Via RDCs

Here's a bit of an update on VIA 6133,the plan is now to do a wheelset swapout and airbrake work to
allow movement on own wheels to the restoration site. http://www.rapidotrains.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

VIA has been doing some testing west of London with a 2 unit RDC consist (6105 and 6208)
http://youtu.be/r01G1gtQ2Lg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
https://mobile.twitter.com/Terence_John ... 6449382400" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

What kind of top speed do VIA's RDCs have? 60, 80, 100? I'm interested in how competitive they are with driving on routes like Sarnia-London.

mtuandrew wrote:What kind of top speed do VIA's RDCs have? 60, 80, 100? I'm interested in how competitive they are with driving on routes like Sarnia-London.

85 is what I'm hearing. Don't know what max authorized speed is on the Strathroy sub though, and it is single track on a CN mainline freight corridor so some padding for passing waits likely.

mtuandrew wrote:What kind of top speed do VIA's RDCs have? 60, 80, 100? I'm interested in how competitive they are with driving on routes like Sarnia-London.

Per Wiki:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budd_Rail_Diesel_Car" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Maximum speed 85 mph (137 km/h)

That's the RDC limitation, the railroad conditions on each route they will run over will usually cause the maximum speed to be lower.

With both drives running(2 powered axles per RDC)a steady 50-60 mph between station stops depending
on the track MAS.
VIA(nowRPDX)6113 is awaiting pick up at the former IRC site,to be moved on it's own wheels to a Toronto area restoration site.
per Rapido Newsletter 77 http://www.rapidotrains.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

The fastest RDC travelled 183MPHhttp://gizmodo.com/this-1960s-jet-train ... 1526862324. So 85MPH is a conservative rating.

RDCs currently in testing near Chatham:
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/l ... -1.3462193" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Back in the early 1980s, VIA RDCs regularly approached 90 mph on some flat, open sections of the Calgary-Edmonton run over CPR trackage. It was quite a ride. In those good old days an American visitor with a camera might also be invited to ride part of the way in the cab*, and I remember the engineer on the northbound trip advising me to be ready to leap for the door if there was the slightest sign that a vehicle might be failing to stop for an approaching grade crossing.

(*Not just on that route; from personal experience the same nice thing happened on RDC rides over the Dominion Atlantic line between Halifax and Yarmouth, NS, and on the Equimalt & Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. Maybe it was a CPR thing.)

BandA wrote:The fastest RDC travelled 183MPHhttp://gizmodo.com/this-1960s-jet-train ... 1526862324. So 85MPH is a conservative rating.

Noted, but I don't think VIA stocks Jet A-1.

Interesting re: the top speeds. Thanks.

mtuandrew wrote:

BandA wrote:The fastest RDC travelled 183MPHhttp://gizmodo.com/this-1960s-jet-train ... 1526862324. So 85MPH is a conservative rating.

Noted, but I don't think VIA stocks Jet A-1.

Interesting re: the top speeds. Thanks.

MTU, BA and Everyone:

That test of the NYC jet engine equipped RDC M-497 was 50 years ago this year (1966) in what was probably the
best place to carry out this test - west of Toledo, Ohio on the flat straightaway section nicknamed the "Air Line"...

What I would have liked to know was how large the fuel tank holding the car's diesel fuel (I found it interesting
that the jet engines that were selected could run on diesel as well as jet fuel) and about how far the mile range
on a full tankful was for each test run...

The film of a M-497 run does not do justice to how noisy these tests must have been...Imagine the NIMBYs
complaints about the noise if this car were being tested today in a more populated area...This probably made
the F40PH "Screamers" seem quiet in comparison...

In any case revived RDCs could be good for VIA on light runs. Were any of the Industrial Rail stored RDCs
in good enough condition to be brought back into service? Could a new type of DMU fit well for VIA?

There has not been any largely successful DMU since the RDCs used on North American railroads as far
as I have noted remembering the SPV (or "Seldom Propelled Vehicle" if you may) 2000 fiasco from the early 80s.

Is there any European (or other) DMU available that could be practical for North American passenger railroads?

MACTRAXX

I'm always curious if anyone has any reports on the positives+and+negatives of the Nippon Sharyos in operation on the Union-Pearson route and soon to be operation in San Francisco Bay.

Otherwise, everything is non-compliant with TC/FRA regulations

I believe it's still (theoretically) possible to obtain compliant DMUs from American Railcar (née Colorado Railcar).

MACTRAXX wrote: Is there any European (or other) DMU available that could be practical for North American passenger railroads?
MACTRAXX

FRA compliant DMUs built by Nippon Sharyo come first to my mind, they have been ordered by SMART, WES, and GO. The numbers ordered to date totals = 14 + 2 +18 = 34
FYI Budd built a total of 398 RDCs. So Nippon Sharyo has another 360 or more to build to catch up.

As for European manufactures, with mostly non-compliant DMUs, looks like Stadler Rail leads with GTWs, with NJT, CapMetro, DCTA, and eBART ordering them. The numbers ordered to date totals = 20 + 6 + 11 + 8 = 45
TexRail has ordered 8 FLIRT 3s, the equivalent capacity of 16 GTWs.
Likewise Stadler Rail has a way to go to catch up.

Believe American(Colorado)Railcar is defunct outfit,the only 2 "working" examples may or may not be in service
1 on the Alaska RR,the other somewhere in Fl commuter service.