Are The Silverliner II's/III's Non-Existent Now???

25Hz wrote:You aren't alone on that one. Bombie has all of budd's designs, so they aren't really gone forever.

So who owns the GE designs built by AVCO and Canadian Vickers such as the Silverliner IV and Arrows? Or were these Budd designs under license?

BBD owns/controls all of the Budd Co designs,and some of the Pullam-Standard Passenger car designs(Comet/Horizen Fleet cars)

25Hz wrote:
You think those guys are old look at the R32 subway fleet...they are projected to be in service till 2017! Then you got 30th anniversary of the amfleets in 2015 too. Leave it to Budd to have all their railcars last this long.

So you mean to tell me that the Amfleets were introduced in 1985? Might want to check your math a bit Mr. H

The Amfleets were introduced in 1975, which would make them 40 in 2015.

Then you got 30th anniversary of the amfleets in 2015 too. Leave it to Budd to have all their railcars last this long.

40 years for Amfleet in 2015

I'm not quite sure where to put this, so I've chosen this topic. If anyone with the authority to do so thinks it belongs in another topic, or in a topic of its own, please feel free to move it. Thanks.

I'm surprised no one mentioned this here, or maybe someone did, and I didn't look in the right place. Or maybe this type of thing is old news now.

For several days - probably less than two weeks - a group of II's, with possibly one or more III's included, was in the train yard near Woodbourne. Someone had actually painted "SPAX 2nn", where 2nn was the car number, on each one. They were gone by Friday afternoon, July 26.

Was this the last group of cars that were left? Or are there still more to come?

There's still the cars at Wayne Junction they also have SPAX 2xx on them too

There are 22 more to go, 3 are on hold for various reasons, the ones visible from the trains going to Fern Rock will be the next to ship out, the remaining are on the other side of the shop and at Roberts Yard, CSX has to make sure they are fit for travel and then wait for the scrapper to indicate he can accept more cars otherwise they clog up Woodbourne yard.

It has been mentioned several times that the older Budd and St. Louis Silverliners had been withdrawn partly due to issues with stainless framing. I found specific details on the St. Louis stainless cars here on a page dedicated to the Arrow I/Comarrow cars.

Some details on the construction:

The Silverliner IIIs and Arrows were the only St. Louis cars built almost entirely of stainless steel. All structural and body members (except end sills and bolsters) were stainless. The stainless sheetmetal that made up the sides, ends and roof were load-carrying as part of a integral (monocoque) structure with the stainless center sill (floorpan). This eliminated the need for conventional steel framing. Fiberglass bonnets were used on the upper car ends (with the car number placed on the bonnet).

This is referenced in the 1968 Railway Age story on the new Arrow I MUs on that page:

Stainless steel rules supreme throughout the car. With the exception of the draft sills, bolsters and a few other end members, all structural body members are stainless steel. The center sill, a three-piece weldment, is stainless steel, as is the remainder of the underframe. The pre-assembled sides of flat sheetmetal and corrugated stainless steel are stress-carrying members of the car body, which was designed as a modified girder.

The roof, too is made of stainless steel and like the sides is preassembled in a mammoth spot welder positioner at the St. Louis plant.

It seems the issue might be with monocoque stainless construction and crashworthiness. It is clear that St. Louis Car finally built its own stainless cars, but unclear if patents were purchased from Budd or built under Budd license.