LENOX, Mass. — The three remaining cars of the Roger Williams, the all-RDC passenger train built for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad in 1957, are among five Budd Rail Diesel Cars the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum is leasing from the Budd RDC Foundation.
Also included in the agreement announced Friday is an RDC-1 built for the New Haven as No. 41 in 1953, sister to car No. 42 in the Berkshire Scenic collection; and RDC-2 No. 1960, built for the Baltimore & Ohio in 1956 and operated as part of the Daylight Speedliner between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. That car is unique for its modification to include a galley and six tables. It is one of two cars built for that service; the other is at the B&O Railroad Museum in Baltimore.
“This is a significant addition to the museum’s collection,” said Berkshire Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum President Tom Delasco, “and we thank Mr. [Jim] Gagliardi and the Budd RDC Foundation for having the confidence in our abilities to continue the preservation, restoration and operation of these unique pieces.”
Gagliardi, president of the RDC Foundation, said, “After several years of discussions with the folks at Berkshire Scenic, and observing their successes at restoring and operating their own RDC, I felt that the time was finally right to grant them stewardship of the fleet.”
The equipment had previously been stored at the Hobo Railroad in New Hampshire. It will be split between the two Berkshire Scenic operations, with RDCs Nos. 41 and 1960 to be operated on the Hoosac Valley Service based in Adams, Mass., and the Roger Williams equipment to be displayed at the Lenox Station Museum in Lenox, Mass. More information on the two locations is available at the Berkshire Scenic website.
The Roger Williams was a six-car train of RDC equipment that saw the two end cars equipped with locomotive-style noses and full operating controls, while the four intermediate cars did not have cabs or controls. Initially operated between Boston and New York, it was also equipped for third-rail operation into Grand Central Terminal.
Introduced in 1956, New Haven’s “Roger Williams” was a diesel train set intended to be used on longer routes. Dropped from its New York – Boston assignment, the set continued to serve shorter commuter routes under Penn Central and Amtrak.
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Why the name ‘Roger Williams”? Thanks.
Founder of Rhode Island.
It’s also the name of a very good college in Bristol County, Rhode Island, which was annexed from Bristol County, Massachusetts. (It’s the only place in USA where you can cross a state line and be in a county of the same name.)
I vaguely recall in the early 50s, my mom taking me on a shopping trip to Hackensack, NJ where I saw one of the NYS&W RDCs in revenue service crossing “Main?” St.
JEFFREY —– My memory of RDC’s is, fortunately, not at all vague. My memory is very strong. I rode them on New Haven’s Providence Local if I was lucky. (Or if less lucky, some broken-down old coach.)
I also rode Boston and Maine Corporation’s RDC’s a couple of times, most recently 1975. B&M’s had drab interiors compared to New Haven’s. In both cases the ride was smooth and pleasant.
If any of you have a copy of Scott Hartley’s awesome book on the New Haven’s later years, there’s a great photo of a New Haven RDC at Atlantic Station (Massachusetts) on the Old Colony Division. The site has been obliterated and rebuilt as the location of the the Red Line’s North Quincy Station. MBTA Old Colony commuter trains pass North Quincy without stopping. Commuter rail through Quincy – Braintree is single-track with a Euro-length passing siding at North Quincy, as there’s no freight, only the commuter trains.
Hello Charles, your memory of RDCs and other commuter coaches is very interesting, thank you. My only memories of commuter coaches was the old Erie (E-L Rwy) Stillwell coaches where one could observe the cross-ties going by looking down the coaches’ restroom toilets. But a time or two, I rode the Santa Fe Pullman coaches that were acquired surplus and downgraded by E/L Rwy NJT for commuter service, being pulled by a pair of Erie back-to-back EMD E8s, between Hoboken, NJ and Woodbine Yard at Spring Valley, NY. Otherwise, all else were still those old Stillwells being pulled by ALCO RS3s until such time as the new (at that time, ca 1974?) push-pulls were put into service, still with E-L diamond logos, but heavily subsidized by NJ Transit, until NJT finally (???) took over completely. And I recall those RS-3 commuter diesels were M.U.ed in strings of 6-7 for weekend freight service on the E-L mainline to (and perhaps through?) Port Jervis, NY.
And I vividly recall the E/L’s first push-pull derailment on the old DLW (realigned to Erie mainline near Paterson,NJ, derailed at Clifton, NJ, where as a telecom maintainer, I was able to quickly set up PBX dialphone service on the open wire pole line to the Hoboken PBX exchange, for the trainmaster’s temporary derailment site phone service convenience. No cellphones or even DTMF touchtones back then on the E-L, lol, all rotary dial. And the trainmaster (MTO) complimented me for that. 🙂
“…RDC-2 No. 1960, built for the Baltimore & Ohio in 1946 and operated as part of the Daylight Speedliner between Philadelphia and Pittsburg.”
The first RDC was built in 1949. Since the Daylight Speedliner entered service in October 1956, I suspect that the build year was 1956.
Also, “Pittsburgh”.
You are correct: Wayner shows B&O RDC-2’s 1960 and 1961 were built in October, 1956 along with RDC-1’s 1908-1911 for trains 21-22 Daylight Speedliner between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh with direct P&LE-Erie connections to Cleveland at the P&LE Station in Pittsburgh.
Later B&O withdrew from Philadelphia passenger service and 21-22 ran between Baltimore and Pittsburgh.
Still later B&O moved 21-22 across the Monongahela River to the B&O Station where they could make a commuter run to McKeesport. It was a short trolley ride from one station to the other.
Finally they withdrew trains 21-22 in favor of conventional trains 8 and 9 which were also running in daylight and carried a good bit of mail and express, which helped to pay the bills.
Does anyone know what happened to BCRails Budd RDC’s I rode them twice between N. Vancouver and Prince George.
If you wish, you can check the link given below:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budd_Rail_Diesel_Car#Canada
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I think they all ended up at the Railway Museum of British Columbia in Squamish, BC. I saw three there a couple weeks ago, and one was running for passengers.
The sleek Roger Williams streamliner has always reminded me of the German-made DMUs of the 50s.
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If possible, the stunning Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum deserves a visit.
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