Riding the Rails -- The Budd Company

Silver Feather in Van Buren, Arkansas. Webmaster

My husband and I took a three-day trip over to Northwestern Arkansas to ride the Arkansas & Missouri Railroad's excursion passenger train. We rode in a Budd dome car, the Silver Feather. This car served on the California Zephyr from 1947 until 1970. I love the streamliners, the sound of the wheels rolling over the sections of bolted track and the rocking sensations, both of which are sadly masked on newer trains with continuously welded track and better insulation.

California Zephyr in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons

During the time the Silver Feather served in mainline revenue service, three railroads transported the Zephyr: the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy from Chicago, Illinois, to Denver, Colorado; the Denver Rio Grande Western from Denver to Salt Lake City, Utah; and the Western Pacific from Salt Lake City to Oakland, California. At each change, one company's locomotives were replaced by the next company's locomotives, while the passenger cars remained the same. All were Budd Company stainless steel streamliner cars.

Virginia Railway Express Boise Budd. Provided by the Virginia Rail Express and used with their permission. (Note the "scar" where the vents were removed from the roof.)

The next trip on our wish list is to Arizona to ride aboard former Virginia Railway Express (VRE) Boise Budds now serving on the Grand Canyon Railway. Boise Budds began life as Budd Company self-propelled rail diesel cars (RDCs) before the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority sent them to the Morrison-Knudsen plant in Boise, Idaho, to have their Detroit Diesel engines removed and their carriages converted to traditional passenger coaches. These few RDCs became known as Boise Budds.

Budd Company Rail Diesel Car. Budd Company advertisement (circa 1950)

The VRE used a number of these coaches when they began operations in the summer of 1992. A group of us loved them and begged the VRE to keep them. Sadly, they said no and moved forward to modern bi-level cars. RDCs are still used in the United States, primarily on excursion trains, and in Canada and Australia.

VIA Rail Canada RDCs at Qualicum Beach Station (Alasdair McLellan - Creative Commons license 3.0 from Wikimedia Commons)