Anybody remember the "BUDLINER"????

[GM0406]

Now here is a nice application of diesel electric.  Very fast and I still think a carefully engineered hybrid bus version of this would be a winner.  Bill T.

[Sean]

Sorry to disappoint you, but the Budd RDC was not diesel-electric.  The motor-to-wheel coupling was strictly mechanical/hydraulic.

(I had a mis-spent youth as a rail fan, or as they say across the pond, trainspotter.)

Here's a web site dedicated to the RDC:
http://www.budd-rdc.org/

The original RDC's, BTW, were powered by Detroits.

-Sean
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com

[GM0406]

Sean,  Interesting.  Do you know of a website that one could go to and read about the budliner?  I can't find anything on it.  I was under the impression that these were diesel electrics.  Bill T.

[Sean]

Other than the one I posted, no.  But if you Google it you should find a ton of stuff.  Use the search term "Budd RDC" which was the actual model (Budd corporation, manufacturer of railroad rolling stock, made them, and RDC stands for "Rail Diesel Car").

Budd made just under 400 of these, and some are still in service some 50 years later.

Of the 400, four were built with electric traction motors in addition to the diesel driveline system.  They were built for the New Haven; traction motors worked from the third-rail system going into Grand Central (where diesel operation is prohibited in the tunnels).  But the diesel drive was still mechanical.

-Sean
http://ourodyssey.blogspot.com

[GM0406]

Sean,  Did you ever ride on one of these?  I remember the diesel engines acting like they were on generators, but there must have been slush buckets on these as there was plenty of slippage before they finally got rolling.  It is probably 50 years since I rode on one of those.  Between Newport, Vermont, and Montreal.  Kind of like a Chevrolet PowerGlide?  I can remember looking through the windwo at the front and seeing the speedo.  I am pretty sure he was doing more than 85 in the middle of winter.  I can also remember the horn sounding like a machine gun as it ricoshayed off of houses at high speed.  Tracks were frozen in winter and the operator said high speed is no problem until spring.  I found a picture of the controls which sure jogs my memory!!  Bill T.

[Sean]

Sean,  Did you ever ride on one of these?

Yes, many times, in the 70's.  Somewhere I have a couple dozen B&W photos, as well.

  I remember the diesel engines acting like they were on generators, but there must have been slush buckets on these as there was plenty of slippage before they finally got rolling.

Yes, they had hydraulic torque converters, not unlike those in, say, an Allison.

There were two engines, two torque converters, and two driveshafts coupled to the inboard axles of the two trucks.  (On the four New Haven units, the traction motors were on the outboard axles.)

HTH,

-Sean