Another strange idea

AZL already did the RDC-2 in 2 roadnames, B&M and WP.

For the love of Budds …



Some may say RDC. I call ’em Budd cars ’cause that’s what my family called them. (I know Budd was a company.)



I remember riding Budd cars before the Dot-com bubble. (Did someone say Netscape?)



Seats were bouncy and squeaky like an old school bus. Still, they were classy and cozy with a character not felt with the modern commuters.



Some complained of diesel odor from the inside. Some complained of diesel emissions from the outside. It was railroading!



Boston and Maine had a substantially heeeeuge fleet of Budd cars. New Englanders called them Buddliners. The notable size of the Boston Budds influenced, perhaps, AZL’s decision-making process to limit RDC-2s to the Boston Budds (east coast side of things).



B&O had the Speedliner with its fleet of Budds. North of Baltimore, B&O passenger trains would pass Budd cars of the Central Railroad of New Jersey. CNJ would make for a cool road name for AZL RDCs (Erie, Reading, PRR, D&H—modeling the ’50s, ’60s, and pre-Conrail applicability).



RDC-2s had interior configurations that varied by railroad. Essentially, they were coach-dinette-kitchen-baggage cars with operator cabs at either end. Some RDC-2s had a bar instead of a kitchen. Dinette section was usually booth seating. Though there was one down the street, I never boarded one, just read up on ’em.



Single-car commuters were common with Budd cars, particularly in the ’50s, ’60s, and very early ’70s.



Not wanting to run a lashup of motorized AZL Budd cars blasting their headlights on each other. Rather, let’s see AZL make a set of dummies for the Budd. (Presently, my modeling era comfort zone is 1953 and 1973 with tendencies for in between. So, I’m okay running a single-car Budd commuter.)



Wouldn’t it be cool to have the option to run a train of AZL dummy Budd cars hauled by a motorized AZL RDC-2? A one-loco three-car could be packaged like AZL F59PHI commuter sets!



SUMMARY

• AZL Budd car dummies (Too cool for words but I wrote it anyway.)

• AZL RDC-2 leading RDC-1s as a set for the holidays (Think: AZL F59PHI commuter sets, Black Friday sales, or both.)

• Unbox an AZL Central Railroad of New Jersey RDC, have a negroni, and watch The Sopranos.



Scott

I'd like to see an RDC-3, both Great Northern and Northern Pacific ran those!

Dunno if other roads had them as well.....

A re-run of the Western Pacific zephyrette would be welcome. Doesanyone know which routes they would have served ?

Thank you, Peter. Very interesting, and surprised at the distance, taking close to a full day !
I expected such vehicles only to be used on branch lines, or for local commuter services.

The dummy thought would be ideal for the ATSF Budds, which always ran as a pair.
I also read ( probably in a Kalmbach book or magazine ) of a C&O pair which towed a heavyweight baggage-express car, much against the advice of the Budd company, who strongly disapproved of the practice. ( The only SP Budd, #10, towed a storage mail car from Sacramento to Davis - this was another named Budd train - The Sierra ).

Any chance Alaska RR will be included in the run? 😊🤞🙏