I only mention this here because Budd RDC's are fantastic commuter rail demonstrators. These examples only cost around $20,000 each, and have run in harsh Canadian winters. Running them in Florida would be a breeze in comparison.
Can anyone see a demonstrator of (2) RDC's running between here and St Augustine? Use it for Florida football with a "Gator Express" to Gainesville from Jacksonville? How about a "Jaguar Express" that literally unloads the fans in the Manson Construction spur next to EverBank Field?
Kind of like Powerball, its fun to think about it.
Per Trains:
Canadian RDCs to be scrapped
(http://trn.trains.com/~/media/images/railroad-news/news-wire/2016/01/rdc.jpg?mw=900)
MONCTON, New Brunswick — A Canadian scrap dealer has begun to cut up more two dozen stainless steel Rail Diesel Cars. Industrial Rail Services, Inc., previously owned the cars.
Included in the scrap line is a fully-functional RDC, No. 6202, which Industrial Rail had rebuilt as a demonstrator. A former company production manager confirmed to Trains News Wire that the railcar has yet to be scrapped, "but it's on the block."
When Trains visited Moncton in 2010 and again in February 2014, after the Industrial Rail factory had shut down, there were 27 RDCs on the property. They had been collected over the years after VIA Rail Canada and BC Rail no longer needed them by the company's owner, Richard Carpenter, who had hoped to find a market for the self-propelled railcars. The Budd company had manufactured 398 RDCs between 1949 and 1962.
To generate interest among possible buyers, Carpenter spent more than $2 million to rehabilitate one already in good condition as a demonstrator, the No. 6202, with modern turbocharged power plants and logic-controlled hydraulic transmissions. Also among the improvements were reconfigured air ducts, climate-controlled air conditioning, and a handicapped-accessible modular bathroom.
The company had developed knowledge and expertise doing heavy overhauls of VIA's remaining active RDCs, which at the time had been operating on Vancouver Island and continue to provide remote service between White River and Sudbury, Ontario.
When Canadian economic stimulus money became available in 2009, VIA contracted with Industrial Rail to rebuild six RDCs; one car was traded for a rare, former Canadian Pacific all-baggage RDC-4 that Carpenter had acquired. But the order was never finished following a bitter disagreement between the company and VIA over differences on what repairs were required on the much larger LRC and Renaissance projects.
A lawsuit followed and a final outcome has yet to be resolved.
Canadian transportation consultant Greg Gormick tells Trains News Wire, "IRSI tried its best to sell those cars in re-manufactured form and found there really wasn't any appetite for them. They couldn't even sell them to Argentina, which initially showed some interest."
Regardless of how they are moved, the buyer of the Industrial Rail property wants the RDCs gone quickly. The activity prompted Canadian model train manufacturer Rapido Trains, Inc., to purchase one of the RDCs, No. 6133, on Jan. 23.
Rapido president Jason Shron declined to disclose the purchase price, but he tells Trains News Wire that the substantial cost of moving the vehicle will be determined once Canadian National inspectors decide next week what maintenance would be necessary so it can be hauled to Ontario on its own trucks in a freight train or if it must be loaded onto on a flatcar.
"We are very grateful to have raised over $20,000 (in an online appeal) so far," Shron says, "but we might have to pay substantially more than that if we have to lift it. This is the major expense for any prospective buyer, because the new owner wants all the RDCs off of the property as soon as possible."
Both Shron and Matt Keoughan, a Halifax, Nova Scotia observer who recently visited Moncton, are reaching out to seek potential buyers. As of last weekend, Keoughan says 11 railcars have either been scrapped or are being dismantled; Shron believes the 6202 is being held to the end.
This is tragic for start-up operators everywhere. Lack of vision, lack of knowledge, lack of experience and lack of funding have taken their toll and as usual over at JTA and FDOT? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzz!
sad. These would also be great for any sort of tourist railway, and rail museums. They just don't make them anymore.