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By the time the Budd Company had unveiled its Rail Diesel Car in September 1949-a project developed under the direction of Budd's E.J.W. Ragsdale amid considerable secrecy-the C&O already had months of work undo its belt on its own self-propelled passenger car design.

Ken Browne, the C&O's free-hinking head of research, led a team working on a then-radical, European-influenced three-level car the roofline of which was to be emulated in full-length dome cars introduced by Pullman-Standard and Budd in the early 1950s

By early 1949, conceptual ltueprints and a cutaway model had been produced by Browne and his staff, but the project progressed no further as Browne and other C&O management assessed Budd's new offering and reviewed the suitability of self-propelled passenger cars to the C&O's changing requirements.

In a 1954 interview with Trains magazine (quoted with t0e permission of Kalmbach Publishing Co.)-given after the railway had considered the purchase of Bud4 RDC's and the C&O's own experimental design had been shelved-Browne revealed some of his thoughts on self-propelled equipment. "One of the design factors we've considered is the self-powered unit. It gives a wonderful flexibility in service. But each car with an engine has its own air conditioning." Referring to the Train-X concept then being developed by his department, Browne continued, "This is almost in the opposite direction from what we're shooting at in our lightweight design in which we try to concentrate all machinery in one place."

When asked whether he believed that the Budd RDC was the ultimate self-propelled car, Browne replied, "No, the Budd company is developing it right along, and now they're working on the European variation of the RDC that cuts the weight almost in hcg " The

While the C&O would go on to acquire the entire--albeit diminutive-RDC fleets of three railroads between 1957 and 1962, it is nonetheless intriguing to reflect on what formthe Chessisliner might have taken had the efforts of Browne's department progressed beyond the drawing board.-KJH

Copyright Chesapeake and Ohio Historical Society, Inc. Nov 2001
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