Boston&Maine SW9, GP18, GP9, MBTA FP10's and Budd cars at Lawrence yard

JCitron

Trainzing since 12-2003
http://youtu.be/ht4NH5R5nVw

This is what Guilford was running in 1986. They had taken over the B&M in 1982 and left things in pretty bad shape. In 1986 nothing had seen any maintenance and this is what was left in Lawrence. None of these units exist anymore, or if they do they've been moved elsewhere. The were replaced by a couple of Guilford painted GP9s recently.

The MBTA Easter Eggs, FP10s seen here are pulling depowered Budd RDCs. After the Blizzard of '78, which took its toll on the B&M commuter service. The B&M ran the commuter trains and also inherited the south side as well out of South Station. The old, now 35 years old, Budd RDCs were beginning to show their age and stalled, stuttered, spuddered, and died during the snow storm. The "T" was also strapped for cash like the B&M so they decided to use some cash and purchased the FP10s. These were rebuilt Es and Fs from GM&O, and were rebuilt at the Paducah Shops. These units were painted similar to the old EL with the purple, gold, and silver paint.

Now the old RDCs... as I said were depowered. They kept their the diesel engines for air-conditioning and generators, but removed the drive train. They all became essentially passenger cars with RDC "bumps" on the roof. Later on some of the cars lost the bumps and were patched with aluminum panels.

What's interesting is the MBTA/B&M purchased a bunch of RDCs from various roads and inherited the south side operations from Conrail. With Conrail came cars from various regions where they operated the commuter operations.

Now the cool part is at one point there were Budd RDCs on the old B&M running with CNR, CPRail, CNJ, New Haven, NYC, Boston and Albany, B&O, and so many others!

John
 
The 1950's must have been an exciting time for the Northeast. You probably saw RDCs almost everywhere. Oh to have been born about 15 years earlier and a budding (pun intended) rail photographer. :)

Andrew
 
The 1950's must have been an exciting time for the Northeast. You probably saw RDCs almost everywhere. Oh to have been born about 15 years earlier and a budding (pun intended) rail photographer. :)

Andrew

I was the early-60s and we still saw plenty of them. Up in Bradford where I grew up, the B&M yard was across the street from my house. My dad and I used to watch the trains go by. There used to be trains of Budd RDCs on their way to Maine and New Hampshire. Today the yard is gone, just a couple of sidings for the MBTA commuter trains and a parking-lot, and the only passenger train to Maine is the Downeaster.

@Jordon,

You can buy one of the "T"s RDCs for about $40,000.

http://www.trains-trams-trolleys.com/home/4406.htm

Not bad considering what they are. There is then moving costs.

John
 
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