The Budd Company of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, constructed 398 RDC (an acronym for Rail Diesel Car), between 1949 and 1962. RDCs (also called Buddliners) are self-propelled diesel multiple unit (DMU) railcars were intended for passenger service in rural areas with low traffic density or in short-haul commuter service. RDCs were less expensive to operate in this service than a traditional locomotive-powered train. The cars could be used singly or coupled together in train sets and controlled from the cab of the front unit. There were several iterations of RDCs offered, with different configurations (all coach, combines, etc.). Photographed in 2008 is a somewhat rare RDC-9, a powered coach without a cab intended to be used as a trailer behind other RDC types. Only 30 RDC-9s were built, all for the Boston & Maine and numbered B&M 6900-6929. Car 6929 was sold in 1986 by Boston’s MBTA (which acquired them from the B&M) to the National Railway Historical Society East Carolina Chapter (becoming NHVX 6929) for use on their New Hope Valley Railroad Museum in NC. By the time it was photographed on the Red Springs & Northern, this poor car had yet to make it to the museum which purchased it 22 years earlier! To read about this car’s hard-luck journey, click www.triangletrain.com/ex-bm-rdc9-6929/. (Parkton, North Carolina – October 19, 2008)
