Tag Archives: #Budd

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

Spring Classic Trains—Silver Issue

The Spring 2025 Issue of Classic Trains is the magazine’s 25th Anniversary. To mark this publishing milepost, Editor Brian M. Schmidt created a Silver theme and asked me to write two features.

My article, ‘Philadelphia’s Ground Breaking Budd Silverliners’ starts on page 30, and features several of my father’s vintage Kodachrome images. On page 68, ‘Classics Today’, offers my personal story ‘Saving Silver Splendor’ that describes a cross-country journey with a former Burlington Budd-built Vista Dome on its way to becoming Conway Scenic Railroad’s Rhonda Lee, an event that ultimately led to my marketing position with the railroad.

Silver Splendor at Galesburg, Illinois on Amtrak train No.4 Southwest Chief in November 2018. This classic Budd dome was on its way east to the Conway Scenic Railroad where it would be renamed Rhonda Lee. I exposed this photo during a station stop using my first FujiFilm XT1. This is one of several photos of the car that appears in Spring 2025 Classic Trains.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

Announcements, photography, Rail transit marathon, Tips and Technique

I Shouldn’t Have Been at South Station

In April 1984, the Monson Jr-Sr High School Band had a musical exchange with a school band in Cohasset, Massachusetts.

The day of the joint concert, the 3rd Trombone took a bus to South Braintree, changed for the Red Line, paid a visit to South Station, photographed some former New Haven Railroad RDC’s, took a spin on the Orange Line to Sullivan Square, and eventually arrived back at the concert to play his note.

Unforntunately, karma caught the 3rd trombone, who did a subpar job of processing the Kodak Tri-X exposed on the big adventure.

These days, catching four vintage RDC’s in commuter service would be a major coup.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

photography

Monochrome Millie—Four Photos

Leave a comment

Conway Scenic Railroad’s Budd Company RDC-1 is named ‘Millie’.

A month ago, I organized a training exercise and publicity trip with this single-unit self propelled car.

In addition to digital photos and video, I exposed a few black & white photos of the car in the yard at North Conway.

For these images I used Fomapan 100 Classic loaded in a Nikon F3 with f1.8 50mm lens.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

photography, Tips and Technique

SPV2000 at Windsor Locks May 1985.

1 Comment

I made this photograph at Windsor Locks, Connecticut showing a southward Amtrak SPV2000 making its station stop.

The Budd SPV2000s only worked this Amtrak ‘branch’ for about six years and during that time they were rarely photographed.

Lets just say, I’ve seen more of my own photographs of these cars on the Springfield-New Haven run than all other published views of the cars. (And I only have a few photos).

It’s too bad. I thought the cars looked pretty cool. And they were fun to ride on. Plus, you never knew when one might show up hauled by an Alco RS-3 or some other locomotive!

Tracking the Light Posts Daily!

photography

Roger Williams in the Snow.

Leave a comment

In the 1950s, New Haven Railroad worked with the Budd Company to develop a semi-streamlined self-propelled passenger train adapted from the successful Budd Rail Diesel Car—RDC for service as the Roger Williams.

The ends of the train featured a distinctive nose-section.

I recall these end cars working Amtrak’s Springfield, Mass., to New Haven, Connecticut shuttles in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

A couple of weeks ago on a business trip to Lincoln, New Hampshire, I saw that the Hobo Railroad has this portion of the old ‘Roger Williams’ RDC on display. I took a couple of minute to make a few photos. Someday I’d like to return for a more thorough documentation.

Exposed using my FujiFilm XT1 with 18-135mm lens.

Fresh snow made for a monochromatic setting with the bold New Haven logo.

Tracking the Light Posts Daily