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The Rock Island RDCs were pretty strange birds. All 5 (Nos 9003-9005, 9015 and 9016) were RDC3s, but RI rebuilt them from RPO-baggage-coaches into RPO- coaches with 30' mail apartments. In so doing, the baggage doors were sealed up. Steam heat lines were applied at some point to all 5 cars. The 9015 and 9016 definitely had them while they served on the "Kansas City Rocket", since coaches were usually handled behind them on the Kansas City-Enid portion of the run. Photos of the cars in this service do show the steam heat lines in place. The 9003-9005 cars, which usually served on the Memphis-Amarillo "Choctaw" route, were stripped of their propulsion units in 1964. After that time, they were assinged as RPO-coaches in locomotive-hauled trains, usually Nos 21 and 22. Renumbered as cars 903-905, they had steam heat lines by that time, as shown in a number of published photos. Apparently Nos. 9015 and 9016 also lost their propulsion units and were rebuilt in 1964 into baggage-RPOs Nos 805 and 806. I haven't seen photos of these cars after rebuilding. The sources I reviewed claimed that the RDCs on both the "Kansas City Rocket" line and on the Choctaw line handled unpowered cars from time to time as trailers (including the coach-baggage-"observation" "Missouri")! I haven't seen any photos to support those claims, however. --John
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