Athearn Metal Bodied RDCs - Photos

[Anonymous]

On another thread re Athearn Rubber Band Drive RDCs I mentioned that I have some old Athearn metal bodied RDCs from the early 1950's. These were made prior to the plastic ones. They have white metal ends and hump, and the powered ones had a geared truck with a built in motor at one end. Someone asked me to post photos of these models, so here they are. These photos are hosted on Image Shack, and I'll include a direct link so anyone wanting to see a larger copy can go direct to their site.

My metal Athearn RDCs - an RDC-1, 2 and 4:

Link: http://img52.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img52&image=rdcs5hd.jpg

Unusual baggage and mail RDC-4, not made in their plastic line:

Link: http://img52.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img52&image=rdc42xv.jpg

Close up showing white metal end - note it does not fit well at the top, as itis only fastened on the bottom:

Link: http://img52.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img52&image=rdc4a7cf.jpg

The underside, showing the power truck with brass wheels:

Link: http://img52.exs.cx/my.php?loc=img52&image=rdc4truck6rm.jpg


So that's them! I also have another RDC-1, but it isn't in that great a shape, the metal body is discolored, rust-like.

Check out the other thread to read more about these metal Athearn RDCs.

Bob Boudreau

[Anonymous]

Bob,

Thanks for posting the pics. It's been 40 years since I saw the metal Athearn's. The detail work on the bodies and end castings is quite good. Real impressive that Athearn chose to model all four styles. Looks like actual sprung trucks, too. Your models are in great shape for their age, the metal still retaining the original lustre. I remember being really impressed with the metal models when I first saw them and I still feel that way, they are well engineered for their time. It's easy to see the amount of work necessary to build this version over the plastic one piece body RDC.

So Athearn went from this to a rubber-band plastic RDC.

I was looking on eBay late last night and found quite a few Athearn and other makers of RDC units up for auction. There was one set of New Haven Athearn rubber band units in the original boxes at the current bid of $101. Guess there are some Athearn collectors out there that prize these cars in mint condition. On a couple of the auctions it was noted that Athearn has discontinued production of the RDC's.

Were the latest offerings of the RDC by Athearn still rubber band powered?? If so, was this the last holdout of rubber band drive by Athearn??

I'm going to start watching the eBay listings for the possibility of a metal bodied Athearn to show up and probably get one if the pricing is within reason.

Thanks again for taking the time to post the pictures. One more question answered in Athearn history.

Walt

[jkeaton]

A metal bodied RDC-4 sold on eBay last spring, (it was bid up to about $60 US, if I remember correctly), so they do turn up. (I would have liked that one, but didn't have the $60 US at the time.)

Jim