FCD Railbus Spotted!

I recently passed by the Linden Avenue shop of the NY Subway system, and spotted in the yard Sperry Rail Service 403. It appears to be one of the Mack FCD railbuses. It was painted Sperry yellow, and has several air conditioner units on its roof. Apparently, it is used for rail detection on the subway system--I suspect that the clearances are perfect for the subway system, and probably a reason why it's not seen more frequently.
Of course, I suspect the NH gurus knew about this one.

Yes, that's an ex-New Haven Mack FCD railbus that was sold to Sperry 40+ years ago for use as a rail detector car on NYCTA lines, where Sperry's other vehicles won't fit in the tunnels. I'm amazed to read that it's still in service after all this time!

There were actually two cars but one burned out. SRS 403 does do more than NYCTA.
http://www.trainweb.org/elso/srs403.htm

SRS 403 is over at Hudson yard (Harrison NJ) on Amtrak right now.

On a side note, did anyone ever find the ship carring the 6 that were sold to Spain and sunk in route?

I know it would be a dream thing, but if the ship was found, maybe there would be enough salvageable parts for Danbury to use, to restore their FCD, which was one of the pair that went to Remington and then was donated by Sperry.

Did the spainish ones get repainted before loading, or were the NYNH&H reporting marks just white lined?

I thought I remembered hearing that 1 or two went to South America or Mexico, and IIRC Danbury was negotiating with the owners to borrow a window frame, for reproduction or was it just a Mack bus that used the same frames?

Rich C.

crij wrote:On a side note, did anyone ever find the ship carring the 6 that were sold to Spain and sunk in route?

The sinking is an urban legend, albeit a rather persistent one. Those Macks arrived in Spain and went into service there. Some photos of them in service in Spain surfaced over the years.

There is one spanish FCD restored and preserved in the Museo De Ferrocarril in Gijon Spain. (Idon't know if it is operational). it is in the same color scheme as the New Haven but with different numbers and lettering.
The DRM has the permission to use a window frame from the Sperry 403 to make a pattern for replacement windows when the time comes. Right now it is not a priority. Those windows were used also on certain Mack busses of the era but we have not been able to locate any.

Some of the earlier rail buses that ran on the old CNE finished their days in Cuba.

Bernie