The Bellefonte Historical Railroad operates two Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs), #9167 and #9153. RDC #9167 was built in 1953 and operated originally on the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (or just New Haven) while RDC #9153 was built in 1962 for the Reading.

BHRS RDC #9167

Our RDC #9167 was build by the Budd Company in March 1953 with the serial #5718. It was bought by the New York, New Haven & Hartford (NYNH&H, or short the New Haven) and got the road number 40 (see photo below). It went to Penn Central in 1969 and served as #98 until 1972 when it was sold to a dealer. Between 1975 and 1976 it was leased to the Baltimore & Ohio. In 1976 it was sold to Penn DOT who refurbished the RDC at the Reading shops where it now became #9167. It was used as an extra train to Valley Forge during the Bicentennial year 1976. Like #9153 it was given to SEPTA after the Reading became part of Conrail. Finally in 1984 #9167 was given to the Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission and belongs to the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania. It was loaned to the BHRS in 1984 and rehabilitated in June 1985. It has been in service for the BHRS ever since.

Photo of New Haven RDC #40 in June 1965 (courtesy of Joseph Testagrose; see www.railfan.net)

RDC 9167 at the station in Bellefonte, November 2006 (courtesy of Susan Hochreiter)

BHRS RDC #9153

RDC #9153 was build by the Budd company in Philadelphia in November 1962 with the serial #7001 and was one of the last RDCs ever build. It became #9153 for the Reading Company (RDG). Shortly after the RDG became part of the Consolidated Railroad Corporation (Conrail), 9153 was given to the South-East Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) where it served until March 1984. 9153 was sold to the MBTA in June 1985 from where it retired in November 1989. RDC #9153 was bought by the BHRS in 1991. It was refurbished and put back into service in October 1991.


RDC 9153 at the station in Bellefonte, November 2006 (courtesy of Susan Hochreiter)

Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs)

Rail Diesel Cars (or RDCs) were manufactured throughout the 1950s by the Budd Company of Philadelphia. The '50s was the decade during which the popularity of passenger trains began to wane and railroads saw the versatile and compact RDC as an answer to declining ridership--RDCs were, in recent memory, a common sight on intercity passenger runs both before and after the beginning of Amtrak.

Between 1949 and 1962 the Budd car company in Philadelphia build a total of 398 self-propelled passenger Rail Diesel Cars or RDCs, which came in 5 types. All were equipped with 2 Detroit 6/110 Diesel engines with 250-280 hp, each connected to the inner axle of each truck by a drive shaft. RDCs were rated for a top speed of 85 mph. However in 1966 the New York Central modified RDC M497 with jet engines on the top and ran it with 184 mph which is still the record in the US. The car body was similar to Budd's streamlined corrugated passenger cars and were all 85 ft long (except RDC-4). While most of the RDCs vanished from regular service, a few survived, like the ones in service at the TRE in Dallas, TX, or a few for VIA Rail in Canada.

Budd RDCs were produced in 5 types. An RDC 1 is a full coach with 2 cabs and a standard seating of 90 seats. This is the type our two RDCs 9167 and 9153 are. The RDC 2 has a small baggage compartment at the F end of the car and has a coach with 70 seats. Similar to this is the RDC-3 which has in addition a Rail Post Office (RPO) compartment at the F end of the car, a baggage compartment and a coach with 49 seats. Special RDCs were the RDC-4 which only had an RDC-9 which only had one engine to provide power for lights and the AC and heat and had no cabs. It was just used as a training car. For more information about these different types of RDCs please have a look at Budd RDC organization web page. Below is a 1955 advertisement for the RDC. Click the image for a bigger picture.