Photos from the "old days"

The Herbert Matter "New Look", "McGinnis Paint Scheme" was officially introduced when he took over control of the B&M in 1956, Budds seemed to be the first to wear the new image, and several variations of the new scheme were unveiled at Boston Engine Terminal in May of 1957. The Buddcar above has what seems to be an "out of proportion" emblem, that was applied by the Budd company, these remained on the cars until they came in for re-painting, sometimes these odd looking heralds remained on the cars for many years.

David, many, MANY thanks for the Budds!

Paul, other spotting differences between the "phase I" and "phase II" Budds was that while both had 11 passenger windows per side, the small lavatory window present on the earlier design was eliminated giving it a more symmetrical look. Also, the roof blister changed considerably. Originally, there were two screened portions over the radiator cores and a plain panel in the center on the bevelled portion. Below that were either two rows of 11 louvers with a ribbed center panel (ph. 1B) or two rows of 12 louvers with no center panel (ph. 1C). On the phase II Budds, the entire bevelled section was screened and the louvered panels were eliminated entirely. The Phase II's also had flush pilots that extended below the end sheets as opposed to the "add-on" pilots welded to the front of the stepwells as seen on the phase I cars. Illuminated end number boards became available on the phase II cars. Some B&M phase II's had 'em, most didn't. Eddiebehr already mentioned the higher-mounted headlights in their streamlined enclosure.

Me personally? I always liked the phase 1 style cars with their larger end windows and lower headlights. Not as "finished" looking as the ph II's, but more handsome IMHO. They were also the predominant style produced.

Thanks 2026 ! It's interesting that the cab windows got smaller as the model advanced. The less visibility was probably the cost of less glass exposure in the event of a projectile thrown for the engineer/fireman who would stand so close to the windows. I got a cab ride in one as a little kid, probably around 1958 or 9. The cab, I found to be surprisingly noisy with metal to metal sounds, so apparently the passenger compartment was well insulated. We came into North Station and I'll never forget how amazed I was that there were so many available paths for the car to make, with all the switches that were layed out. Both crew watched carefully at a group of kids off to the side of the roadbed prior to entering the station, actually holding me back from the front as we passed, believing that they might be about to throw a missile at our car. They didn't, but you could see from their concern that these guys had that happen to them often. I loved the RDC's. They had a nice rolling smoothness about them and as I mentioned, a quiet passenger compartment, with only a slight whirring sound audible. They seemed to have excellent bearings as well, as you would notice that the engineer would cut the throttle to have the cars coast on their own silently with only the sound of rail joints heard for quite a distance before power was needed again. For a city kid used to the subway, the RDC's were the Cadillacs of public transportation !

I always enjoyed the riding qualities of the Budd; as I kid I especially liked the smooth ride and gentle rocking when crossing the draws approaching/leaving North Station. I always loved the harmonic sound of the twin 6-110's, especially when a train of multiple units was throttling up and moving away from me standing on the platform.

I know alot of railfans and railroad workers disliked or even scorned the Budds, but from a purely aesthetic point of view I found them to be an attractive, ingenious rail conveillance. As you said Paul, they were like the "Cadillacs" of public transportation; shiny, streamlined 85' stainless-steel sheathed GM-powered MU's with comfortable seats and BIG picture windows (makes a huge impression on a youngster)!

They were the first train of any kind I ever rode (the second being "Wartime" PCC's out of North Station - only minutes after detraining from the Budds - could life get any better for a 5 year old budding railfan?) and will always be my favorite. B&M and NH's will always be my top picks, probably because they constituted so much of each railroads passenger operations in later years. I can't get enough of them!

I have never been on an RDC, but from the pictures they look like they were set up for high platforms....were there any when they were in service? The platforms at North Station look low in the pics.

TPR37777 wrote:I have never been on an RDC, but from the pictures they look like they were set up for high platforms....were there any when they were in service? The platforms at North Station look low in the pics.

Budd RDC's were universal in design regardless of which railroad bought them. Only smaller options would diffentiate one roads Budds from another. They were built so thay could utilize both high and low platforms, making them a good fit for any road.

The stepwells had a "trap door" that dropped down to cover the stairs (and also provide a working "floor" for the operator to stand on). Dave can answer this for sure; I'm not sure if you could close the side door if the trap was up (most pics I've seen, the open trap door covers the bottom of the side door, keeping it against the vestibule bulkhead.... now if you could open the trap so it was behind the door - in other words, closed door but accessible stepwell - I just don't know). Dave or Paul could also answer this better for certain; but I don't think there were any high platform stations in B&M "Budd territory". High platforms didn't become vogue until the later and current MBTA era. I know for certain that until the recent past, both North and South Station platforms were all low level.

That is correct! The trap could only be opened if the door was opened, the side doors opened inward and the trap latched to the door in the up position.

TPR37777 wrote:I have never been on an RDC, but from the pictures they look like they were set up for high platforms....were there any when they were in service? The platforms at North Station look low in the pics.

I'm sorry you never got to ride on an RDC. They were "state of the art" when they were introduced, and nobody has even come close to coming up with a replacement, they'ed still be around today if age and deferred maintenance hadn't caught up with them. I personally enjoyed working on these cars, they were very warm in the winter and nice and cool in the summer (when the AC was actually working). There was nothing complicated about them, no computers, no involved electronics, just plain and simple mechanics and electrical systems. Towards the end of their useful lives, the Budds were ALWAYS breaking down, I don't know how the passengers put up with us! When the AC broke down on the hottest of summer days, I would simply shut off all the overhead lights, open all the doors, including the center cab doors and announce to the passengers "ladies and gentlemen, we are now switching over to manual-subliminal air conditioning, please hold on to all your belongings that might become airborne", that usually got a laugh or two and helped ease the tension. In the 1980's, vast hordes of cockroaches took up residence in the RDC fleet due to a steady diet of garbage stuffed down behind the seats by the passengers and also the forced hot water heating system provided them with the warm, damp environment they loved so well. I used to brake for an old time senior Conductor, that when approached by a horrified female passenger when she saw several roaches on the wall, calmly replied to her "don't say it too loud lady, everybody will want one"

I could go on all night about my Buddcar experiances, maybe I could put them in that book Paul wants me to write, suffice to say, you should go the the Bedford Depot museum and see what a real RDC looks like fully restored, or for that matter, go up North Conway and ride on their Buddcar, you will thoroughly enjoy the experiance.

David, thanks for confirming for me how the Budd traps worked. On a side note, I just came across your (and some from your dad) stash of photos on the NE Rail site! Great collection, especially of the B&M Budds! I had always wanted to see "aftermath" photos of the infamous turntable crash from 1972 after reading about it... the shots you got really exemplified just how destructive this incident was! It was really something to see a 118,000 Budd car lying on it's side in the pit, it's mate hanging precariously over the lip. That was definately worth skipping school for!

For anyone looking for great photos by David, Paul and other photographers of NE area Budds (B&M, NYC, NH, MBTA), pop over there... there are 98 pages of Budd car shots!

http://photos.nerail.org/search/searchr ... c&BOOL=ANY

Also, here is a GREAT slideshow highlighting B&M Budds from the Bedford Depot site that David alluded to with it's restored B&M RDC-2, #6211. Note in one of the pictures (19th slide) the large scale model of the Budd RDC-1 shown in past B&M President T.G. Shugrue's office. LOVE to know where that ended up:

http://www.bedforddepot.org/060609/0606 ... hotos.html

It's funny you mention opening the doors and killing the lights when the AC failed... was that a common practice? Reason I inquire; after my family moved from Melrose to Acton, I remember a trip from Boston back to South Acton on a blistering summer day in the early/mid 70's... the AC failed on our Budd and the Conductor did the exact same thing. Don't remember hearing what he told us passengers, but I do know it made alot of people laugh and someone declared "it must be nap time"! You weren't working the South Acton runs in those days, per chance?

fl9m2026 wrote: It's funny you mention opening the doors and killing the lights when the AC failed... was that a common practice? Reason I inquire; after my family moved from Melrose to Acton, I remember a trip from Boston back to South Acton on a blistering summer day in the early/mid 70's... the AC failed on our Budd and the Conductor did the exact same thing. Don't remember hearing what he told us passengers, but I do know it made alot of people laugh and someone declared "it must be nap time"! You weren't working the South Acton runs in those days, per chance?

That probably wasn't me, I didn't work passenger service until 1984, and then, it was usually on the night Lowell run, BOY could I tell you stories ALL day about the night Lowell job!

Tonight, we have a real corker for you. The date is August 22,1955, due to hurricaine and flood damage on the Boston & Albany, all of their freight and passenger service was diverted over the B&M's Fitchburg Division. Dad was standing on Prison Point Bridge pointing his camera at the B&A's crack train the "New England States" as it headed out of North Station for points west.

You'd never know it by looking at these photos, but we're at Oak Grove in Malden,Mass., the date is July 1st,1949, and the local freight with 0-6-0 switcher 446 is going about his business, switching out the lumber yard. Caboose 104605, a 1921 product of the Laconia Car Company, brings up the rear. Oak Grove sure has changed in 60 years, from rural suburb, to bustling terminal for MBTA's Orange Line.

Any more of these wonderful old pics? I especially am interested in '50's shots of
Boston, Providence and New Hampshire...thanks a million for the ones already posted!
This subject seems to have come to a sudden and untimely end.

I think we last heard from Dave not long before site policy purged his earlier photos. I know disk space is finite (though even server-grade terabyte disks are fairly cheap now), but the different treatment of pictures and text does not encourage long-lifetime "historical record" threads.

I got to ride on a two car Budd train from Arlington Center in 1970 or 1971. I went to the Fitzgerald School in Cambridge which had the Fitchburg Main running right behind it so I got to see more than a few RDCs go by (look at the chalk board or look at the train? no contest). A few years ago we were out visiting family in Fort Worth, Texas and decided to take the TRE to Dallas for the day. What pulls up to the platform? Two RDCs. My boys wanted a picture (being well raised sons of a railfan) and my youngest has had the picture on his dresser ever since. I looked up the pedigree of the car that we could make out the number on and sure enough it was a restored B&M RDC. Very cool.

Living near the Fitchburg Freight Cutoff I didn't see any RDCs on my "home" rails but I heard that some came through after a hurricane in 73 or 74. Not sure if that really happened or not because I didn't see them. Supposedly they were routed that way to avoid a flood in Porter Square.

Now the Cutoff is a trail, the Fitzgerald School is called the Peabody and the Fitchburg Main is only two tracks wide between Porter Square and the West Cambridge Yard. I wish I had though to take some photos back then like Dave's dad did.

Now and then RDCs could be seen on the Freight Cutoff due to high water at Union Square. This was caused when heavy rains came at high tide time and backed up the Millers River which is parallel to the Fitchburg Route but has been buried in very large conduit through the Yard 14 - Tower H area. If the crossing tenders were still on duty or could be rounded up on short notice the Fitchburg Route trains were run out the New Hampshire (Lowell Line) to North Somerville, backed up through a crossover and then on to the Cutoff from the top of Yard 8. If no crossing tenders available, we waited for the tide to change. In the early 1970s a B & M freight derailed near Park St., Somerville on the westbound track. To get negotiations on sale of the commuter property to MBTA moving, the B&M bankruptcy trustees had the engine and non-derailed rolling stock rescued and left the remainder and a blocked, torn up Track 1 in place for about a week. This resulted in some detours via the Freight Cutoff. Also, during extensive construction during Red Line work at Porter Square about 1980, the morning train the Fitchburg & Gardner (yes it went that far back then) was routed out via the Cutoff for a time and picked up Cambridge passengers at Mass. Ave., North Cambridge. I had a chance to ride the Cutoff about 8-10 times in the 1970s.