From: M00209@MBVM.Mitre.Org
Newsgroups: rec.railroad
Subject: Re: RDC's and SPV's?
Date: 9 Apr 92 19:38:49 GMT
Article-I.D.: MBVM.167C4CE18.M00209
Organization: The MITRE Corporation, Bedford MA 01730

In article <1992Apr8.100324.1@woods.ulowell.edu>
andradee@woods.ulowell.edu writes:
 
>
>Could someone please answer this question for me? I am young, and so do not
>have first hand knowledge of all the details, but from what I have heard over
>the years, it sounds like the RDC's and SPV's were/are very unreliable units.
>Why is this? IS this because of a fault in the design of these units, of what?
>Any insight would be appriciated.
>
Generally speaking, the SPVs were/are quite unreliable.  Don't really know why.
 
On the other hand, the RDC's when young and even in middle age were very
reliable.  Many railroads had very small numbers of them - 1, 2 or 4 - and
others like CN had a few in many different locations.  They ran and ran and ran
day after day after day with virtually no problems.  What happened was that by
the late 1970s, most railroads had retired/scrapped/sold them, because Amtrak
ended the kind of trains that most railroads (number of railroads, not number
of cars or trains) used them for.  Basically only Boston and Maine, B&O, CR
(former PC, RDG, JCL and PRSL lines), BCR, CN and CP still used them.  Amtrak
had a few, used New Haven-Springfield and briefly on a couple of runs out of
Chicago.  The B&M and Conrail cars suffered from deferred maintenance, which
in most cases continued or worsened after takeover by such agencies as SEPTA,
MBTA and NJ Transit (NJT may be the exception - Metro North and MARC took
pretty good care of theirs, which is why Metro North's ran until late 1991 and
MARC's are still running).  Old age set in, and in the Boston area the winter
of 1977/78 (the famous Blizzard of 78) applied the finishing touches.  The
remaining cars were de-motorized and eventually retired.  They were NOT
unreliable when new, and when the B&M (in the 50s and 60s) took some pride in
keeping equipment in fairly good shape.  They just basically got old - most
dated from the 1950s.  Almost all of CN's cars and some of CP's (those that
weren't sold to the MBTA;  some of CN's were second hand B&M) lasted into the
VIA era and a few are still running - the rest retired by VIA because the
trains they served were discontinued in the 1990 emasculation of the system,
not because they were unreliable.  Right up to the dropping of the hatchet,
they were running daily at 90+ mph between Toronto and Niagara Falls and at
not much slower speeds all around New Brunswick and Nova Scotia.
 
So don't fault Budd for the RDC - they were IMHO one hell of a good product!
 
If you can, get yourself a copy of Chuck Crouse's book on the RDC from the
Weekend Chief Publishing Company, in Mineola NY. (Quickly, they're nearly all
sold out).
 
Len Bachelder        Archives Committee, Boston and Maine RR Historical Society
MITRE Corp.           Secretary, Massachusetts Bay Railroad Enthusiasts
Bedford MA 01730      Member, 470 Railroad Club
<M00209@mbvm.mitre.org>
 
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