By Railfan & Railroad Staff

Part of the Roger Williams, an experimental high-speed train introduced by the New York, New Haven & Hartford in the mid-20th century, ran for the first time in more than 30 years on April 27. The historic RDC car is owned by the non-profit Budd RDC Foundation and is being leased to the Berkshire Scenic Railway Museum in Massachusetts. 

Introduced in 1956, the train used existing RDC propulsion technology, and could also draw power off third-rail for operation into Grand Central Terminal in New York City. The train continued to operate into the Amtrak era until the surviving cars were sold into private ownership in the mid-1980s. The train eventually ended up at New Hampshire’s Hobo Railroad (now the Granite State Scenic). 

Last year, the three cars of the Roger Williams and two other RDCs (former New Haven RDC-1 41 and former Baltimore & Ohio RDC-2 1960) were moved to BSRM. 

The cars had been cosmetically restored but still needed some mechanical work to run. Enough of that work was completed recently to allow the lead unit (NH 140) to operate on its own power. Officials said more work is needed to be done “but for now, a piece of history came back to life today.”