests beginning at 5 p.m., and tours of the museum grounds. The three remaining cars of the historic Roger Williams trainset, leased from the Budd RDC foundation, will be open to visitors. The museum also cars for six other Budd Rail Diesel Cars; the anniversary celebration will mark the kickoff of The Budd Fund, the campaign to restore these cars to operating condition.
“RDCs were an efficient, innovative way that railroads continued to offer value to passengers even as automobile and airplane travel grew more popular after World War II,” said Delasco. “All three railroads serving the Berkshires in the 1950s used RDCs when they were introduced, and we’re glad that we can continue using these historically accurate cars on our scenic train rides.”
Tickets for the anniversary celebration start at $40 per person; guests also have the option to choose a sponsorship level to contribute a higher amount to the Budd Fund.
The July 28 outdoor concert, featuring the Pellegrino Band, will be held at 3 p.m. at Stockbridge Station, 1 Depot Road, Stockbridge, Mass. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children ages 3-13.
More on the museum is available here.
I cannot attend the events. I do hope to get back there soon to ride the train in this area in which I grew up. I would like to contribute to the RDC restoration but can find nothing on the museum website.
Boston & Maine used RDC’s throughout their system even when service extended deep into New Hampshire on 3 different lines: Boston-White River Junction, Boston-Plymouth, NH, and Boston-North Conway, NH. Most runs were single car RDC’s, all in addition to the MBTA routes in Massachusetts. Don’t know how many of these railcars the B & M owned but it was a total fleet. Great trains. All replaced with push-pull operations, many with converted RDC Budds.
If consistency is your thing, B+M’s North Station in the 1960’s and 1970’s was the very avatar of consistency —- all RDC’s, all appearing identical.
Not like South Station (New Haven Railroad) where the next train out could be anything.
New Haven RDC’s were great! Tom Delasco’s hype of them being efficient and innovative reflects the truth.