Budd RDC Action on the Boston & Maine, 1971-1972

In this 8mm footage captured by the late Henry W. Marrec, we see Budd Rail Diesel Cars (RDCs) operating on the Boston & Maine in 1971 and 1972. Highlights include commuter action at Waltham and Kendal Green, a train on the Lexington Branch at Arlington, the 1971 "Lincoln Lightningbolt" fantrip on the White Mountain Branch, and commuter trains at Boston North Station.

[@ttnyny]

I was riding the B&M Buddliners as a kid in this time period, the first chapter of my 50 plus-year, on-again,off-again relationship with commuter rail on the lines out of North Station. In the late 1960s /early 1970s, my mother would take my older sister and me into Boston on weekends, using the train. I was about 9 or 10 y.o. at the time. Old, grainy color film romanticizes, as, in my memory, the trains did not look as nice as they do in these clips. I remember dingy, beat up cars with windows so dirty and scratched it was hard to see through them. It's possible that the Buddliners were still self-propelled when I was 9 or 10 (I cannot recall) but within 5 or so years the onboard power plants were defunct and they were being pulled by locomotives. I also remember the AC being our more often than not: Decades later, I still have a visual memory of drops of perspiration dripping off a man's nose while the B&M train was stalled in hot weather and with no functioning AC. The Dukakis-era re-investment in the system commencing in the early 1980s transformed the service.

[@Jack-cp7ng]

Growing up in Waltham this video brings back a lot o memories. Great video

[@sgtfriday4399]

8 RDC’s MU’d and a groovy jam. Does it get any better for RDC fans ?

[@NeedtoSpeak]

Fantastic ! Never saw 8 units running together at one time!

[@scottsheehan1596]

i rode those trains dozens of times from Gloucester to Boston

[@cmdrflake]

Oh, my I learned more about the North Shore area than I did in class just riding various trains. Best of all, my student ID got me discount on some but not all trains. The EL E8 was on a Dereco inspection train. The consist had a wild mix of EL and D&H cars. Me thinks they were pushing NE87/NE84.

[@brucefye3778]

Hi! New subscriber. Great historical railfanning footage. Groovy funk music man. Right on! Solid!

[@frankfitzgerald4536]

Great video! Love the Waltham parts. Cool music too!

[@donarmstrong5872]

I grew up in Somerville with the northern yard limit in my back yard. Old enough to have been there for the transition from passenger cars pulled by steam to Budds. In all my reading on the Budds I have never seen any info on engineers comfort or lack of comfort while running them.

[@ubcmember]

Awesome memories, thanks!!

[@cats0182]

I'll never cease wondering how Budd could have so missed the mark with the successor to the RDC, the SPV-2000.

[@briandynamite7942]

It wasn’t even budds fault, apparently the General Motors Diesels were just so unreliable it tanked the project

[@MillersRailfan]

EXCELLENT sound track

[@MillersRailfan]

❤Weston under the Central Mass

[@alanwbelcher]

Nice work digitizing and good music background. Thanks!

[@seangall123]

Outstanding! I especially love the footage of Arlington, today's Minuteman Rail Trail, great share altogether!

[@MillersRailfan]

Another home run; Rick

[@Lauren_Tyler]

These things were amazing. It's a shame they didn't last.

[@frankfitzgerald4536]

They were used for 40 years and more!

[@tedfisk1211]

Nice.

[@briansandberg4627]

Very cool! I am curious about the presence of the EL E8 at North Station, anyone have a thought on what it was doing there?

[@bmrrhs]

This was an inspection/executives trip which came down the Northern Mainline and the NH Division Mainline from White River Junction, Vermont to Boston.

[@williamh.jarvis6795]

Really?! I was saddened back then when Guilford was removing the rails from the old Northern Main Line, following the line up when I would go to Canaan, NH to visit my Mother. I would follow NH Route 4, kind of following the railroad along the way.

[@JessicaKasumi1990]

​@@bmrrhsProbably the only time Erie Lackawanna power ventured north of New York. Freight cars are a different story. But, man, the stories a freight car could tell if it could talk. The places and the people they've seen.

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

2:55 didn't know they had bumblebee Gates back in the States. I need the wishbone would engage but they were usually black and white or just red and white I never seen Black and yellow. Except in some other countries.

[@lestersabados1306]

Beverly ma was a hotbed of budd RDC activity. My 1st trip to B.B.circus was traumatic from Salem to Chelsea we were barraged by punks whipping rocks at it. I still remember the faces of the kids scowling and tossing....😢

[@bradfordtownley9363]

A modern version of these would help the Commuter Rail no end.

[@Placid333]

Why did the B&M, on some of the Budds, replace the windows on the end doors with sheet metal? I never saw this on the Budds owned by the NYC, NH, CNJ, or RDG.

[@michaelf6327]

At the 5:38 mark of this video it shows the station in Lincoln, NH. Does anyone know if that is the same station and location of where the Hobo railroad is located today in Lincoln, NH?

[@bmrrhs]

The Boston & Maine's Lincoln station was located on the grounds of the paper mill, approximately where the parking lot for Price Chopper is. In the 1980s the station was cut in half and trucked to the nearby Woodstock Inn; it forms part of the restaurant there.

[@michaelf6327]

@@bmrrhs Thank you for that information. I love your video's.