Passenger Trains > Parkton, NC RDC

I saw this RDC yesterday at Parkton, NC, south of Fayetteville. There also appears to be an FM diesel on the siding. Anyone know the "why are they there, where did they come from, etc." answers?

Thanks in advance.

B&OB

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bandob Wrote:
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> I saw this RDC yesterday at Parkton, NC, south of
> Fayetteville. There also appears to be an FM
> diesel on the siding. Anyone know the "why are
> they there, where did they come from, etc."
> answers?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> B&OB

I'm afraid I don't have any answers, but the RDC appears to be an RDC-9 model. These cars lacked controls (therefore no end windows) and had only one deisel engine instead of two. They were intended for use between two regular RDCs, and were only sold to the B&M, although that road later sold most of them to the Canadaian National.

Dave

Thanks, Dave. I wondered about that. Both ends were "blunt."

B&OB

I saw them in August while riding the Palmetto north, iirc, they belong to a museum and at somepoint would like to start up a tourist ride or something like that...

Actually, it just looks like a standard RDC-1 with the end windows removed. Look along the side and there is no evidence of the baggage doors that would be associated with the RDC-4's. Rather, this appears to be just a standard RDC that may have been modified into a unpowered coach.

This is part of the Red Springs & Northern project. The RS&N is former Cape Fear & Yadkin Valley and later ACL trackage which ran from Parkton to Bennettsville, SC via Red Springs and Maxton. The line was cut back to Red Springs in the early 80s, I think, and for a time was operated by Laurinburg Southern, until the customer base dried up in the mid 90s. RS&N Foundation acquired the entire line (12.5 miles)about three years ago, and plans to operate trains at some point in the future. The FM came from the NC Ports Railroad, the RDC I think came from Bonsal. They are actively replacing ties and working on equipment at this point.

ATSF3751 Wrote:
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> Actually, it just looks like a standard RDC-1 with
> the end windows removed. Look along the side and
> there is no evidence of the baggage doors that
> would be associated with the RDC-4's. Rather, this
> appears to be just a standard RDC that may have
> been modified into a unpowered coach.

The RDC-9 and RDC-4 models are two separate beasts. The RDC-9 is a full coach, with the big differences being a lack of engineer's controls negating the need for end windows, and one diesel instead of two. The RDC-4, on the other hand, is an all baggage/RPO car that is shorter than all of the other models. VIA Rail has one in operation on the Sudbury - White River, ON train.

While its certainly possible that this car has been modified from an RDC-1, I don't see any clues in the picture that indicate that. Lack of end windows, headlight mounting, horns, and pilots are all consistent with the RDC-9. (Some railroads - notably the NYC - operated RDCs without pilots, but most had pilots or retrofitted them to their cars).

UPDATE: A quick Google search confirms this is an ex-B&M RDC-9. See http://www.rrpicturearchives.net/showPicture.aspx?id=433692

Dave

Right you are about the RDC-4. But as a general note, these beasts were frequently heavily modified so that in some cases, any resemblance to their original form was purely coincidental. In this case, I am of the opnion that determining whether it was a RDC-9 or RDC-1 would require a closer inspection. Years ago I belonged to a NRHS group in Oregon that owned several RDC-1's that were ex-B&M (former MBTA) and had been converted to trailers. They still had the roof blisters, but lacked controls and the driveshafts had been removed. The engines still functioned for HVAC purposes. As I recall, the end windows had been blanked over, and there of course were no pilots on either end.

SpeederDriver Wrote:
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> The FM came from the NC Ports Railroad, the RDC I think came
> from Bonsal.

Actually, the RDC never spent time at Bonsal, rather it was tucked away on an industrial spur north of downtown Raleigh.