Walthers wants you to pre order the Budd rail car that should be out in the spring. There is no mention of DCC in the specs. Not even "DCC friendly". Also only 4 wheel drive...good on a pickup, not so good on motive power. At $140 seems it should be at least DCC ready & all wheel drive. Would like to have one but not at that price. Just my opinion.
Never had any trouble with my old Proto RDC-3. Remember real RDCs didn't pull anything except themselves. I suspect powering both trucks would have been possible, but would have meant removing a lot of the passenger section. Plus I think on the real ones, only one truck was powered?? All eight wheels pick up power from the track.
I see them all the time in ads for under $50. I think Trainworld had them as low as $20 at one time. When I started buying Proto 1000 locos I would buy them at Hobby Lobby. Hobby Lobby the day after Christmas would have them for $25. One year I bought all I could get my hands on.(Proto 1000 F3's) At one time I could buy Proto 2000 E8's for $70 at the local hobby shop. Prices go up I understand but things are out of hand. Enough on this subject before the people with too much money start screaming.... LOL
RMax
wjstix I think on the real ones, only one truck was powered?? All eight wheels pick up power from the track.
I think on the real ones, only one truck was powered?? All eight wheels pick up power from the track.
Only the inner axle on each truck was powered. (I think).
Dave
Just be glad you don't have to press "2" for English.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQ_ALEdDUB8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6hqFS1GZL4s
http://s73.photobucket.com/user/steemtrayn/media/MovingcoalontheDCM.mp4.html?sort=3&o=27
Those RDCs are getting pretty expensive. They do have a plated finish now, which is nice.
The old RDCs are semi-DCC ready, meaning you have to cut a few traces and solder a decoder to marked pads on the PC board. As far as I know, All the new P1K has a DCC plug and LED lighting. Only the front truck is powered, since powering the rear truck would have pretty much eliminated the interior. They have enough traction to pull at least one additional passenger car or RDC dummy.
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The older release run quite well. They do pick up power from all 8 wheels, so there's no problem there. The new ones should be the same, although it seems Walthers is still followign their previous policy of stating a very high MSRP so they can later sell it for 20-30% off. Either pick up an older one or wait a little and pick one of the new ones up on eBay for less.
A real RDC was indeed only powered by the two inner axles on each truck. They were also not designed to pull any trailer cars of any sort, although some railroads did. Budd built the RDC-9 for use as a trailer, it had only 1 diesel instead of the two in the other models
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
jerryl Walthers wants you to pre order the Budd rail car that should be out in the spring. There is no mention of DCC in the specs. Not even "DCC friendly". Also only 4 wheel drive...good on a pickup, not so good on motive power. At $140 seems it should be at least DCC ready & all wheel drive. Would like to have one but not at that price. Just my opinion.
If they are anything like the Proto RDC I own, motive power should not be a problem. Mine was able to push back a cut of about 20 NMRA weighted freight cars (on level track). Had to do it to clear the yard lead when we test ran it on a friend's layout.
John
Bud is beer.
Budd is a railroad equipment manufacturer.
Not to worry. I am kind of surprised that Walthers didn't upgrade to decoder-equipped. That would make the new price much more digestible, although street price will be more modest. Yes, more bucks than people are used to paying if they've been in the hobby over the last decade, but not out of line with recent releases. It's a heck of a nice model.
No big deal to convert to DCC, assuming it's just the latest iteration of the same P1K build. Do consult reputable sources when converting to DCC. IIRC, there is a trace or two on the existing light board that needs to be cut or you risk letting the smoke out of your shiny new decoder.
Definitely more tractive effort needed available to pull wholly unprototypical loads. This is one of the smoothest rides I have, although I don't run it often. Hmm, time to get it out and assign it to cover a passenger run.
Mike Lehman
Urbana, IL
....and no Amtrak.......
Mine doesn't move.......it's at the station!!!
rrinker Budd built the RDC-9 for use as a trailer, it had only 1 diesel instead of the two in the other models --Randy
The RDC 9 was built at B&M's request. In the late 50s they were running RDC passenger trains replacing all conventional passenger trains except for commuters. Having only one diesel engine and no engineer cabs, the 9s were less costly to buy and operate. By removing one diesel, they could add some more seats. Running in MU with RDC-1s, they had plenty of acceleration and power to easily handle the hills in western Mass.
B&M was the largest purchaser of RDCs; I find it strange that Walthers has not included B&M in the re-run of the P1K RDCs
George In Midcoast Maine, 'bout halfway up the Rockland branch
Hello!
Can anyone tell me if the newer Walthers RDC releases have anything changed on the driveline? I have four of the P1k RDCs that I put decoders in and I'm a bit dismayed at the top speed of these. Seems like about 40 or 45 mph is all they will do. The prototype was supposed to be able to attain 85 mph.
http://www.budd-rdc.org/introduction.html
Before I shell out top dollar for these new plated encarnations I would like to know if the top speed issue has been improved...
Many Thanks.
LION bought a pair of these when Trainworld was selling them for about $16 each. Him wanted to get rid of the RDC body and put a different shell on them to make something that would look like an LIRR MU train.
Even this is not going to pan out on my railroad. Now I think I'll just bust out the motors and trucks and use them for some other self-propelled work trains on my layout.
ROAR
The Route of the Broadway Lion The Largest Subway Layout in North Dakota.
Here there be cats. LIONS with CAMERAS
For all the Canucks on the forum RDC's are referred to as DAYLINERS in Canadianese.
tatans For all the Canucks on the forum RDC's are referred to as DAYLINERS in Canadianese.
Only on the Canadian Pacific. CN referred to them as Railiners. Just to be different.
And still no Boston & Maine RDCs on the upcomming run - What is Walthers thinking?? B&M had more RDCs than any other railroad; it should sell well here in the Northeast.
On my RDC-3 I did a "hardwire" installation, with one of those new Digitrax sound decoder that you can download various sounds onto. One sound package they have is for an RDC. Plenty of room in the RPO / Baggage section for a 1" speaker and enclosure. I replaced the coupler sound with a .wav file of a conductor calling "ALL ABOARD" just for fun.