Tag Archives: Budd Rail Diesel Car

Old Budd Cars Don’t Rust

 Bellows Falls, Vermont.

It was the morning of August 28, 2010. My father and I had arrived at Bellows Falls, on our way to St. Albans. It was quiet and nothing was moving on any of the three freight railroads that serve the town.

East of the passenger station there were a few old Budd RDCs stored on former Rutland Railroad sidings. I took a few minutes to made some photos with my Lumix LX3. My father has some nice Kodachrome slides of Boston & Maine and New York Central cars working in the 1960s. I remember riding them out of Boston in the 1970s.

Exposed digitally with a Lumix LX3.
Exposed digitally with a Lumix LX3.
Vestiges of another era at Bellows Falls, Vermont. Exposed digitally with a Lumix LX3.
Vestiges of another era at Bellows Falls, Vermont. Exposed digitally with a Lumix LX3.
New York Central was first to install Budd Rail Diesel Cars in revenue service. They were known as 'Bee Liners.' Exposed digitally with a Lumix LX3.
New York Central was first to install Budd Rail Diesel Cars in revenue service. They were known as ‘Bee Liners.’ Exposed digitally with a Lumix LX3.

One of the benefits of Budd’s Shotwelded stainless steel construction is that the cars won’t rust. Yet, the overgrowth makes for some interesting studies in decay. The cars still reflected the light nicely.

More than 30 years earlier we’d explored these same sidings. Back then there were decayed vestiges of wooden sided boxcars around the place, and considerably few trees.

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Amtrak RDCs depart Springfield, Massachusetts

Spring 1974.

Amtrak RDC's depart Springfield, Massachusetts in Spring 1974. Nearby were a pair of bright yellow railroad snow plows.
Amtrak RDC’s depart Springfield, Massachusetts in Spring 1974. Nearby were a pair of bright yellow railroad snow plows.

My father and I had spotted a northward Penn-Central freight near Hartford, Connecticut. We hopped on I-91 and raced north to Springfield.

My photos of the freight were poor efforts. However, a little while later this pair of Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs) departed Springfield for Hartford and New Haven.

While not my first railroad photo, it is among my oldest extant color images.

I exposed it on Ektachrome.

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Tomorrow: An Amtrak Pepsi Can at Work!

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