"Flight of the Black Beetle" (a/k/a NYC jet RDC test)

survivingworldsteam · **Posted:** Tue Apr 19, 2011 3:43 pm

Richard Glueck wrote:

Does that "Darth Vader" Budd car still exist?

If you read the above manuscript; you will find out that it was used as a parts source at a later date and eventually scrapped.

daylight4449 · **Posted:** Wed Apr 20, 2011 10:51 am

Richard Glueck wrote:

Does that "Darth Vader" Budd car still exist?

I don't know. My guess is no. I think that Otto Vondrak might know, seeing he wrote the book (literally) on the M-497.

Alexander D. Mitchell IV · **Posted:** Wed Apr 20, 2011 5:02 pm

Since someone else has trouble reading, here's the entry from the roster in "Budd Car: The RDC Story" by Chuck Crouse:

c/n 5705 RDC-3 1/53 NYC M-497 To PC in merger 1968; re# 97; re# 98 1969. Sold to Conrail 5-76; same #. Cannibalized, retired 12-77; awaiting scrapping 2-1982.

Richard Glueck · **Posted:** Wed Apr 20, 2011 5:11 pm

Thank you for the short roster information regarding its fate. The manuscript referred to would not upload for me to read.

daylight4449 · **Posted:** Thu Apr 21, 2011 10:58 am

Alexander D. Mitchell IV wrote:

Since someone else has trouble reading, here's the entry from the roster in "Budd Car: The RDC Story" by Chuck Crouse:

c/n 5705 RDC-3 1/53 NYC M-497 To PC in merger 1968; re# 97; re# 98 1969. Sold to Conrail 5-76; same #. Cannibalized, retired 12-77; awaiting scrapping 2-1982.

Hmmm, it looks like there is some sort of inconsistency here. Otto told me that the black beetle was scrapped by Conrail in 1978.

J3a-614 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 12, 2012 1:46 am

Was fiddling around on YouTube, and it turns out more footage of the jet RDC has turned up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=en ... pB-PGnF-B0

Enjoy.

dinwitty · **Joined:** Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:18 pm **Posts:** 2226

I saw that car in person. I recall seing a film about the TGV in France earlier than that test doing regular runs 150mph+, all electric, its possible, doable, and of course recall the Milwaukee road Hiawatha train running speeds 120mph and the engineer pinning the meter at times.
Its nothing new, I think politics slowed it all down, aside from technical and population growth realities, former high speed trackage in lonely farm areas suburbanized now requiring grade separations etc etc, you get the pic.

I was going to make an HO model, using a model jet engine on an athearn RDC, never really finished, but some model maker did make it.