I always thought it was phased out starting with the Sunset Limited. Most new equipment being delivered in what they called the General Service scheme similar to the Sunset because it was easier to paint and maintain. The Daylight, Lark and COSF trains sort of kept their colors for a while yet. The Sunbeam/Hustler cars in Texas were all changed from Daylight colors to silver with scarlet stripe in the early 50s. I suppose if a lot of RDCs were ordered they would have been painted like the #10. However, it is fun to imagine a fleet of Daylight RDCs.
The B&M ended up with the most RDCs of all railroads, 108 of various types. Most were run in commuter service out of Boston North Station with as many as eight units in single trains. On the other hand, the last few years of Minute Man service between North Station and Troy, NY (~175 miles) were run with four or five unit RDC trains. Also RDCs in various lengths and configurations were run up the Connecticut River to White River Junction, VT, and up branches into northern New Hampshire, and possibly up into Maine on the line currently used by Amtrak's Downeaster, but I don't have that information handy.
I'm not a big fan of RDCs or the Daylight Livery but I have to say that looks good and seems quite plausible as a "could have been". As has been said it looks almost factory so top marks on your modelling!
Nick, my friend, as previously stated, nothing new received Daylight paint after the Sunset Limited arrived in 1950. Daylight paint may have lasted, but nothing new got painted in it after 1950. Share too as the RDC looks GREAT! Don't worry, we're still friends (when is that 40' RDC/caboose coming out?)
Good to see so many RDC fans ! My last layout was based on SP's NWP line and I had created a post collision SP 10 model from a Kato RDC-1. SP never ran the # 10 in the area I now model (northern Nevada) but I have kept the model and sometimes run it on Ntrak layouts. Here are a few views of it on my current layout.
Was a passenger on most the cars that were kept by B&M (some cars sold rather early to Canadian National) back in '74/'75 when I was stationed at Ft. Devens, Mass. Really loved riding the cars even with their vibration from the two motors under the floor... would still love to ride one if only I could.
There's RDC's running in a lot of places across the continent. I know in the Pacific NW, there's some running on the Wallowa Union Railroad in Elgin, OR; Oregon Coast Scenic RR in Garribaldi, OR; and occasionally on Trimet's Westside Express Service from Beaverton to Wilsonville, OR (Ex-ARR, occasional subs for Colorado Railcar DMU's). I believe others run over on the Conway Scenic, but I could be wrong. Also, Rapido Trains, Inc. is restoring an RDC to operation near their HQ in Ontario.
I'm not answering for Jerry, but there are ex-B&M RDCs on the Hobo Railroad in NH, both in Lincoln and Meredith. I don't know if they are operational because photos from both locations show them being towed.
I know just a few years ago when the Dallas Area Rapid Transit opened their new line between Dallas and Denton, they leased some RDCs to operate the route until they could take delivery on the trainsets they are currently using.
BTW, the RDC engines were a pair of Detroit diesels under the floor, one per truck directly connected through Allison torque converters. The bulge on top contained radiators for both engines. This is a comprehensive article by Wikipedia. I had the fortune of standing next to the engineer in a NYC RDC-1 over a little used poorly maintained branch from Chatham, NY to North Adams, MA, rocking back and forth at 80 mph.
Two more? SP only owned the one (and now two since I'm going to count Wolf's as he models the SP). PE can buy their own (and they'll look great too). In fact, Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority did some in 2000 and SF Muni did some in 2009! Love the orange 'wings'. http://www.trolleyville.com/tv/times/july2000/index.shtml https://www.streetcar.org/painting_torpedoes-pacific-electric/
