Reader Service Request - Part V

Port Townsend, today. As brief reminder in case you have just joined the blog, as a young man living in Prince Rupert (1957-1959) I had written a number of letters to the various locomotive manufacturers, requesting information and photographs of their products.

So far I’d received some great materials from Fairbanks-Morse, Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton, and The Budd Company of Philadelphia.

Included in that big bag of goodies from Budd was this reprint of an advertisement that ran in the December 1, 1958 issue of Railway Age. That would be a half century ago this month.

This announcement promoted the “Budd Pioneer Suburbans” electric multiple unit passenger cars, which drew current from an overhead trolley.


“Budd Pioneer III Suburban
Coupled length: 85’
Width: 9’10⅜”
Height above running rail: 12’6⅜”
Track gauge: 4’8½”
Weight: 89,400 lbs (44.7 tons)
Weight (without traction equipment: 69,000 lbs (34.5 tons)
Seating capacity: 128 passengers
Acceleration: To 30 mph in 25 seconds
Deceleration (Emergency): 2.5 mphps (miles per hour per second)
Structure: Stainless Steel

Compared with the Pennsylvania’s present MU cars, these Budd-built stainless steel, air conditioned Pioneer Suburbans are twenty feet longer, provide 77% greater seating capacity (maximum, 128 passengers), are 52,000 pounds lighter, and have 25% faster acceleration with smaller, more compact motors.

Excluding tractive equipment, they weigh on 69,000 pounds. With a stainless steel center sill of 8 square inches cross sectional area, they have withstood 800,000 pounds of compression, and meet AAR strength and safety standards in every respect.

Each car, before deliver, successfully passed four days of functional and operating tests identical with service requirements.”

“Complex Original Engineering
Design and construction of these cars called for a large amount of engineering, both in the cars’ structure and items obtained from suppliers. For example, considerable engineering costs were involved in adapting cast steel trucks and traction equipment to the Pioneer III car body design. These solutions of engineering problems, which need not be repeated, will be reflected in lower costs on subsequent cars, such as the forty-four the Pennsylvania has on option. The cost of tractive equipment amounted to almost one-fourth of the total cost of these cars.”


Left Photo: Budd designed lightweight truck, with air suspension, externally mounted disc brakes and Rolokroron anti-wheel slide device. Three of the cars are equipped with these trucks, providing a saving of 4,000 pounds per car over the three equipped with more conventional trucks.

Right Photo: Floors, walls, ceiling – even the upholstery of the flip-over seats, are of plastic. Tinted glass windows need no shades.

‘Sleek, Smart, and Stainless Steel’
That is the apt title of an article describing these cars in the July-August issue of the Pennsylvania’s house-organ, “The Pennsy.” The article continues: They are designed not only to give passengers a swift comfortable ride, but also to cut operating and maintenance costs.”

Ample basis for this forecast is found in the cars’ stainless steel structure. It is on record that cars constructed of stainless steel have traveled four and a half million miles without a major overhaul. And, of course, the plastic interiors and seat upholstery are superior to paint and cloth in minimizing maintenance costs.

We are proud of these cars, and are confident they will exceed the hopes of the Pennsylvania.

Budd - The Budd Company - Philadelphia 15, Pa.

Sales Offices: 2450 Hunting Park Avenue, Philadelphia 32. Red Lion and Verree Roads, Philadelphia 15. 80E. Jackson Boulevard, Chicago 4. 230 Park Avenue, New York 17. 111 Sutter Street, San Francisco 4.”

In addition, there was included in the package, an invitation to “Inspect the Pennsylvania’s Pioneer Suburban Coach, On Display Today, at the foot of Stairway 5B at Pennsylvania Station … open for inspection from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m.”

However, there is no mention of the date!

The Budd Company, after a long a variegated career, was sold off to Bombardier of Canada in 1987.

Yet another product not made in the U.S.A. What a shame.

To catch up, see:
+ Reader Service Request
+ Reader Service Request – Part II
+ Reader Service Request – Part III
+ Reader Service Request – Part IV

Reader Service Request - Part IV

Port Townsend, today. As brief reminder in case you have just joined the blog, as a young man living in Prince Rupert (1957-1959) I had written a number of letters to the various locomotive manufacturers, requesting information and photographs of their products.

And so far as this story goes, so far I’d received some great materials from Fairbanks-Morse and a downer letter from Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton:

+ Reader Service Request
+ Reader Service Request – Part II
+ Reader Service Request – Part III

Bye and bye, a BIG envelope was left by Canada Post at our front door. It was from the Budd Company, and very generous in offering a couple of 8x10’s, a large format comb-bound product catalog of self propelled cars – the RDC series, and a number of brochures on other products they were manufacturing.

Edward G. Budd Manufacturing had it’s modest start back in 1912, building truck and car bodies. By the mid ’30’s Budd entered the self propelled rail business, pioneering with it’s hallmark material, stainless steel.

Generally speaking, most rail fans are up to speed with the familiar line of Budd cars, typified by this builders photo Budd included of Canadian Pacific RDC-3 9022 (built 3/55, sn 5901.)

To be honest with you, the cab of an RDC is pretty basic. My late wife and I rode the cab of Canadian Pacific’s Via Service on Vancouver Island years ago, all the way from the Malahat summit down to Victoria Station.

But that’s another story another time.

There is a directional control lever, throttle, amp meter, speedometer, radio, and brake stand.


Budd was no slouch when it came to being innovative and competitive. In the mid-50’s, Budd built the famous “Roger Williams,” for the highly competitive Boston New York City run. Consisting of six cars; two single end RDC1’s and four twin engine RDC-9’s. This train was further innovative in that it carried third rail pickup shoes, for operating in Grand Central Tunnel.


The “Roger Williams” (middle picture) was in built in direct competition with ACF’s (American Car & Foundry) “Talgo” and Pullman-Standard’s “Train-X.” Top picture is Budd's Pioneer III.

And who could forget Budd’s “Black Beetle” jet engine powered M-497, built in conjunction with the New York Central? This

modified RDC-3 hit 183.7 miles per hour outside Melbern, Ohio in July 1966, powered by an engine nacelle off a bomber, with two General Electric J-47 jet engines.

Another brochure featured a photo of a Budd passenger car undergoing a 2-million pound car body stress test:



Another inovation was the Pioneer III multiple unit electic cars. Only eight were built for the Pennsylvania Rail Road for the New York City - Washington DC corridor, and New York City Chicago run.

I was really thrilled to be getting responses from the manufacturers. There was a lot of interesting reading and information. Now, waiting with baited breath to hear from American Locomotive Works, English Electric, and General Motors …

Reader Service Request - Part III

Port Townsend, today. As brief reminder in case you have just joined the blog, as a young man living in Prince Rupert (1957-1959) I had written a number of letters to the various locomotive manufacturers, requesting information and photographs of their products.

And so far as this story goes, I’d received some great materials from Fairbanks-Morse:

+ Reader Service Request
+ Reader Service Request – Part II

The Baldwin -Lima - Hamilton chapter in locomotive development is interesting in that individually, Baldwin, Lima, and General Machinery, each had highly successful businesses, with long track records. Despite this fact, even when they combined resources and talents, they just could not overcome the wave of success enjoyed by General Motors in the diesel-electric locomotive market.

● Niles Manufacturing moved to Hamilton Ohio in 1871. They had built some 6-foot gage locomotives, and a monitor, which was outfitted too late to join the Civil War. And following other merger activities became General Machinery of Hamilton Ohio in 1928, manufacturing, among other things, diesel engines.

● Lima Locomotive Works of Lima, Ohio, who had turned out their first Shay in 1878, was feeling the diesel electrics breathing down their neck. General Machinery Corporation of Hamilton Ohio joined forces with Lima Locomotive works in 1945, becoming Lima-Hamilton, interestingly taking the name of the city, rather than its corporate name into the marriage.

General Machinery had to scramble to get their prime mover to work properly in the rail venue, and eventually about 174 locomotives were built with the Lima-Hamilton builders plate.

● Baldwin Locomotive Works feeling the GM pinch and after struggling to gain a foothold in the diesel-electric market, in 1950, joined up with Lima-Hamilton, thus creating Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton.

But after a valiant effort, B-L-H shuttered its facilities in 1956. And this is the letter they sent me in response to my request for information:

Explore! Dream! Discover!

Port Townsend, today. I am a firm believer in the Internet, and probably spend too much time wandering it’s nooks and crannies. But what the hell, I am retired, and having endured two life threatening episodes in the past few years, embrace those immortal words of Mark Twain:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover!”

Beside the obvious usefulness as a research tool, the possibilities for traveling vicariously are endless and exciting. I go to places and see sights that would never be possible to me – or you - without the Internet.

As an example, the piece I wrote on the “Longest Ore Train” in Mauritania would never have been possible without the Internet and YouTube!

Today, I follow up that experience by giving you another memorable ride on a norry. Think about this as your alternative transport the next time Amtrak jerks you around!

Power to the people, and all aboard the Bamboo Railroad!

Note: You may get a message that states "This video no longer available." This is similar to a "404" message - "page not available." Simply wait a second and re-click. Server limitations create this. And do NOT forget to follow my hints for a smooooother playback on YouTube.

Reader Service Request - Part II

Port Townsend, today. As I wrote in my earlier blog entry “Reader Service Request”, I had written to the major locomotive manufacturers for whatever materials they could provide “an enthusiastic hobbyist who wanted to learn more about their locomotives.”

In an era when written communication was an art, I managed to send requests to General Motors, English Electric, Fairbanks-Morse, Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton, Budd and ALCo. And virtually all of them responded.

Fairbanks-Morse sent along some brochures and two 8x10 glossy photos of their H12-44 series locomotives, and a brochure on the H16-44 road switcher type.

I found a good example of an H16-44 in this shot of Milwaukee Road 406.

As with all Fairbanks-Morse locomotives, the prime mover was the Opposed Piston engine. I’ve mentioned before that my late Dad, who was a career Marine Engineer, had nothing nice to say about that motor.

His grievance was that Opposed Piston engine is basically two-eight cylinder motors mounted head to head, which not only had a high breakdown rate, but was a “_itch” to work on; in his case, potentially somewhere between Astoria and Honolulu with a huge grain barge and unstable work platform!

It was not uncommon then, and perhaps now, to find rail fans mistakenly referring to these units as “Trainmasters,” when in fact they were not. Perhaps the confusion was created because both lines overlapped each other as far as production dates were concerned.

The dead-on spotting feature is that the “Trainmasters” rode on a 3-wheel (C-C) wheel truck, as compared to the 2-wheel (B-B) wheel truck of the H12- and H16-44’s.

Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific purchased a grand total of 29 0f these units between 1954 and 1956. To my knowledge, none of this Road Class ever crossed the Great Divide into the Puget Sound country.

This YouTube video of Milwaukee Road 760 will give you an idea of what the Opposed Piston motor sounded like.

It’s a little known fact, but the Russian’s experimented with an opposed piston steam locomotive, reportedly reducing rail pounding.

Uhmmm. Time for another turkey sandwich!

Railroad Stuff: Milwaukee Road 406, was built by Fairbanks-Morse as an H16-44, 1,600 horsepower road switcher, nee 2456, January 1954, serial number 16L-821, Road Class 16-FRS. Retired January 1976.

Milwaukee Road 760 (video) was built by Fairbanks-Morse as an H10-44, 1,000 hp switcher, Road Class L1001, nee 1802, August 1944, serial number L1001, Road Class 10-FS. Retired May 1980, and sold to Illinois Railway Museum in November 1981, where this video was shot.

Happy Thanksgiving 2008!

Port Townsend, today. Well our fantastic odyssey in Prince Rupert had come to an end. Three years of mostly great experiences for the entire family – including the dawg!

We drove back to Seattle, and Thanksgiving Day, October 12, 1959, we were nearing the Canadian – US Border down around Chilliwack, when we were suddenly surrounded by hundreds, no, thousands of turkeys!

The herd (?) of turkey – similar to the mob shown above - finally brought Trans Canada Highway 1 to a halt. And what a racket. Obviously they had busted out on Canada’s Thanksgiving Day, and were running amuck in celebration! We were stalled for almost a quarter hour by the raucous gobbling throng!

As usual, they are not credited with being too bright, as witness by where these dudes have set their dinner plates!

We were very pleased to see so many had escaped, at least for the time being, the dinner plate! As you recall, Canadian’s celebrate a successful harvest, with their Thanksgiving Day, L'Action de grâce, being the 2nd Monday in October.

My late Mom admonished my sister and I to celebrate Thanksgiving every day, rather than trying to contain all our blessings into one day. I am pleased to have the opportunity to share my collection with you, and hope you’ve picked up a gem of something you hadn’t known along the way.

And I am certainly grateful to be here, following that near fatal heart attack back in June. I am once again doing my exercises up at the Hospital, in the same group wherein that episode began! They are a very supportive group of seniors, and I appreciate their goodwill.

I just put the turkey in the oven, and my pooch is napping beside me, dreaming of drumsticks and such!

And the Seahawks shudda stayed home …

Reader Service Request

Prince Rupert, November 1958. Of course there were times when we really felt isolated from the rest of the world, living on the edge of it! There was a daily newspaper, and a government radio station, and one theater for entertainment.

I had subscriptions to Trains and Railroad magazines, and began to learn about power packs other than General Motors Diesels. Cabs, Geeps and Road Service 1200’s were the exclusive power on the Prince Rupert Extension.

To gather more information on other types of locomotives, I wrote letters to the manufacturers. My Dad taught me the lost art of typing a business letter – on our Royal Portable - and how to properly fold it, so that the recipient, without looking at the envelope, could remove the letter from the envelope and open it positioned correctly to read it.

Back in those days, many publications had Reader Service Request cards, on which you circled the number of the advertiser you wished information from. That card was sent to a clearing house who in turn got the request to the advertiser.

Turnaround time; three to four weeks, maybe.

I wrote letters to and received answers from General Motors, Budd, ALCo, Montreal Locomotive Works, English Electric, Fairbanks-Morse, and Baldwin-Lima-Hamilton.

Fairbanks-Morse sent me several items, including this brochure on the model H12-44, and two black and white builders photos!


Life before the Internet and video games was richer in so many ways. You had to rely on family, friends and associations for your entertainment. I volunteered time at the Civic Centre as a projectionist, and took several photography classes, which enriched my life for many years to follow!

"Never face the engine when eating!"

Canadian National Railways Caboose 76016, Skeena Subdivision Mile Post 119, September 9, 1959. I rode many a mile in this and other cabeese during our three years in Prince Rupert.

At once an office, soup kitchen, tool car, bunkhouse, and observatory, these doughty little guys did their level best to keep up with the rest of the train!

Office: This office on wheels is where the Conductor did his paperwork, keeping track of setouts and pickups and the minutia of this and that that Conductors loved to fuss with.

Soup Kitchen: For the most part, crews I traveled with had brought along a couple of cans of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup or Tomato Soup, to ward off the winters cold, or provide a quick pick me up during the rest of year. Nothing beats of bowl of hot soup, brewed on the potbelly coal fired stove!

Tool car: For sure there was a tool locker with dozens of lengths of chains for blocking box car wheels left off on cannery spurs. A box of fusees, a box of track torpedoes, brooms for clearing switches in the winter, a couple of knuckles, journal box oil and a bag of wheel stuffing. And in one locker, I spotted a fly rod!

Bunkhouse: Two settees also served as bunks, great for taking it easy during down times. What more can one say?

Observatory: Without a doubt the most important function, with the rear end brakeman, and the Conductor – when he’d finished fussing with paperwork – riding in the elevated cupola, watching the train for anything that may signal trouble. A plume of bluish smoke could annunciate a dried out wheel bearing or dragging brake shoe. Also great for returning a wave from an admiring rail fan.

Found this interesting gallery of Canadian National Railways cabooses, showing wooden as well as steel versions.

I loved to ride the log train from Prince Rupert to Terrace. What was really interesting was riding in the cupola behind 30 or 40 empty log cars – felt like a string was pulling the caboose, especially if the power pack was out of sight around a curve!

One of the Conductors I rode with – Stan Wozney – had me ride the caboose out of Prince Rupert to the mandatory train inspection stop at Kwinitsa, half way to Terrace. On one memorable trip Stan had made a batch of Campbell’s Tomato soup, instructing me to get “fortified” for my hike up to the locomotive.

I had just sat down at the tiny table, when several things happened all at once. As Stan turned toward me as if to say something, there was a far off blare of an air horn and seconds later, I saw the soup in the bowl climb up the far side of the bowl, and in slow motion come back headed for me, over the lip of the bowl onto my lap!

I had forgotten Stan’s immortal words “Never face the engine when eating!”

The smirk on the trainman’s face as I past him mid-train doing my end-for-end switch with him said it all, without him saying a word about the big wet spot on my lap!

I remember when the “Great Merger” was followed by years of dissension as train crews were downsized, and FRED came to work for the railroad. The first time I actually saw a train go by without a caboose, I felt a feeling of total emptiness.

Unfortunately, there is an entire generation who never had the chance to wave at the passing crew car, believing that FRED is the end of the train.

How’s that for progress?

Northern Pacific 7003A - A Varigated History!

Northern Pacific Railway 7003A. Auburn Washington, August 14, 1960. As a young man all of 17, I had acquired my driver’s license, and by meeting certain expectations, earned the right to use the family car once in a while, on my own! We lived just off Ambaum, over near Burien, so it wasn’t that far to hustle down to Auburn to check things out!

Engine crews were thrilled with the arrival of the F-9’s. Northern Pacific ordered a total of 15 A-B-B-A sets, delivered between 1954 and 1956. Units were numbered “A” “B” “C” and “D”. There was a significant increase in performance over the FT’s, with horsepower increased from 1,350 to 1,750. It it was always a thrill to watch a gang of EMD's move out of Auburn climbing eastbound through Covington with the engineer standing on the throttles!

What a variegated history this unit has experienced! Her magnificent Northern Pacific Railway color scheme was butchered with the Cascade Green when the Great Merger stifled all individuality.

She was last sighted as Burlington Northern Santa Fe 972571, an RSPU – rotary snow plow power unit – stripped of cab controls and traction motors, simply slave unit to supply dc to the master snow plow.

If you have a postscript to this story, please share it with us!

Railroad Stuff: Northern Pacific 7003A, built as General Motors F9A, 1,750 horsepower, September 1954, serial number 19740, NP Class L-1. Became Burlington Northern 812, subsequently retired in December 1981. Converted to RSPU, BNSF 972571.

Boston Bar

Boston Bar Engine Facility, Canadian National Railways, Western Region, British Columbia District, Kamloops Division, Yale Subdivision, Mile Post 0.0, July 1959. Located at the beginning of the Yale Subdivision, Boston Bar was 131.5 miles and the first division point east and north of Vancouver, deep in the Fraser River Canyon.

We were on a vacation trip from Prince Rupert to Seattle, and enjoying some terrific railroad sights and sounds in the Canyon. I swear you could hear the roaring of a freight train a good 15 minutes before it past, with those beautiful General Motors Division locomotives filling the canyon below.

And it was a double treat what with the Canadian Pacific Railway running along the opposite canyon wall.

Boston Bar gains its colorful name from a group of easterners - Bostonians - who worked a sand and gravel bar located here in the Fraser River during British Columbia’s gold rush days. Other colorful names along the river included China Bar, Sailor Bar.

This facility, being the first major division point just over 100 miles north and east of Vancouver, had a four bay engine house complete with turntable. With the introduction of diesel-electrics, a massive oil tank became a prominent feature on the landscape.


A fellow by the name of Endre Cleven snapped this shot of a southbound Canadian Pacific freighter passing North Bend c.1956

Immediately across the Fraser River, the Canadian Pacific Railway had their division point on the Thompson Subdivision named North Bend. Here we see a freshly provisioned locomotive ready for assignment.

Until 1986, a cable car, capable of transporting one motor vehicle or up to 40 passengers joined the two communities. In 1986, a highway bridge was placed across the river joining the two communities.

So that was then, and this is now. The CN and CP have signed a document which provides for eastbound power of both railroads to use the North Bend side of the river, and westbound power of both railroads use the Boston Bar side of the river, between Mission and Ashcroft.

Here’s an interesting view from the modern day tram crossing the Fraser River, wherein you can clearly see “both” railroads. In this view, the trans is heading west toward North Bend.

By the way, I am curious to know if a reader can identify the type of maintenance of way car with the cupola sticking up at the south end. It has a coal-burning stove at the north end.