I recently purchased a couple of the Proto-1000 RDC units for my freelance railroad. I have a few questions about the prototype, as well as these particular units.
The text on the back of the box says that the prototypes were first built by Budd in 1950. It also mentions the NYC doing some experiments with one as late as 1966. What it does not mention is whether or not the RDC-1, RDC-2, and RDC-3 were manufactured at the same time (a la the S1 and S2), or if one type was a replacement for another (a la FA-1 and FA-2,etc.). Did they all start production around 1950, or did the RDC-2 and -3 follow later?
How many different road numbers did Proto 1000 produce for MBTA? I have #6303. I checked the Walthers catalog, but they don't list the Proto
1000/2000 offerings out like they do for other manufacturers.This last question is not about the RDCs, but instead about the Doodlebugs. The ones that Walthers is offering or about to offer are supposedly based on a prototype from the 1920's by EMC. Were the Spectrum Doodlebugs supposed to be based (or loosely based) on a newer EMC prototype?
Thanks! Mike --