Rail Diesel Car 6211
PAGE UPDATED: JANUARY 14,
2019
Rail Diesel Car 6211
PAGE UPDATED: JANUARY 14,
2019
A special part of the Depot Park project is former Boston & Maine Railroad Budd Rail Diesel Car #6211. This vintage combination passenger-baggage car was built in 1955 for the B&M. It has been out of service since the early 1980s. On January 28, 1998, RDC #6211 was brought to Bedford by truck to undergo cosmetic restoration for static display at Depot Park. Work was carried out by a combination of volunteer, DPW and contractor forces.
The B&M Railroad was the largest user of self-propelled Budd RDCs. It purchased 109 of the 404 cars that were manufactured between 1949 and 1962. The stainless steel RDCs were once ubiquitous in Boston-area commuter rail service. Since the mid-1980s, however, all RDCs have been replaced by new equipment. A relatively few Budd Cars have survived to modern times. We are fortunate to be able to save one of the unique railway vehicles that once operated in B&M Lexington Branch passenger service in Bedford, Lexington and Arlington.
View a page from an RDC operations manual that was donated to FBDP by engineer Alan E. MacMillan.
View a slide show of B&M RDCs. These are official company photographs that were rescued from the trash.
Volunteers did much work to
begin restoration of RDC 6211. The seats were removed in
preparation for interior painting and installation of new flooring by
contractors. The MBTA Commuter Rail purple paint on the exterior was removed. The Town of Bedford earmarked $125,000 in Community Preservation Act funding to cosmetically rehabilitate the car. This work was carried out under the direction of the Department of Public Works and consultant Dan O'Brien with assistance from the Friends. View a slide show that chronicles the cosmetic restoration work that was done over a 10-year period.
Ex-B&M RDC-2 #6211 rested in Bedford's old Railroad Yard for five years before being moved next to the Freight House in June 2003.