This Budd was for the kids [08/09/2008]

Madison students ride on inaugural charter for Conway Scenic Railroad's new Budlliner

Students of the Madison Elementary summer enrichment program Thursday were the first to ride Conway Scenic Railroad's Budd car, a sleek, diesel-powered, self-propelled passenger car.The inaugural trip took 35 students for a short ride from Intervale to Redstone, just west of the Redstone Variety Store on Route 302, who were treated to an on-board history and natural science lecture, given by Conway Scenic president Russ Seybold, George Cleveland of the Gibson Center for Senior Services, and naturalist Chris Lewey of Raven Interpretive Wildlife of Chatham.We have tested it on previous outings, but this was our first charter ride with the public, said Susan Logan, director of marketing for the Conway Scenic Railroad, which open in 1974.With a capacity of 88 passengers, the car lends itself well to special charters. The unit will be used for extra trips to Conway at peak times during the summer and as an extra coach on the Notch train during fall foliage, Logan said. The excursion provided an opportunity for Lewey to explain the dynamics of a beaver pond when the train pulled alongside of Puddin Pond along a section of the old Maine Central tracks. Lewey pointed out how the dams built by beavers had created deeper water bodies, which provided habitat not only for the industrious beavers, but also for other species of wildlife.At one point, Seybold told the history of the Conway Scenic, and of the Maine Central which preceded it. That railroad station was built in North Conway at the start of the railroad, long before the Conway Scenic was founded [in 1974 by Carroll Reed and Bill Levy]. It is very, very old. Guess how old it is? asked Seybold, to which one young boy responded, 1940? Seybold trying not to laugh too loudly, said, Well, that's true, 1940 is old, but it's older than that. It was built in 1874, said Seybold, to which the boy said, Wow. That is old!Cleveland grandson of President Grover Cleveland also regaled the youngsters with stories of the White Mountains and the early days of White Mountain 19th century tourism.Logan said the Conway Scenic Railroad this spring purchased the Budd car from the New York Susquehanna & Western Railway. it was then delivered without a hitch to the Conway Scenic's rail yard in North Conway, according to Operations Manager Paul Hallett. Our crew left at 0700 [that] Friday morning for Whitefield, where we picked up two stone ballast cars, a snow plow that had been in Whitefield for the past 20 years, and our new Budd car.They then headed back to North Conway, where crews performed maintenance work on the vintage beauty. It was in great shape. We basically gave it a tune-up, said Logan.According to Seybold, the Budd Rail Diesel Car, or RDC, is a self-propelled, diesel-hydraulic rail passenger car. Between 1949 and 1962, 398 RDCs were built by the Budd Company of Philadelphia, Penn. Seybold said these cars were a familiar site in rural areas like the Mount Washington Valley, with its low traffic density, because they were less expensive to operate than a traditional locomotive-drawn train. The cars could be used singly or several coupled together in train sets and controlled from the cab of the front unit.Conway Scenic Railroads car is an RDC-1 which was built for the New Haven Railroad in 1954 as their No. 23. It became Penn Central No. 68, then Amtrak No. 18, then Metro North No. 18 and was then sold to the NYSW where it was numbered M-5. As is the Conway Scenic tradition, the car has reverted to its original number and has become CSRR No. 23.