That was an exciting trip...first, hoping that they might, against all odds, have the only RDC that the SP owned (#10). Second, finding that they actually were offering THAT RDC. Finally, seeing the price and remembering that I HAVE one of the Kato undecs waiting for decals...and that decals are much cheaper than their asking price for a pre-painted one.
Thinking back to the aforementioned Con Cor RDC that I painted in NYS&W, I bought it at Hi-Way Hobby House in Ramsey, NJ (long since closed) and soon found former CNJ prototypes at nearby Waldwick, NJ. I thought it was a treat to be able to see the real thing so soon after buying my model. These RDCs had long lives. 03/27/1982 07/1982
After it was damaged in a grade crossing collision, the SP rebuilt it with some modifications. The clipped ears...er number boards... kind of look strange. This was when it was still in Galveston.
If it weren't for the SP Mickey Mouse ears, that would be the second smoothest nose I've seen on an RDC. The smoothest, of course, being the custom Roger Williams faces for the McGinnis New Haven. Mechanically the middle four cars of the trainset were RDC-9s, but I think windows differed slightly.
Ah! Two-way Hobby House. I live down the road from there and bought my Zephyr from them when DCC was new. Watching them going out of business was a sad sight. I would go a few times a week and see their inventory dwindle to nothing. . It's now a fitness place.
IIRC, Kato USA had a consultant involved in the RDC project, who advised them to hold back on B&M for the second production run. Supposedly, Kato Japan decided to make a far larger (first) production run of the RDCs than Kato USA requested, which is why they were slow to sell out and why there never was a second production run. A B&M RDC was subsequently produced as a limited-edition KOBO item with an elevated price tag.
The one I have has split "cups", the plastic piece that holds the drive train rods from truck to motor. Split on both front and back. Runs fine though, so not touching those unless it changes over time. Little video I made just before painting it in VIA colours...
Three or four times several of us would carpool up from the Trenton area to shop Hi-Way and another big one whose name escapes me now. We'd do the same thing for AHC in Manhattan and SMC on the Island.
HI-WAY Hobby House. Stupid auto correction on a tablet. I have no idea how it thinks "Hi" would be "Two". Ah, AHC or America's Hobby Center on 23rd St. When I was growing up in Manhattan I would ride my bike there, leave it in the lobby and walk up the creaky stairs to the second floor. They had the best prices and there's no need to mail order and wait. But the customer service is, well, horrific to say the least!
Some guys jokingly called it Highway Robbery House. There was also the Totowa Hobby Shop near Wayne, NJ. Their ad in MR read "See Us Any Day But Wednesday". A smaller well-stocked shop with great people. I bought my first Atlas (Kato) RS-3 there.
Tried to text someone a while back about someone named Puls. Four keystrokes on a Remington or an Underwood. Took twice as many with autoincorrect. I don't really want those good old days back. But I'd settle for a return to the nineties, when spelldreck could be turned the #&ۤ off. My favorite hobby shop name was "In The Meantime".
At least you caught it before sending! For some reason my Amazon Fire tablet is the worst while my Samsung Galaxy S22 is pretty good. Of course my PC is the best. NO autocorrect. Manual keyboard.
MARC was running B&O's plus a few purchased from PRSL into the 1990s. Quite the contrast to the Budd SPV-2000s which appeared in the late 1970s but did not last into the 1990s. I recall being on some of the early runs of them from Springfield to New Haven. The first time, when the conductor came to punch my ticket, I remarked on the new cars. "Million dollar pieces of junk" was his reply. They had a funny sound to them.
Now that I've finally written and posted my story about the Legendary Two Guys After Christmas Sales, perhaps it's time to dig out and transcribe my installment about riding the "Bayonne Shuttle" on the former Jersey Central across the Newark Bay Bridge... in the front of an RDC!
I have a head start, unlike the Two Guys piece: I wrote the original in longhand in a notebook as an English Class assignment! That was going back to when Irwin's Journal was literally just that. I would have been 13 or 14 when I wrote it. I have all my notebooks right here in the office at UMTRR HQ. I'll probably need to add to it-- not only is the CNJ long gone, but so is the Newark Bay Bridge.
In 2004, while visiting Duluth, Minnesota, I rode on this one for an excursion up the north shore of Lake Superior a bit. It was not under its own power at that time but being towed in a train.
