Reading Company T&HS http://www.readingrailroad.org/ owns RDG RDC-1's 9152 and 9162, bought by Philadelphia in 1962 for R.Co. service to Fox Chase. 9152 is the last RDC built. 9151 and 9152 were delivered last as they received excitation gear for single-car service.

Reading and Northern http://www.readingnorthern.com/ owns RDG RDC-3 9166 (originally B&M 6105) and PennDOT RDC-1M 9168(originally NYC M499 as an RDC-3)

The Electric City Trolley Museum Association

9169 would be a car bought by PennDOT for RDG
service, not a Reading Company-owned car. SEPTA inherited the service after Conrail came in.


The Electric City Trolley Museum Association

About two years ago I heard the staff of the Crawford Museum at the Western Reserve Historical Society of Cleveland describe the proposed re-creation of the New York Central jet-powered RDC car experiment of 1967. This was to be the centerpiece of the new museum grounds on the Cleveland lakefront. (The museum interior would include an E-8 painted for NYC.)

I think I recall Steve telling me this group had procured a derelict RDC (don't know if it's the right model, nor where they'll get the requisite B-47 twin-engine nacelle), but I have no news since. Does anyone know if this scheme is still under way?

The new Crawford Museum is a radical museum concept, and intends to feature not one exhibit label. All written interpretation of exhbits will be in period documents and artifacts, but primary interpretation is intended to be by tour guides or actors. One actor would portray the NYC's engineman on the jet RDC, who was a Korean-war jet fighter pilot, and who ran the car in a jet flier's crash helmet.

Aarne Frobom
The Steam Railroading Institute
P. O. Box 665
Owosso, MI 48867


froboma@mdot.state.mi.us

"Crawford Museum at the Western Reserve
Historical Society of Cleveland"

I always thought is was sad that this oufit was not the least interested in Clevelands Traction History.
OH WELL, have to become a member of the "Jet Set"


lamontdc@adelphia.net

The Corydon Scenic Railroad operates on the Louisville, New Albany and Corydon Railroad in southern Indiana. CSR presently rosters six RDCs consisting of:

RDC-1s:
- #9801. Nee NH #48, ex-PC/Conrail/Amtrak/MARC. Operational condition.
- #9802. Nee NH #21, ex-PC/Conrail/Amtrak/MARC.
Operational Condition.
- #560. Nee NYS&W #M-3, ex-CRRNJ/NJT. Mechanically restored, awaiting interior and a/c work to be fully operational.
- #6146. Nee B&M #6146, ex-MBTA. Stored unserviceable without engines or spicer gear boxes

RDC-9s:
- #6003. Nee B&M, ex-CN/VIA. Operational condition (possibly only fully operational RDC-9 at this time).
- #6004. Nee B&M, ex-B&M/VIA. Stored unserviceable/used as parts source.

Additional information on the Corydon Scenic Railroad is available on the web site of the LNA&C Railroad (link provided below). All CSR train service is provided by the aforementioned RDCs, several of which have been in service on CSR for the past five seasons. Operating performance of these cars has been outstanding and is a proud testimony as to the original design of the equipment, as well as the maintenance received when in service at MARC.

Chuck Owen

Louisville, New Albany and Corydon Railroad
lnacrr@aol.com

> I clearly recall seeing several RDC's
> outside the Duluth depot around 1991 still
> lettered Boston & Maine, and I've seen
> them since then being used as unpowered
> coaches. The 9169, which still runs under
> its own power, was already re-lettered North
> Shore Scenic Railroad when I first saw it.
> According to the NSSR web site, this car was
> one of the first 10 RDC's built in 1950, and
> is the oldest in operation. Unfortunately
> that's about all the historical information
> they give about this particular car.

Though the info about the particular car isn't there the history about the lakefront line explains a little. It says that in 1953 steam passenger service was replaced by a Budd car until 1961 when passenger service altogether ended. So maybe the car is actually a DM&IR RDC. Maybe just a whim but oh well. The link tells the history of the line.

Chris


http://www.lsrm.org/index_3.htm
ablemanscurve@hotmail.com

> AOS has M-160. CSRM has M-190

I stand corrected on the unit number.

> I last saw the ex-Katy RDC in a deadline of
> VIA RDC's at the Ottawa, Ont. depot in 1993.
> Which Canadian shortline has it and what's
> being done with it?

Took me awhile to find it, but Industrial Rail Services of Moncton, New Brunswick has it now, and is refurbishing it for an excursion line somewhere in NE Canada.

hi-plains@juno.com

Back in 1992 NYS&W RDC M-1 was restored to service and ran a number of excursions for the next several years.

Erie Lackawanna Dining Car Preservation Society
tstuy@eldcps.org

I'd like to take some RDC's and put the latest design in a gas turbine engine on top of them. Say something with 50,000 lbs of thrust or better. Then we could have some real high speed rail (if we could keep it on the rails). Does anyone remember what speed that NYC experimental model got up to? I have a video somewhere that has some footage of it. Quite impressive.

TVRM Shop Updates
aw90h@cs.com

Does anyone remember what speed
> that NYC experimental model got up to? I
> have a video somewhere that has some footage
> of it. Quite impressive.

Memory says the figure is 183.5 mph--still the North American rail speed record.


lner4472@bcpl.net

> Memory says the figure is 183.5 mph

I vividly remember riding from Melrose to Boston back when they were still self-propelled. The track was pretty good and yet once these things got going they rocked side to side like an ocean liner. Over 60mph would have been a thrill ride!
I know very little about these, did they all have the rocking ? And what caused it?



GMill@earthlink.net

> I vividly remember riding from Melrose to
> Boston back when they were still
> self-propelled. The track was pretty good
> and yet once these things got going they
> rocked side to side like an ocean liner.
> Over 60mph would have been a thrill ride!
> I know very little about these, did they all
> have the rocking ? And what caused it?

I can testify the opposite--those things handled pretty well on horrible track!

I rode a P-RSL RDC from Cape May to Tuckahoe back in 1980, during the last months of seashore service. We hit 86 mph on ramrod-straight track, but when I walked some of the line the next day, I found stretches I would have been VERY uncomfortable taking a handcar over!

A year or so later, FRA inspectors went over the line from Atlantic City to Lindenwold (the transfer point to the high-speed transit line into Philly), and immediately condemned the entire line to 15-mph operation, which gave NJ Transit a handy excuse to end the service. Meanwhile, the cars had been operating officially at 79 mph (and had been rumored to exceed 90 on occasion).


lner4472@bcpl.net

Cape May thru Tuckahoe to Winslow Jct. was manual block but they did move right along. 84-86 MPH was about what a PRSL RDC could do in the fourth (of four) notch. They didn't have to go that fast if they were on time, but if the train was delayed..... Few of those crossings had as much as a flasher.

The Electric City Trolley Museum Association