QUOTE: LoveDomes Posted: Today, 15:11:26 Hiya Cap'n Tom I'm not even going to try to dig up anything on the Erie - good grief! These are getting more difficult as the numbers rise! [swg] So, here's my contribution for the day - DOMES - as the name implies, I love 'em . . . Colorado Railcar Ultra Dome - Rocky Mountaineer Colorado Railcar Ultra Dome - Holland America cruise lines Alaska Railroad double deck dome by Colorado Railcar Until the next time! Lars
QUOTE: siberianmo Posted: Today, 16:43:51 G'day! Lars - chill, man - chill! [swg]No sweat about not having anything to provide regarding some of these rather obscure RRs from the past. They surely weren't back then - but material IS difficult to come by these days. Not worth the worry - just being Posted for the interest. Now, domes is where it's at! I just don't care for excursion and tourist trains per se. I'm a "real railroad passenger fan" so to speak. Now having said that, I'm also a "veteran" of many, many VIA Rail Canada trips where the overwhelming number of passengers were in fact - tourists. Same for our recently concluded Alaskan rail adventure - virtually all tourist. However - and this is a big however - we were in the "real" cars - not those being towed along and owned by cruise ship operators. No thanx. I like these new double deck domes - whether they are called Ultra Domes or something else. Having traveled them I can say they surpass any rail experience I've ever had -and that says A LOT for me! I'd love to see VIA Rail use them on their cross Canada trains and get into a serious replacement program for their aging fleet whereby the single and double level domes become the "norm." Now Amtrak is a totally different matter. I dare say we'll NEVER see these cars on Amtrak nor will we see replacements for the Superliner equipment. Stuff is simply breaking down, with the fleet dwindling so rapidly that talk of laying up a long distance train or two isn't really conjecture - at least that's what I'm hearing and reading - and NOT from Forum sources. America's passenger rail system just plain ISN'T - but it could be. Using modern equipment is only one step in the right direction. We need a commitment from the Congress to put into place a RELIABLE, SAFE and MODERN system - one that moves people efficiently from place to place, free from the entanglements of bureaucratic BS and political gobbledygook. WIll it happen [?] Nope - not in two lifetimes, is my guess - and I'm 68. Okay, that's it - and all begun because you Posted those Domes! [swg] Later! Tom[4:-)] [oX)]
QUOTE: Budd Rail Diesel Car CAVEAT: This material has been reproduced with “blanket” permission from Wikipedia sources at: www.wikipedia.com. Budd RDC-1 #407 of the Cape May Seashore Lines (GNU Free Documentation). The Budd Rail Diesel Car or RDC is a self-propelled diesel-hydraulic rail passenger car. During the period of 1949–1956, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. These cars were primarily adopted for passenger service in rural areas with low traffic density or in short-haul commuter service, and were less expensive to operate in this context than a traditional locomotive-drawn train. The cars could be used singly or several coupled together in trainsets and controlled from the cab of the front unit. The Boston and Maine Railroad owned by far the largest number of these units, but they were also very popular with Canadian railways such as the Canadian Pacific Railway (where they were known as Dayliners), the Canadian National Railway, and the former BC Rail. VIA Rail still uses RDCs for scheduled services on Vancouver Island and in Northern Ontario, and the planned Blue22 service connecting Toronto to its airport will use refurbished RDCs as well. Since 1994 three RDCs are being used for the OnTrack commuter rail line in Syracuse, New York. As well, the Alaska Railroad possesses at least two RDCs. They are typically coupled together and used for the railroad's Hurricane Turn service and the annual Fair Train. The Hurricane Turn is the last remaining flag stop service in the U.S. and is the only transportation to many summer (and year-round) cabins on a stretch of track between Talkeetna and Hurricane Gulch. (The Parks Highway, the nearest road, is several miles to the west on the other side of a mountain ridge.) The annual Fair Train takes fairgoers from Anchorage to the Palmer stop next to the fairgrounds. The basic car was adapted from a standard 85 ft (26 m) coach. They were powered by two Detroit Diesel (then a division of General Motors) diesel bus engines, each of which drives an axle through a hydraulic torque converter, a technology adapted from military tanks of World War II. RDC trains were an early example of self-contained diesel multiple units, an arrangement now in common use by railways all over the world. Variants An RDC train operated by the former BC Rail. (www.trainweb.com photo) Budd manufactured five basic variants of the RDC: • The RDC-1 — an 85 ft (26 m) all-passenger coach seating 88 passengers. • The RDC-2 — an 85 ft (26 m) Railway Post Office and passenger coach configuration seating 71 passengers. • The RDC-3 — an 85 ft (26 m) variant with a Railway Post Office, a baggage compartment and 44 passenger seats. • The RDC-4 — a 65 ft (20 m) variant with only the Railway Post Office and baggage area. • The RDC-5 (also known as the RDC-9) — an 85 ft (26 m) passenger coach seating 82, with no independent control cab. The RDC-1 was powered by two 6-cylinder Detroit Diesel engines, each of 275 hp (205 kW). In 1978, Budd offered a new RDC model, called the SPV-2000 (self-propelled vehicle), but only 24 of them were sold, as they proved unreliable and did not gain marketplace acceptance. The few remaining in service have long been converted to unpowered, locomotive-drawn coaches. Unusual modifications In an experiment toward high speed rail, the New York Central (NYC) fitted a pair of jet engines atop one of their RDCs and added a shovelnose front to its cab. This RDC, which NYC had numbered M497, set the United States speed record in 1966 when it traveled at just short of 184 mph (296 km/h) between Butler, Indiana, and Stryker, Ohio. Several RDC's were built and exported to Australia, to operate with Commonwealth Railways, These cars operated on the standard gauge, running between Port Pirie and various locations, including Whyalla, Port Augusta and Broken Hill. A variant was built by Commonwealth Engineering for the NSW Government Railways, consisting of five carriages. These cars included the only non-powered version of these carriages. These cars operated the South Coast Daylight Express between Sydney and Nowra References • Scheurle, Bob, New York Central RDC3 #M497. Retrieved March 14, 2005. • Wayner, Robert J., ed. (1972). Car Names, Numbers and Consists, New York: Wayner Publications. CAVEAT: This material has been reproduced with “blanket” permission from Wikipedia sources at: www.wikipedia.com.
QUOTE: Budd Company From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia The Budd Company (now ThyssenKrupp Budd) is a metal fabricator and major supplier of body components to the automobile industry. The company is headquartered in Troy, Michigan. It was founded in 1912 by Edward G. Budd. Edward Budd's fame came from his invention of the 'shotweld' technique for joining pieces of stainless steel without damaging the anti-corrosion properties of the stainless steel. A railroad legend The first Budd passenger railcar, the Lafayette, 1932From the 1930s until 1989 The Budd Company was also a leading manufacturer of stainless steel streamlined passenger rolling stock for a number of railroads. After briefly dabbling with French Micheline rubber-tyred technology, they built the Pioneer Zephyr for the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad in 1934, and hundreds of streamlined lightweight stainless steel passenger cars for new trains in the USA in the 1930s and 1940s. In the 1950s Budd built a set of two-story or high-level cars for the Santa Fe's El Capitan and Super Chief passenger trains, which became the prototypes for the Amtrak Superliner cars of the 1980s. Budd also built two-story gallery passenger cars for Chicago-area commuter service on the Milwaukee Road, Burlington Route, and Rock Island lines duing the 1960s and 1970s; most of these cars are still in service on today's Metra routes. Stainless steel Budd cars originally built for the Canadian Pacific Railway's 1955 train The Canadian are still in service with Via Rail Canada. Train in one car In 1949, Budd introduced the Rail Diesel Car or RDC, a stainless steel self-propelled 'train in one car' which prolonged rail service on many lightly populated railway lines, but also provided a flexible, air conditioned car for suburban commuter service. More than 300 RDCs were built. Some RDCs are still in service in Canada, the USA and Australia. One example is OnTrack in Syracuse, New York. In the 1960's, Budd built the Pioneer III electric m.u. coach for intercity travel. Six were built and were purchased by the former Pennsylvania Railroad, but in 1966, these Pioneer III cars, later called "Silverliner I" cars, were replaced with the "Silverliner II" cars, which used the Pioneer III body, but with much improvements, for Philadelphia-area commuter rail service on both the PRR and Reading Company lines. Budd was also contracted for building the original Metroliner m.u. coaches for Washington-New York City service on the Northeast Corridor, but has been replaced with more traditional locomotive-hauled systems. The Silverliner II cars, still in service (but is slated to be replaced with newer "Silverliner V" cars), has a top speed of 100 m.p.h., while the old Metroliner m.u. cars traveled at speeds of 125 m.p.h., although they were slated for 150 m.p.h. service--a feat now possible with the new Acela trainset Almond Joys In 1960. Budd manufactured the first stainless steel production subway cars for Philadelphia's Market-Frankford Line. 270 cars (nicknamed the Almond Joys for the 4 ventilators on top of the roof of each car) were jointly owned by the City of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Transportation Company (now SEPTA). 46 single units and 112 married pairs (the pairs were of "mixed" marriage because the odd-numbered car came with General Electric motors and equipment was permanently coupled to the even-numbered car, which had Westinghouse motors and equipment). These cars were replaced with more modern air-conditioned units, although some cars were retrucked (the Market-Frankford line is a broad-gauge line) and used on the Norristown High Speed Line (a standard railroad gague line) until they were replaced in the mid-1990's. Automobile innovations In 1966, Budd designed and manufactured a front disc brake system for Chrysler and Imperial automobiles, used for the 1967 and 1968 model years. Budd also built two series of "L" cars for the Chicago Transit Authority, the 2200s (1969–1970) and 2600s (1981–1987). The New York City Subway R32 (1964-1965), Long Island Rail Road/Metro-North Railroad M-1 (1968–1973/M2 (1973-1976)/M3 (1984-1986), NJ Transit Arrow III (1978), Baltimore Metro Subway and Miami Metrorail cars (1983) were also built by Budd. All of Amtrak's 492 Amfleet and 150 Amfleet II cars were built by Budd in 1977 and 1980/1981. The Amfleet body was recycled for usage in the SPV2000, a modernized RDC which was very problematic, saw only three buyers (Amtrak, Metro-North, and ConnDOT), and saw very premature retirements. The fallout from the SPV2000 furthered the decline of the company. In the early 1980s, Budd reorganized its rail operations under the name Transit America, this name appearing on the builderplates of the Baltimore/Miami cars and Chicago's later 2600s (but not the LIRR/Metro-North M3s). The new name did not save the company, as in 1987 Budd ended all railcar production and sold its rail designs to Bombardier. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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